This is going to be a rant post. In recent years, Belgrade has seen a mushrooming of shopping malls,, luxury hotels, and other attractions for the foreign and local well-heeled crowd and often in detriment to Mother Nature. One such recent horror was the destruction of an old, well-loved tree in Kalemegdan Park, under which children played, locals dancced the kolo, and of course which provided shade during Belgrade's hot summers.
It was removed because of the City's desire (notice I did not say the local populace) for a (ashamed even to write this) cable car that would whiz people from Kalemegdan Park to the large park in New Belgrade just across the river. A pedestrian foot bridge would have been more useful, in my opinion, and hey, it could have even been a covered one for inclement weather.
The second photo I posted shows where the tree stood...and the last one, a poignant photo by Dusan Knezevic with a model portraying the tree's sorrow. And mine.
You can read about this plan at this link. So far, major protests have stalled the cable car....but you and I both know that it will go through. Damn them.
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