Our first Sunday in a brand new city. Everything is foreign and they don't even use the same alphabet! It made me feel very homesick and unsure of myself.The day was spent taking a walk down the street our hotel was located in, Bulevar Oslobođenja, and seeing where it goes. We acquired a tourist map of Belgrade from the hotel and then we where off like Christopher Columbus looking for India.
Our first discovery was the church on the photograph above. This is St Sava's Cathedral and is quite impressive with it's white tall walls and green roof. We were fortunate to be next to the cathedral at noon and were blessed with the thundering sounds of three immense bells ringing out.
Why do churches have bells?
Unfortunately they are restoring this spectacular building and the inside of it has been stripped to the concrete. But what and experience....
We then left St Sava and headed further along Bulevar Oslobođenja. On our little map we were aiming for the tourist information centre. On the way there we were lured away by the big golden "M". Ordering Macdonalds in a foreign language was in interesting and liberating experience. It seems that there is a language like Macdonaldese.
At the tourist information center we were given valuable insight into the inner workings of the bus system. So we decided to climb mount Kilimanjaro and take the bus home. By now our lower backs and feet were telling us that we have walked much further than we realized. So we bought our two bus tickets home - and actually made it there.
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Church bells.
In Ancient times used in the worship of "Bel" or "Belus" or "Baal" in Babelonian times, and later the worship of Osiris in Egypt. Paulinus, bishop of Nola (Italy) brought them into the church in 400AD, a practice sanctioned late by Pope Sabinian in 604AD. Bell and priests go together - rarely will priests perform official ceremonies without the use of bells (big or small). This is true for all religions derivative of the ancient mystery religions.
When I was on a trip in Israel, the tolling of bells became very special and significant to me. I like to think that the bells are calling folks in the area to a place where the Good News could be heard.
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