Jogs & Strolls at the Park of Friendship, Belgrade.

Park of Friendship, Belgrade.

November 2020 – March 2021.

In the autumn of 2020 Sladja and I landed in Belgrade following a three-week stay in Istanbul. Which had actually been a pitstop of sorts on the way home from Cambodia, where we’d been happily stuck for 8 months after the whole COVID-19 mess broke out.

At long last then we were “home”. Well, home for Sladja at least. For me it was a return to the city I’d visited for ten days back in August 2019 when we first got together. I’d loved that visit (for obvious reasons) but wondered how we were going to fare living in the Serbian capital.

Our first month was spent in Vračar, right in the heart of the city centre. Then n November we relocated to New Belgrade, a business and residential district on the left bank of the Sava River.

There, we settled into a one bedroom apartment in a typical eyesore Soviet style communist block. The apartment was decent enough and came with leafy views across a small park from our living room window.

Jogs & Strolls at the Park of Friendship, Belgrade.

The best thing about those Belgrade digs was that we were just across the road from the open spaces of Park of Friendship. Which inspired me to get outside every afternoon after classes for some jogging.

Soon I was back into the routine and feeling fitter by the day. Earphones on, I’d catch up with various football podcasts or tune into the day’s news reports on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Those runs were also good for clearing the old head. Lord knows there was plenty to think about. The global pandemic was still very much a gigantic shambles. First I needed to secure a temporary residency permit so that we could stay together beyond my complimentary 90-day allowance as a tourist. And of course we had to apply for our vaccinations.

Sometimes, on days where my classes ran over, I didn’t get out to the park until sunset. Here and there I found myself treated to some lovely skies. My own private glow of glassy orange dissipating beneath a sheet of cracked grey and white.

Exploring Belgrade.

No two sunsets were ever the same. And as gloomy and bitterly cold as it invariably was, to me each one felt like food for the soul.

Eventually, I began wondering about the park’s name and got around to some Googling one evening with Sladja. Happily, we came across some cool stuff that had us setting off on an exploratory walk one afternoon.

Back in 1961 the area that is today’s park was little more than a number of overgrown fields. That spring a group of forest rangers called the Youth Union of Gorani came together with an idea for transforming the space into something meaningful. The plan was simple, to create an urban park that represented “the international struggle for peace and equality”.

As fate would have it 1961 also saw the city hosting the very first political summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Basically a union of 120 countries who agreed not to be formally aligned with or indeed against any major power bloc.

Its purpose was to advance the interests of developing countries “in their struggle against colonialism, imperialism and racism”. In fact, it was Fidel Castro who said that and, yes, Cuba was (and still is) a member of NAM.

Jogs & Strolls at the Park of Friendship, Belgrade.

With the leaders of no less than 25 nations rolling into town for the conference, the rangers thought hey, what a great opportunity. Approaching Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito, they succeeded in rounding up a group of these powerful men to come and plant “peace trees” in the field. Thus (quite literally) the first seeds of Belgrade’s Park of Friendship were born. 

That day (7th of September 1961), Tito was joined by Jawaharlal Nehru (India), Gamel Abdel Nasser (Eqypt) and Haile Selassie (Ethiopia), among others. Unfortunately, not much photographic evidence has survived, though I did manage to find this shot of Nehru watering a tree he’d just planted as onlookers grin like maniacs behind him.

Other tree planters proved trickier to pin down. Take Dr Jose Joaquin Silva, for example. He was the Ambassador of the Republic of Ecuador to Germany. What was he doing in Belgrade? Well, Ecuador were not actually members of NAM at this point, but did attend the summit that year as curious observers.

So I guess the Ecuadorian president at the time, who clearly couldn’t be assed to attend, sent some random ambassador in his place. “Observe on my behalf Jose. And… if you feel the vibe… you may plant a tree”.

Exploring Belgrade.

In the years that followed the NAM summit and its planted trees, local groups came together to transform the fields into a landscaped park. By 1965 work had finished on two paved paths running alongside a number of the famous trees.

