20 October: Belgrade Day

Belgrade Day is celebrated today in Serbia. Here are 10 things you might not know about Serbia’s capital city:

1. The city’s name means “White City”. It became the capital of Serbia in 1405.
2. There have been human settlements on this spot for at least 7,000 years, not least a huge Roman city called Singidunum. Since then the city has gone through many name changes. During its history it has been called Alba Graeca, Alba Bulgarica, Fehérvár, Nandoralba, Nándorfehérvár, Landorfehérvár, Weißenburg and Griechisch-Weißenburg, Castelbianco, Velegrada, Dar Al Jihad (House of War), Belgrat and Prinz Eugen Stadt.
3. Belgrade is located at the confluence of the rivers, the Danube and the Sava. This is a pretty strategic location which is probably why it has been fought over in 115 wars and razed to the ground and rebuilt 44 times.
4. There’s a lot of stuff underneath it. There are more than 100 caves, canals, tunnels and passages beneath the city including a cave used in Roman times to excavate stone mostly to make sarcophagi, and a secret nuclear bunker built in 1971 which was used by Tito and Jovanka Broz and Slobodan Milosevic.
5. The population is around 1.7 million people, about a quarter of Serbia’s total population.
6. Belgrade is home to the largest Orthodox cathedral, the Church of Saint Sava. The cathedral’s dome is 70 metres tall and on top of that is a 12 metre high gold-plated cross.
7. The fortress of Kalemegdan is thought to be the site of Attila the Hun’s grave.
8. Nightlife often takes place on the water, in river clubs. There are more than 170 of them on barges on the river, catering for a spectrum of musical tastes. There are also kafanas (a traditional Balkan restaurant where they serve a lot of alcohol and traditional food). These establishments have a long history since the first was opened in 1522, and served nothing but black Coffee, which is how kafanas got their name. The oldest kafana in Belgrade that still exists is called “Znak Pitanja” (Question Mark). It was opened by Naum Icko, by order of Prince Milos.
9. During the early 19th century the Slavija square was a famous hunting ground. Scotsman Francis MacKenzie bought it in 1878. The locals used go hunting for wild ducks in the square.
10. Belgrade is twinned with Coventry, UK; Chicago, USA; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Skopje, North Macedonia and Shanghai, China.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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