Belgrade, Serbia

 

Serbia is a country we have never visited, so we were very excited to check out Belgrade. We hired a private Viator guide for the first half of the day to make sure we saw the sights we were most interested in. Foremost among them was the Museum of Yugoslavia and Tito's grave. We've been intrigued by Tito ever since we visited Slovenia and were anxious to learn more about this enigmatic figure.

Here is Tito, born Josif Broz, in a relaxed moment. He changed his name to Tito, which means "this and that" because he was always ordering people to do this and do that. He's fascinating because although he was a dictator, he ran his country well, and people loved him because they felt as if he cared about them.

Although he was born into poverty, he was regal and charming. Stalin hated him and sent assassins to kill him. Tito allegedly responded, "Stop sending people to kill me.  We've already captured five of them. If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow--and I won't have to send a second."

When Tito died, only a handful of countries in the world failed to attend his funeral. It was one of the largest funerals in history.

These touching photos show how people reacted after hearing the news that he had died. Everything came to a stop.
  

Our next stop was Saint Sava, a recently completed (2021) Serbian Orthodox Church, that is one of the largest in the world. It's been under construction since 1935. Unbelievably, both the Soviets and the Nazis used this building as a parking lot.

The stunning interior reminded me of Hagia Sofia in Istanbul.  Incredible mosaics cover every inch of wall space with over 600,000 tiles, each one covered in glass for an extra glossy look.

In the afternoon, we took a special excursion to the Tesla Museum, where our Viking group had the museum to ourselves.  Nikola Tesla was a reclusive, possibly autistic, genius whose inventions such as alternating current (AC) power are indispensable to modern life. He could envision an invention so clearly in his mind, he never needed a prototype. He held 300 patents when he died.

He was a true humanitarian who wanted to help mankind by providing free electricity for everyone. And, he was friends with Mark Twain--what a dynamic duo!

It was an excellent interactive tour, and Anne even got zapped by a small Tesla coil at a static electricity demo. (Yes, I screamed a little. lol) Best of all, we each held a florescent tube light and watched as our unconnected lights turned on, proving electricity can travel through the air.

When Tesla died, he was cremated and his ashes were placed in an urn in the shape of a golden sphere. Here's Frank at Nikola's resting place with Nikola's urn just barely visible next to Frank.