Belgrade, Serbia

Sunday, October 24

After breakfast, the day began with a lecture by a Serbian economist on the state of modern Serbia. It was very interesting and enlightening. It's a shame what happened to the beautiful country of Yugoslavia, all because of the power hungry, hateful Slobodan Milosevic.

After, we boarded our busses for a tour of Belgrade, the capital of the Republic of Serbia. This city has been destroyed and rebuilt many times in its history. The Celts, Romans, Huns, and the Turks have all left their marks on the city. Finally, the Slavs settled here in the 7th century. Yugoslavia means "land of the South Slavs". Both world wars were also devistating to this city.

We walked around the pedestrian district (the only shops open on a Sunday) and the Kalemegdan Fortress, which overlooks the river.

After lunch, Augie and I took a walk into the city again in search of a T shirt. We walked around the fort again and enjoyed a photography display of beautiful pictures from all over Serbia by a local photographer. We were supposed to take a trip on Tito's Blue Train, but they had to cancel because of technical difficulties.

Later in the evening, we were entertained by the local dance group, Talija. They were very lively and spirited, but I could barely keep my eyes open.