Dorćol

We went looking for the street in Dorćol with numerous cafes and restaurants. Dorćol was one of the original settlements, just outside the Kalemegdan fortress, sitting beneath the fortress walls.     It has a number of old buildings, but because it's on the banks of the Danube, it's also an industrial area. As it was outside the main city, it has a multicultural tradition.   I understand that during the Turkish occupation of Belgrade, it was a trading centre, with many markets and traders of different nationalities, and it was also the centre of Belgrade's Jewish community.

 

 

However, although we knew it existed, we didn't find the trendy street, which we now know (via Wikipedia) to be Strahinjića Bana street.   Instead, we went off in the opposite direction and found the railway lines and quite a number of fairly dilapidated buildings.    But we pushed on and reached the bank of the Danube, which is another feature of the area.  At this point there is a pleasant pathway and various restaurants, both on land and floating.   We had a very satisfactory lunch at one of the casual eating places,  right at the point where the Sava meets the Danube. 

We followed up with a coffee at "Woolloomooloo" floating restaurant.

We weren't going to have coffee, but when we saw the name, we couldn't resist!    The proprietor was sitting off to one side, so we didn't approach him to ask how he came to adopt the name.  That's a challenge for another day (maybe).

 It was very pleasant sitting in the mild sunshine on extremely comfortable seats, watching the various river activities:   ducks, fishermen and the occasional barge.

We then walked past the Novak tennis centre (!)

 and around the base of Kalemegdon.


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Looking up at the walls made us realise just how impressive its defences must have been.

 

 

 Then it was just a short walk to the tram stop for the direct tram ride "home".