Greetings from Serbia

A swap card from last year. I thought it was going to be really difficult to get this one, but I think I got lucky.. :)

This is quite possibly one of my favourites in the 'greetings from' series. I like the darker colours here - I've probably said it a few times before but I'm not much into the pastel colours that are used in so many of these cards. I prefer something a little more realistic. :P That, and the view here is pretty amazing.

If anyone reading this knows why Serbia is such a massive producer of raspberries, please enlighten me, I'd love to know! I'm genuinely puzzled by this fact. Mmmmmm, raspberries.. I do love them!

It would be great to see the owl capital Kikinda one day, too. :)

Belgrade, Serbia

Another gorgeous, HUGE postcard of Belgrade! This is from the 'Choose a Country RR' on the Postcrossing forum. Oh, and speaking of that RR, there's a special group open again, yay! :)

Info from the back of the card:

On the plateau of the Upper Town at Kalemegdan there is a statue of the Victor, a symbol of Belgrade. Below, the Sava flows into the Danube. 

Belgrade, Serbia

Ana surprised me with this gorgeous, HUGE postcard from the 1st Postcrossing meeting in Belgrade on 29 October last year. It's always great to receive cards from Postcrossing meet-ups, and it's even more special when they were sent by a dear person. :) I'd love to attend more meet-ups but there aren't many in the UK, and even then it's the case of whether of not I can afford to go, grrr.

On this card you can see Ada Ciganlija, an island on the Sava which was turned into a peninsula by an artificial isthmus. On the lake there is a bathing resort, and on the river banks there are rowing clubs, swimming clubs, boat marines and several hundreds of boat houses.

It looks really beautiful, and I love the purple tones of this card, SO pretty!

Belgrade, Serbia

I've been trying to collect Year of the Dragon stamps from different countries this year - it's been a bit easier to arrange swaps as there were actually some Lunar Year stamps issued in the UK this year (the Royal Mail don't normally issue them :(). Serbia is one of the latest additions to my collection, thanks to Ana who kindly offerent to swap with me. ...and she put the stamps on such a beautiful postcard, too!



I love autumn views on postcards which is probably why I like this one so much. :) There's some info on the back of the postcard about this place:

BELGRADE. The residence of Prince Miloš Obrenović in the suburbs of Topčider. It was built from 1831 to 1834 by master architects Janja Mihailović and Nikola Djordjević. The works were supervised by masterbuilder Hadži-Nikola Živković.

Ana also told me that this residence is now a part of the History Museum with an exhibition about the Serbian uprising against the Ottoman rule. Topčider, then, is a forest park and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade. Being close to downtown, it is one of the major locations for relaxation, picnics and fresh air for the citizens of Belgrade.

Belgrade, Serbia

One more card for today. I thought I'd stay in the ex-Yugoslavian area, so here's a card from Serbia. It was a lovely surprise card from Ana, and another Ana, from Belgrade, a lovely person I've done a swap with before. They sent me a card from their little meeting in Belgrade. Thank you so much, ladies!



Kalemegdan Fortress is one of the biggest preserved medieval fortresses in Europe. Favourite Belgrade park area with a lot of cultural, historical and sport facilities and events, as well as clubs and restaurants. Charles VI (Karlo VI) gate was raised in 18th century, in the honor of the Austrian Emperor, conqueror of Belgrade against Ottoman Empire.



Such a lovely stamp! It's from a set of 2 stamps issued earlier this year for the Year of the Tiger. I wish the UK would issue stamps like this, too. :/

Serbia

Another card from the swap with Ana, this one is just as great as the previous one.



What you can see on this card:
Up and down: Fallow Deer in Vratna and Natural Gates in Vratna River Gorge
Right: The Waterfall "Prskalo" in Juzni Kucaj Mountain

Eastern Serbia is known for beautiful mountains and caves, and rich folklore. In the bottom left corner you can see one of the arches in the gorge of the small river Vratna. It's the only place in Serbia where such rock formations can be seen. There's also a tiny monastery in the canyon. In this area there is a beautiful national park "Djerdap", on the banks of the Danube river.

Serbia

More swap cards... This one comes from Serbia, from Ana. Receiving postcards from her is always a joy - she comes across as such a lovely, friendly person and she always writes a lot on her cards. :)



It's great to get to see some other places in Serbia apart from Belgrade, too. Not that I don't like receiving cards of Belgrade as well, but I'm curious about the rest of the country, too. On this card you can see:
Up: Tara Mountain - Mitrovac
Down: Jadovnik Mountain - Sopotnica and Zlatibor Mountain
Right: Tara Mountain - Lake Zaovine

Tara Mountain is a national park in the western Serbia. The river Drina runs through the park and in the last photo you can see one of the lakes in its canyon. The trees there are Serbian spruces. This is the only place in the world where this species can be seen. Zlatibor ("golden pine") is another beautiful mountain in this area and a popular tourist centre. Ana tells me that in one of its villages there's an interesting open-air museum of traditional architecture.



Isn't the stamp adorable?! It's from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2009, depicting Protected Animal Species. This one here is the Southern Birch Mouse.

Belgrade, Serbia

I don't have too many postcards from Serbia, and the few I do have are all from Belgrade I think. I'd love to see more of this beautiful country, and I do really love the postcards I have of Belgrade. This one is no exception, and I love it how it's a bit different from your usual touristic postcards.


RS-6644

I really liked what the sender, Ana, wrote on the back of the card as well, quoting one of the best-known writers from ex-Yugoslavia, Ivo Andrić:

The sky above Belgrade is wide and high, unstable but always beautiful and rich, as a compensation to this strange town for everything that isn't there and a consolation because of everything that shouldn't be there.

Doesn't that sound beautiful?!



The stamp is from a set of 2 stamps issued in 2009, commemorating the 200 Years of Battle of Cegar.


My scanner didn't like this card; the colours are all wonky here. :(

Belgrade, Serbia

Continuing with older cards from friends... This one is from Shana, we were penpals for years but sadly aren't in touch anymore. I miss her and her letters. :( Shana lived in the USA but was quite fascinated with Serbia and got to visit there in 2005. She sent me this lovely card from there.



Belgrade (Beograd in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. With a population of 1,630,000 (official estimate 2007), Belgrade is the third largest city in Southeastern Europe, after Istanbul and Athens. Its name in Serbian translates to "White city".

Belgrade's wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe, the Vinča culture, as early as the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, the area of Belgrade was inhabited by the Thraco-Dacian tribe of Singi who would give the name to the city after a fortress was founded in the 3rd century BC by the Celts, who named it Singidun (dun, fortress). It was awarded city rights by the Romans before it was permanently settled by Serbs from the 7th century onwards. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times since the ancient period by countless armies of the East and West. In medieval times, it was in the possession of Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Serbian rulers. In 1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Pashaluk of Belgrade, as the principal city of Ottoman Europ and among the largest European cities. Frequently passing from Ottoman to Austrian rule which saw destruction of most of the city, the status of Serbian capital would be regained only in 1841, after the Serbian revolution. Northern Belgrade, though, remained a Habsburg outpost until the breakup of Austria-Hungary in 1918. The united city then became the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia, up to 2006, when Serbia became an independent state again. [from Wikipedia]