Spring Cleaning

I've decided not to wait any longer for good spring weather and to take Muse Swings' advice about spring cleaning. She'd asked several bloggers for cleaning suggestions. I hate to clean windows, as you remember from this post . Why should I when I can hire a cute team of facade fixers like these who just might be persuaded to do windows for me? Regular cleaning ladies charge about 300 dinars an hour (about $4.38), which isn't ruinous, but I think these guys are cuter, even if I have to pay a little more....

Three Crosses, Same Faith

There are three different crosses on this photo. In addition to the familiar Latin cross in the foreground, a patriarchal cross rises from one of the blue domes of the little Russian church behind St. Marko's church in Tašmajdan Park. The patriarchal cross possesses a smaller crossbar placed above the main one, so that both crossbars are near the top. Sometimes the patriarchal cross has a short, slanted crosspiece near its foot. A Latin cross with three 'buds' is called a budded cross, and you can see one on the top of Saint Marko's dome. To view an optical illusion among Saint Marko's arches, click here.

ABC Wednesday "J" is for "Jugoexport"

The 'j' in Jugoexport is pronounced as a 'Y'. Be that as it may, Jugoexport is one of the most renowned fashion houses in the country, and is now experiencing its renaissance on the domestic market. This is a close-up of part of its sign that stands atop its building just off of Belgrade's pedestrian street, Knez Mihailova.

In terms of real estate value, the property in and around Knez Mihailova Street is among the most expensive in Belgrade. In late November 2007, the 485 square meter parcel belonging to Jugoexport was sold for €15 million, which works out to some €32,000 per square meter.

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Ten years later....

Today (actually later tonight, my time) marks the 10th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Serbia. The top photo was one I took from my back porch after my husband and I had been awakened by several rolling, thunderous explosions that rocked our bedroom. This photo is only one of many I took either downtown or else from my front or rear porch as the bombing continued over 78 days.

In the bottom photo, you can see that much has changed. I no longer have a direct view on the entire plant, but now there are auto dealerships, an exposition hall, apartment buildings, and business headquarters across the way. How times have changed...

Remember this post of mine?

Spring is here...but it's still cold.

I'm still waiting for spring to be really here. It's still darn cold out. This flower lady looks like she'd like to go home, but she's still got quite a few narcissus and daffodils to sell. Brrr.

At Eye Level

Visitors here are always surprised that quite often it's easy to see hard-core magazines and DVDs displayed right out in the open. At least this vendor has made some sort of effort (?) to arrange his wares at the eye level of the prospective customer. Cartoons are pretty much at the bottom, then come ordinary movies and pop music dvds, then at the top, something for adults like this gentleman who had no idea I was taking his photo.

The Health Food Shop

Even though Serbia prides itself on its wonderful fresh produce, health food stores are becoming very popular here. In such stores you can find all kinds of extracts, grains, soy products, and most of what you'd find in such stores elsewhere. I've always been surprised though that you can also find all kinds of junk foods, like candies and sugary cookies. In this photo you can see what I mean. An entire window is almost entirely devoted to several kinds of hard candies, jelly candies, and lots of cookies. On the top are jars of chocolate coated hazelnuts, candied almonds, and mocha balls, I think. Amongst all this you can see several kinds of dried fruit, including one that has become really popular now: cranberries! They're the dried kind, imported mainly from Canada, and are really good.

Question Mark Cafe

"Znak Pitanja" or "Question Mark,"constructed in Balkan style by Greek craftsmen, is the oldest Belgrade restaurant, and was built in about 1820 for Prince Miloš Obrenović. His brother-in law opened a restaurant with his own name over the door, the "Ećim Tomina". His heirs sold it in 1878, and its name was changed to "At the Shepherd's". Then in 1892 it became "At the Cathedral," since Belgrade's main cathedral is just across the street. This name had to be immediately removed, because it did not comply either with local regulations or with the views of the Cathedral authorities. As a temporary solution until another name could be chosen, the owner put up a sign with a question mark on it, which has stuck to this day. (The 'Avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie" sign is of course not its real address; I imagine this souvenir sign was brought back from Paris.)

The "?" was a favorite of mine for quite a while, but I hadn't been back for many years until the other evening. Though inside it is practically untouched since I first came to Belgrade, the service and food were terrible, far from what they once were. It left me with a big question mark in my head: "Why didn't I choose another restaurant?" Definitely now a tourist trap, so if you come to Belgrade, let me know, and I'll point out another place for you to go!

If you enlarge the menu, you'll see that the Question Mark does serve some local specialties: enjoy the translations of the 5th, 6th, and 7th items...

Stefan Uroš Dušan IV's Code of Laws

Stefan Uroš Dušan IV (c.1308 – 20 December1355), now called Dušan the Mighty, was King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks (from 16 April 1345). Under his rule, Serbia reached its territorial peak and the Serbian Empire was one of the larger states in Europe at the time. Apart from significant territorial gains, in 1349 and 1354 he made and enforced Dušan's Code, a universal system of laws. He is also the only ruler from the house of Nemanjić (a medieval Serbian ruling dynasty) who has not been canonized as a saint. Dušan was also noted as a man of gigantic proportions, and according to Papal ambassadors, he was the tallest man of his time, estimated at close to seven feet tall. Today he would be on Serbia's national basketball team, and we hope, still mighty.

Stefan, Uroš, and Dušan (STAY-fahn, OO-rush, DOO-shahn) are still popular names for Serbian boys.


To paraphrase the inscription on the base of the statue, it reads, "All judges (must) judge according to the law, and not out of fear of the Emperor," which is Law Number 172 in Dušan's Code.

ABC Wednesday "I" is for 'incongruous'

Stefan Nemanja (1109 – 1199) was a Medieval Serb nobleman. He established control over the territories of neighboring Serb states, and unified them into a single state. He founded the Nemanjić dynasty and became recognized as an Orthodox Christian Saint (Simeon) after numerous miracles following his death.

This photo shows the Church of Saint Simeon currently under construction in New Belgrade.

"Incongruous" indeed, with the juxtaposition of posters for the group Slipknot's upcoming visit to Belgrade. "All hope is gone," say they, but churches claim that there's always hope.

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The Munching of the Green!

It's Saint Patrick's Day, a holiday that will be celebrated in many cities around the world where there's a considerable number of Irish. In Belgrade there's an Irish Pub, and I've heard they've planned festivities for the beer-drinking crowd, though few Serbs know who Saint Patrick was. Spring still hasn't shown us much green, so I decided to go out and buy myself some. Pictured above are two kinds of greens I like a lot. The long, thin ones are called zelje (ZELL-yeh) and are often used to wrap around seasoned meat and rice, then covered with a broth and baked. Serve with thick yogurt! The smaller leaves will actually grow much larger (not these; I ate them), and are usually cooked/steamed and served with sour cream and garlic. They're called blitve (BLEET-veh). I think they're called collards in English, and I honestly don't know what zelje are. I've Googled, but nothing looks quite right. Help?