The 'beach' at Zemun

The ‘beach’ at Zemun - on the Danube, across the Sava from Belgrade proper. I wandered round, surprised at how quiet it was. Admittedly, the weather could only, at very best, be described as “mild”. It was a weekday too, but surely, I thought, there should be a few dog walkers, lunatics and evil loitering kids. Or do the good folk of Belgrade exist purely in the commercial areas of Novi Belgrade and downtown?

Zemun beach, nonetheless, turned out to be a treat, a peaceful stroll along a huge, graceful, green river. Not as picturesque as valleys or gorges I’ve been passed or been to in the past, but quite unique, in my own limited experience - it really did feel like a beach, particularly with all the ice cream kiosks and the like. The presence of the excellently named and well marketed ‘Pink Panther’ taxi firm only added to Zemun’s charm, and for the half-hour or hour I was there, the rain held off.

I was, at the time, blissfully unaware of the trouble ahead and the oncoming floods in Bosnia and Croatia which affected Belgrade and other parts of Serbia. It may have helped explain why Zemun was so quiet; people who may otherwise have been promenading may well have been loading Serbian wheelbarrows with Serbian sandbags. The Tamara cyclone caused huge flooding on the Sava and other Balkan rivers and led to huge disruption throughout Serbia, including the closure of parts of the Belgrade to Bar railway line not long after I left the country.

On reflection, and despite whinging about getting wet, I was fortunate to get out (and just get out) before this situation developed.