Filip Visnjic, the blind 'gusle' player

Filip Višnjić (VEE-shnyeech) was a popular Bosnian Serb poet and gusle player, known by some as the "Serbian Homer," both because he was blind and for his poetic gift. Last Sunday my son took me for lunch 'abroad,' i.e. in Bijeljina (BEE-yell-yeen-ya) Republika Srpska, the Serbian section of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which lies only 1 1/2 hours from Belgrade. In this town, also incorporated on the town's coat of arms and on one of the country's banknotes, stands this statue of Filip Višnjić. He was a lyric poet, who accompanied his ballads on a gusle. If you go to Youtube and type in gusle, you will hear some samples of contemporary songs/poems accompanied by this instrument.

Far-seeing

Two fellows share a look through a telescope to see New Belgrade from Kalemegdan Park.

What did you look at this weekend?

BRIDGES to floating restaurants

Four for the price of one to join in Louis La Vache's BRIDGES meme today. These are walkways to some of Belgrade's floating restaurants along the Sava River.

Reflections Weekend--goose on the Sava

This is for James's Reflections Weekend, and I' hope you'll pop over there to see what others have posted. Here I am fiddling with the HDR program I was sent by my fellow Belgrade blogger,Vlada, who posted a similar one a few days ago. I truly think we must have taken the photos within hours of each other, although it's not the same boat..... (see his photo.)

SKYWATCH-early morning sun

This one makes you squint, doesn't it? This is a sight that greets me on a late winter's morning when I leave for work, aargh. Now it's pleasantly sunny when I leave, hurrah.

Today would have been, and I feel still is, my 33rd wedding anniversary... I'll miss him forever.

See what others have posted for SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Wall of tormented souls

This is a mystery post, for try as I might, I cannot find out what this wall represents. The faces are carved on the ends of wooden beams. No sign on it, and Googling all sorts of combinations yielded no results. I can only hope one of my readers, Knez, is reading this and can help! He seems good at finding things out, so if you're there, Knez, what is this? In any case, this wall/monument stands at one end of a park at the intersection of two main thoroughfares, not far from Tito's Tomb. Most likely it is to those who died in one of Yugoslavia's many wars, but which one exactly, I do not know.

That's Saint Sava's cathedral way in the background.

ABC Wednesday "N" is for "Never closed"

The store you see, open round-the-clock, is a 'Sarajevo Burek' place where you can buy yummy burek all day and all night. The burek you see when you click on the link isn't the Sarajevo kind, which is similar, but rolled and not baked in a round pan.

And that's a pretty cool car, too, though I do not know what it is. Anyone? Anyone?

See other 'N's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Smoking...

Almost looks like a French cafe scene, n'est-ce pas? Except now you can't smoke in French cafes, I think. There's been a law passed here (not sure when it goes into effect) that a percentage of restaurants have to have a non-smoking section, hurrah. However, like most laws here, unless someone complains about the smoke, people just light up. Caught this lady in the act on Saturday after my SlowArt Walk afternoon downtown in a popular pizzeria, whose name I will not mention, but should, and not because of the smoke. We all sat down at 1:00 and our food did not arrive until over an hour later!!! Anyway, I got a photo worth taking, but won't return to that restaurant.

van Gogh's terrace

Well, not really, of course, but Vincent might have felt at home here with all these sunflowers. Caught this shot on Saturday while walking from one museum to the next while participating in SlowArt Day. As you can see, I found my own serendipitous art.

BRIDGES--The Zindan Gate

It's a drawbridge! Once upon a time there was water under it that was used to supply the city, but that was long ago. The gate you see is part of the Kalemegdan Fortress, and is known as the Zindan Gate, built in the mid-15th century.

This post is for Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridge Meme.

Weekend Reflections--Trees in the Sava River

I love these trees that stand in the river and have taken lots of lots of photos of them, but most I do not keep. I managed to grab this photo in a break between storm clouds the other day.
This post is for James's Reflection Weekend, which I often miss!