It’s rare that I experience a fabulous tour or activity in a place that I wouldn’t choose to return, but that’s what happened today. The ship offered a new activity and I was one of the four people who chose to go kayaking, the others being June, Dave, and Dira. In hindsight, it would have felt strange to be on the Danube for all this time and distance without touching the water, and I got to touch it today. In fact, one could accurately say that I got my feet wet, and also my hands, and an occasional splash elsewhere. Dave and I paired up (he was the Serbian stern stud and I was the Belgrade bow babe), and it turns out that it’s the first time either of us had been in a tandem kayak since we shared one in Panama in January 2020.
We were the first tour to leave, and the assistant cruise director, Lukasz, joined us. After a quick bus ride we reached the place where we would meet our kayak guide who was nowhere to be seen. While Lukasz worked the problem we did what we do and found the nearby cache. Eventually our guide (Nemanja, I think) showed up rather embarrassed, acknowledged that he wasn’t starting off with a good impression, and promised to buy us all a drink. After settling into our kayaks we circumnavigated the Great War Island which is at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. We started paddling upstream and proceeded clockwise, stopping about half way at a nice little beach. It was lovely to stretch our legs and, for Dave and me, to rest our heels (we each had to take off our shoes because they didn’t fit in the kayak’s places to rest our feet). We saw lots of swans, ducks, cormorants, some birds that looked like blue herons; also lots of people fishing, a boat with a happy face on it, and some interesting buildings from various eras (a few Soviet-era apartment buildings were in poor shape and apparently sinking). Unfortunately, we also saw lots of trash in and near the river.
After the beach we had headwinds but were paddling with the current. We made the “final” turn and the guide asked if we’d like to explore a section of water “inside” the island. We didn’t have to be asked twice. The guide navigated some trash and debris to get “in” and we followed. It was absolutely serene, we couldn’t hear any of the river noise we heard elsewhere. Some parts of the water were covered in leaves, so each kayak going through literally created its own path for the boat and where the paddles went, but the path closed quickly. We saw more birds, including a white heron. And we saw lots of dragonflies, always two of them together, with the female depositing an egg and a male his contribution of “necessary materials” — or putting it more crassly, lots of dragonfly sex. The guide said that these dragonflies live only a day and that they are making the best of it. We paddled as far as we could then turned around to leave the serenity of our private area to rejoin he busy river.
We continued the last section of the river. A cruise ship passed us and we waved with our paddles, some passengers waved at us. Dave and I paddled very hard for a dozen or so strokes and were able to “ride the wake” of the ship for a little while which was great fun. I think we were both happy to see the dock. Yes, the guide redeemed himself during the kayaking and with the free drinks — beers for Dave, June and Lukasz, Fanta for Dira and me. The delay starting the kayak tour meant we were supposed to take a taxi, at the ship’s expense, back to the ship. Dira, June and Lukasz followed the plan; Dave and I received a ride from our guide. Perhaps not protocol, but it all worked out and was one of my favorite experiences of this trip.
After lunch, where we met up with David and learned he’d also had a delightful morning touring Belgrade with a student and one other passenger (also a geocacher), the intrepid kayakers chose to take the ship’s shuttle bus up the hill to the center of the city to explore and go caching. While on the bus we spotted a wedding party taking pictures in a convertible car on the tram tracks, but a tram was coming so they moved the car to the other track. I learned that I never want to drive in Belgrade as there are some serious merge points where there doesn’t seem to be any order regarding who takes the right of way and who yields. Lukasz had shared earlier that Balkans never back down (and he shared that his knowledge came, in part, to being married to a Serbian woman who he met on a boat). We saw a city park, the main square, a pedestrian mall, and lots of people. The city was rather dirty with lots of graffiti. Also lots of memories of the war with Kosovo, and lots of buildings in disrepair as a result. Several caches later, on our way back to the ship, we encountered a different wedding party.
After an unremarkable dinner we joined with another ship from the same company to attend a “special” concert in the crypt (downstairs) of St. Sava’s orthodox church. I’m pleased that David enjoyed the concert very much, my response was more muted and yes, my Pavlovian yawn response was quite active before and during the concert. The church was huge, the main sanctuary had no seating (apparently they worship standing up). The crypt was ostentatious, with gold paint (meaning the metal not the color) liberally applied, and paintings of religious subjects throughout the domed ceilings and on the walls. There was an enormous ornate circular chandelier, gold, probably several meters across, that was divided into 11 sections that would be difficult to describe (and I didn’t take a picture) but suffice it to say that even a miniature version would not go nicely in most people’s homes, certainly not mine. Oddly, our bus guide chose to sing all the way home and while his voice was considerably better than mine, it did not compare favorably to the choir we heard, though it did have the effect of obliterating most of my memory of how the choir sounded.
In sum, a wonderful kayak ride, a city that isn’t my favorite, and Belgrade will remain the city of dragonfly sex.
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