They call it Peace Alley, a 180-metre stretch home to benches and expressions of public art. It’s a pretty part of the park where friends come to hang out and chat under the leaves.

Or simply for a spell of sittin’ doin’ nothin’.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s President Tito’s popularity soared, both within Yugoslavia and abroad. As a result, it became something of a tradition for visiting dignitaries to swing by the Park of Friendship and plant a tree.

Indeed a who’s who of the times ended up coming to do the honours, including Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Colonel Gadaffi, Margaret Thatcher and even Queen Elizabeth II.

Jogs & Strolls at the Park of Friendship, Belgrade.

Walking down Peace Alley, we spied the towering form of the Eternal Flame Monument through the gap in the 1974 sculpture Open Form (Flower) by the Macedonian artist Lidija Mišić.

The Eternal Flame Monument stands as the park’s grand centrepiece. Situated on a large stone square, it arrived in the summer of 2000, the brainchild of none other than Mirjana Marković, a politician and academic who was the wife of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.

Built as a symbol of defiance agains NATO during the Bosnian War, the obelisk saw the park’s tone take a dramatic shift away from friendship and pacifism. 

When Milosevic was subsequently overthrown and charged with war crimes at The Hague, the monument found itself defaced and quickly fell into ruin. Within a matter of weeks the spot had become a hangout for skaters, junkies, homeless folk and extremists.

Finally, in 2019, local authorities restored the monument although deliberately neglected to relight the flame which had once burned at the top.

The Eternal Flame Monument, Belgrade.

Undertaking a full loop of the park, it’s also impossible to miss the hulking form of the Palace of Serbia. Completed in 1959 after twelve years of construction, it is the largest building in Serbia and currently houses several government agencies, cabinet offices and conference halls.

To see the back entrance, we had to cross the road. With glaring armed guards stationed across the facade, it is not a place to linger for photographs. Still, I managed to pull off my customary sneaky shot. Furthermore, I will never forget the evening when, returning home from a long jog through the park, I came upon an absolutely astounding scene outside the palace.

Basically, the road was choc-a-block with tanks and other armoured vehicles. Suddenly, from a number of these machines, sprang forth several dozen armed soldiers who began running towards the building shouting and firing off rounds. For one horrifying moment I wondered if perhaps I had stumbled upon some manner of military coup. After getting home I promptly hit the net to discover it had been a drill of some sort. Yikes.

As my fitness improved, my jogs got longer. A favourite route took me to where the park meets the banks of The Danube. There, I came upon some charming houses right on the water. Some of them were hotels, hostels and bed and breakfasts.

Most had shut down because of COVID, plenty of which never actually reopened their doors. From what I can see Hostel Otard, pictured below, is one that managed to survive the pandemic.

Jogs & Strolls at the Park of Friendship, Belgrade.

Another survivor is Compass River City, a giant boatel converted from a rusty old passenger ship. I always wondered if it might be nice for us to spend a night here. Then I read the reviews, which are so consistently crappy and hilarious I wonder how such a place could enjoy such longevity. It’s cheap, I suppose, is the answer.

There were/are plenty of riverside restaurants, cafes and bars too. There’s a traditional Serbian eatery called Amphora, a Mediterranean joint, Amsterdam, and a lively Mexican place by the name of Lemon Chili.

We never tried any of them because we had already learned that in 90% of Belgrade restaurants you will a) choke in the thick fog of nicotine that surrounds you and b) the service will almost certainly be the stuff of nightmares. And so it proves with just a glance at their reviews.

Usually, I would stop for a breather at the gigantic Grand Casino before turning around to head for home. From time to time I’d watch some of the evening’s dressed-up hopefuls filing inside and allow myself a smirk. A look at their online reviews dredges up the same old stories regarding rude, disrespectful and even aggressive staff. Ho hum.

Exploring Belgrade.

One afternoon, towards the end of our spell living in New Belgrade, Sladja and I took yet another walk through the Park of Friendship. This time we had gone to visit a special place showcasing Serbian modern art. We loved it! So much so that I’m gonna give the place its own article. Stay tuned…

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