If, like me, you were lucky enough to grow up on the seashore and unlucky to grow up in a city that has a river that differs from an ordinary stream only in width, I mean, you can skip an ordinary stream and you can't Lepenica, then surely the song "Danube, The Danube, my sea ”convinced that the Danube is a slightly smaller sea and that the most beautiful dawns shine near it, at least in this continental part.
Anyway, I, who did not grow up along the Danube, constantly envied those who are, who can, when they are tired of everything, go to the shore, dive into the water, think in the sky and afford to run away from everything. Or to those who can jump into the Danube in the morning, hug him and so blessed with that love with the river have the strength to survive the day. It is impossible not to think so and to experience all those songs in which this magnificent river was sung with your whole being. And you sing with measure - I grew up along the Danube, as if it really is.
Growing up by the sea brings with it those days when the bora freezes your bones and the smell of salt creeps into your nostrils. A glass of sweet homemade prosecco to warm your blood.
The encounter with a basket, which we do not have from the Danube region, also freezes bones, ruffles hair, smells of water and a glass of homemade mulled wine with cloves. A whole love story in which no one holds your hand but hugs you from all sides. I know, for those for whom the Danube and the basket are such an everyday occurrence as the sidewalk you walk on, the feeling is not the same.
The first encounter with the Danube that I had never seen before. School, a class of knowledge of nature, or geography, first grades, and a complicated name - the Black Forest - a mountain that who knows when it gave birth to the Danube and gave it to us.
Second meeting - music class - Strauss, On the beautiful, blue Danube and the text - Do you hear that noise, that voice, I remember the rest of the text as through a fog, but I imagined that noise, that voice, and the fog rising from the ground and a ship telling us "it will come to us again."
The third encounter with the Danube, in fact who knows which, but the first one when no one behind you screams that you are not approaching so as not to fall and end up in the Black Sea, when you can understand the world around you, and not by instructions, I, for twenty years, I have been standing on the bank of the Danube, on Dorcol, a waltz echoes in my head and I am looking at the Danube, which is not blue at all. It's not really blue. But, realistically, it will always stay blue, because that blue is actually an emotion. And I have never stood by the Danube without, with that lalala, in places where I can't remember the text, singing - "when Suuunca's jaaar over the wave shines", and regardless of the fact that it is not really blue, I saw a blue, wide, strong river . Because, you know how they say - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The fourth meeting with the Danube - a light waltz "On the beautiful blue Danube", at midnight, on a Dalmatian square as I say goodbye to the old and welcome some ancient New Year. A moment of magic, you dance the Danube waltz along the endless open sea.
Today, when I live in Belgrade, I envy those who live along the Danube, who can open a window and as soon as they open their eyes they stare at the flowing water, instead of drinking something to calm down.
The Danube is to Serbia and all those places through which the blessing flows and, of course, like everything that is free, it is neither appreciated nor protected. I mean, it's really interesting that as you walk along the river, as with any other, you end something, treating it like a garbage can and watching it go away, thinking how it will end up in the Black Sea where the Danube dies. Only, the Danube is smart, as well as everything that is left to fend for itself, so the fact that some "give it" to him at the first opportunity throws it either on the shore, or next to a ship, just gives us back that garbage like a boomerang.
And here I am, as a trained citizen of Belgrade, with constant jealousy - you have the Danube - sometimes when I walk, I can't shake the impression of how much this river is unloved, how much those who have the privilege to have it don't like it.
Until the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Danube held the title of the longest river in Europe. Then that wall fell and the Volga took the first place. Anyway, from the place where it is born, the Danube flows through ten countries. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. On the list of what nature has given us and what we must keep as such.
The four main European cities through which the Danube flows begin with the letter B - Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. And Belgrade, if you didn't know, is one of the oldest settlements on the banks of the Danube.
And Belgrade, unfortunately, does not know how to use it. And he doesn't respect it. Not even Serbia. Cruising the Danube is an attraction in all cities, only not in Belgrade. In all cities through which the Danube flows, the tourist offer inevitably has that - Do not miss the Danube cruise. When we can already offer, I don't know why we don't warn foreigners not to miss the view of Kalemegdan from the Danube and hear the story of how this city is one of the oldest permanently inhabited places on the banks of this river.
If Serbia appreciated that Danube privilege at all, one of the stories would include the fact that near Prahovo, at the bottom of the Danube, since 1944, there are rusty wrecks of twenty-two German ships sunk by the Germans so as not to fall into the hands of the Russians and partisans who advanced towards them. As creepy as the idea of spooky war wrecks may seem, the Danube preserves that part of history. And many more stories that we forgot and let go slowly with him to the Black Sea.
Dawn by the Danube… Do you know how many sad life stories this river has heard? How many love sighs? How many historical moments did she remember. From the beginning, through all the countries through which it flows? It always comes to my mind when I stare at the water, someone, miles away at this moment, is most in love with the love of his life. Somewhere, meters deep, fish are spawning. An entire life, invisible to us, takes place. According to their rules and laws, which one of us throws whenever he throws something into the river, or spits because nothing smarter came to his mind.
Looking at the Danube is the same as looking at the sky. Millions of stars, the same ones we observe, are seen by those we do not see. Millions of small waves touched someone's thoughts before they reached us. And that is why the Danube will be blue for me, even though it is not really blue. Pure blue love.
Instead of all this, I could tell you the most contemptuously about those who throw everything into the river, decided to get rid of an old rusty stove by giving it to the Danube. But there is nothing of that. In order not to do that, the one who does, would have to really love the Danube and treat it as if he loves it. It’s the same as when you love someone and you don’t want to offend them, even when you’re very angry. I could also talk about how this country does not have the money to clean and clean the banks of the Danube and some other rivers, and about how there would be nothing to clean, when it would not get dirty and when we would love a little more.
I could also talk about the fact that the Danube is an ordinary, the most ordinary river, ordinary water, but also about how much that water means to us. Without her, we would not have life. Like you don't know that. But, as I said, it is so normal and natural for us that the Danube is there, that it flows, that we do not see it, it will flow even if we do not look at it, and if its surface freezes, it will flow under the ice, faster , an hour slower. Whatever we do to him, he flows, peacefully, through his trough and his life.
Instead of all that, this is my love letter to the Danube, a little story about the fascination that I can now walk past it, sit down, stare at the water and imagine anything.
Walk around. Stop. Stare at the water. Listen to yourself. Learn to receive the calming energy of the river. Love him and nurture that love as you normally nurture your loves.
Beautiful pictures, great place, and very informative post. Keep up the good work. Cheers!
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