Tara National Park, Serbia

On the road to Tara National Park, Serbia

Stjepan Filipović (known as Stevan Filipović in Serbia) was an anti-fascist partisan hanged in the city of Valjevo by the Serbian State Guard (Srpska Držana Straža or SDS), a Serbian collaborationist force, during the German occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in WWII. He was a metal worker born in Dalmatia who joined the communist party of Yugoslavia in 1940. He was captured on 24 February 1942 by Axis forces and hanged on 22 May 1942. 

 A famous photograph shows him with a rope around his neck and with arms stretched in a defiant V. Shortly before being executed he is said to have shouted “Smrt fašizmu, sloboda narodu!” (“Death to fascism, freedom to the people!”) and to have urged his fellow Yugoslavs to resist the occupying forces. On 14 December 1949 he was declared a “National Hero of Yugoslavia” (“Narodni heroj”).

The large monument “Stevan Filipović” dedicated to this courageous young man is located on a hill near the town of Valjevo (second photograph from top). Another monument to Stevan, which was erected in 1968 in Opuzen, the town of his birth in Croatia, was taken down by Croatian Nationalists in 1991.

Monastery of Novo Hopovo

The Danube at Djerdap (Serbia)

 Wildflowers at Smederevo, Viminacium (roman site), Golubac fortress, and the Danube at Djerdap.

Belgrade 2014 (1/2)

Here are a few pictures taken in Belgrade in mid-August 2014. Cveta Kuća (the House of Flowers) is the mausoleum where Tito and Jovanka Broz are buried. It is part of Musej Historije Yugoslavije, a museum dedicated to the history of the former Yugoslavia which also includes a building displaying the gifts received by Tito from various worlds leaders or regional associations during his presidency.

Auburn, Maine

Yesterday, a Sunday, I did some more gardening in the morning. We then hit the local big box stores to buy a few things, including bird seed for the feeders. In the afternoon Vlada and I went for a short hike to Mount Apatite. The loop trail was mostly flat and without any views but the mosquitoes were fierce. On the way there, we passed two apple farms on Perkins Ridge Road in West Auburn. The trees in the orchards were in full bloom.

For dinner Vlada was in charge of the barbecue while I was mostly checking out my earlier work in the garden with a well-deserved beer in hand.