Ada Ciganlija, Novi Beograd, Ada Medjica

On this day we took a city bus in the morning to Ada Ciganlija, walked along the lake, then walked across the island to the other side, took the ferry to Novi Beograd, had lunch on a river restaurant, took another ferry to Ada Medjica, walked around this small island, then headed back to Ada and then home.

People of Belgrade

This series of images is of people photographed in various Belgrade settings - on the trolley buses, tramways, city buses, restaurants, ferries, on Ada Ciganlija and on Veliko Ratno Ostrvo ("Great War Island"). Most of them were taken on the sly without the subjects noticing that they were being photographed. Because of this, they tend to show people in a rather relaxed, unselfconscious pose.

One of the exceptions to this rule is of the tramway driver who was bringing us back home from Topcider (photo above). In this case I went up to the front of the tram and asked (in Serbian) if I could take her picture. She was a bit surprised ("Sto?" - "Why?") but graciously accepted after I told her, by way of explanation, that I was a tourist from America. As we left the tram, I thanked her again and she acknowledged this with a smile.

The colors of Vojvodina (1)

What a beautiful country Serbia is! Vojvodina, located amid the ancient Panonian plain (previously an even more ancient sea), is mostly flat and very peaceful, with a celebrated light blue sky overhead. Today the weather is perfect (this is August). The villages in the quaint villages of the Fruska Gora hills are painted in stripes of yellow, ochre and green, or sometimes even red. The Danube flows calmly by. On its banks, the many willows and poplars display shades of blue, green and silvery grey in beautiful harmony with the light blue sky above.

Belgrade street art

I am mesmerized by the amount and quality of street art all over Belgrade. I did not notice this four years ago. While one finds here, just as one would in any Western European City, a good number of the timeless classic "Jovana, I love you," declined here as "Jovana, volim te," one is much more likely to stumble upon some crazed-looking alien or wild creature straight out of some comic book. On the walls of grimy buildings I have so far seen a sharp-toothed yellow monster, a clunky submarine, a poetic abstract mural in black and white on a garden wall in Zemun, mysterious historical figures done in stencil, a crazed-looking elf, a doe-eyed Karadjordje in full period regalia, and science fiction panoramas.

This street art is everywhere. It brings to mind something like what used to exist in New York in the 1980's but even there, even considering the contribution of Keith Haring, was the same variety and richness present? I find myself fantasizing about staying in Belgrade longer in order to hunt for and systematically shoot the best specimens of the Belgrade street art. It seems to say to the passerby who cares to listen: "We might be broke and without jobs. We have to live against some pretty heavy odds because of a local economy which has been dire for years and is only getting worse. Yet, look at what we are capable of. We are young, talented and smart and full of wild dreams."

Belgrade (2)

We took a bus to New Belgrade. Stopped in Usce, not far from the currently closed Contemporary Art Museum. We then walked along the Danube river bank to Zemun with a great view of Veliko Ratno Ostrvo ("Great War Island"). There are some hotels/hostels built on stilts, near the water. More wild street art on the housing developments along the way.

Saw a pontoon bridge leading to "Lido Beach" at the tip of Great War Island. Vlada had never been there while he was living in Belgrade. We dipped our feet in the Danube and walked on the path around the island and saw many little summer houses along the way, with modest but utterly charming gardens next to them where one could see fruit trees, sunflowers, chicory, corn and tomato plants. I took pictures and a middle-aged guy sitting under a nearby patio asked me (in Serbian) "what is interesting there to take pictures of?" I answered in Serbian, then had a small conversation with him, all in Serbian. I was rather proud of myself, but the guy took it all in stride as if it was the most normal thing in the world, a Frenchman living in America who can carry a conversation in Serbian.

Belgrade 2012 (Prvi dan)

Here are a few pictures from our first day in Belgrade. Back here after four years I notice a lot of grafiti/street art on the buildings. Some of it is amazing, such as the mural with Karadjordje ("George the black"), the first ruler of the Karadorgevic dynasty, leader of the First Serbian uprising against the Turks in the early 19th century, on a building in the Savamala neighborhood, not far from Brankov most. Karadjordje, according to a brief history of his life I read recently, could neither read not write, yet he was an amazing leader and was greatly admired by Napoleon Bonaparte. He was was a pig farmer who was so respectful of learned Serbs of the day (e.g. Vuk Karadzic) that he used to greet them by kissing their hand.

As bad luck would have it, a bunch of great pictures taken on this day disappeared from the memory card during the transfer to the computer. The card reader is faulty. I am trying not to let this get me down.

PS: The last picture from this series, of a father teaching his son to ride a bike, was taken in the courtyard of Vladimir's elementary school in Palilula.

Manhattan, July 2012