Images from Serbia, 2001

The Danube rolls through the centre of Novi Sad and Belgrade, as well as Budapest. Most of these shots are of scenery around the river, where the views are stunning, even in winter. I've taken some photos of the bombing damage from NATO's 1999 air campaign over Serbia. Please don't interpret my showing of these photographs to mean that I either approved or disapproved of the attacks. Cecilie and I went to Novi Sad on a personal visit to some friends of ours. While we were there, the people we met were- without exception- extremely warm and gracious, even to me (an American). The politics behind the Balkan Wars of the early and mid-1990s, or the Bosnian War and NATO air strikes of 1999, are extremely complex. Most people in the Balkans have strong, often contradictory, opinions about the fighting. I don't pretend to adequately understand the history behind it all, or have enough information to present reasonable conclusions about it. There was a hard freeze in the week before we arrived, and so there is much more ice than usual in the Danube. The objects sticking out of the river are the broken pylons from a bridge which was bombed in 1999. Skyline view of Novi Sad, shot from the Austro-Hungarian era fortifications on the western side of the city. Shot of the Danube, looking north. Notice the collapsed highway bridge, which had both approach ends snapped by guided bombs in 1999. Locals say that now it's a fun place to go swimming when summer comes. The damage had blocked the Danube to large commercial freighter traffic, which hurt the economies of most of the countries in Southeastern Europe. It is only recently that the river was reopened to traffic. A BBC report about the reopening of the river can be found here. A pontoon bridge, which was put in after all the road bridges across the Danube were knocked down. Eastern skyline across the river. Sunset and contrail over Novi Sad. Back to the index page