Love was sailing Belgrade’s rivers again! The Belgrade Boat Carnival has one more time managed to revive the festival magic on the Sava and the Danube.
The Sava river was shimmering on the late afternoon sun beneath the walls of Belgrade Fortress. It looked pretentious, proud, as if it knew that soon it would be the center of attention of all Belgraders. Lazy wind swayed dozens of vessels and boats spread from the Branko’s Bridge to the confluence, awaiting the moment to open the Belgrade Boat Carnival‘s parade on the rivers.
The “Lucky bouy” was set at the confluence of the Sava into the Danube. It was the symbol of confluence as it is the place where dozens of European rivers join the Sava river and empty into the Danube.
There is no such day full of colors, events and crowd as the day of the Belgrade Boat Carnival down at the promenade by the Sava river.
On that occasion, the promenade got crowded and full of stands with antiquities, souvenirs, carnival masks, jewelry…
The smell of sugar wool, colorful fair candies and lollipops, the taste of toffee apples put the smile on children’s faces, while the older ones remembered their childhood days. Clowns entertained kids and gave them red clown noses, and a masked group of Indians also attracted a lot of attention.
Than the sirens of the mighty cruise ship “River Gloud” sounded the beginning of the parade and was the first to show its grandeur. The Belgrade Boat Carnival began…
Majorettes dressed in red-white and blue-white costumes stunned the audience of the Belgrade Boat Carnival with their incredible performance. They were followed by a cheerful police orchestra. However, the youngest majorettes in orange-yellow costumes won the hearts of the audience. The guests from Croatia, who were pleasantly surprised with Belgrade and above all Kalemegdan, joined the young majorettes.
Than the Latino sounds got everyone on their feet dancing with the dancers on the stage. And afterwards, thousands of love notes were sent from the Belgrade Boat Carnival into the sky on helium balloons.
Then all the boats sounded their sirens and the carnival parade began on the Sava river. Each boat of the Belgrade Boat Carnival had its story to tell. Almost all the crew members were masked, and the boats were decorated with balloons, lights, pompons, bows, figures of dolphins, dragons, flowers, octopuses…
Boat captains and their crews did their best in presenting themselves, and they kept singing, dancing, cheering and waving to all viewers.
The girls masked as fairies with large hats were particularly interesting. Their boat was decorated with white tulle and flower garlands.
As the night was falling, visitors of the Belgrade Boat Carnival could enjoy the performances of the local bands and singers. The audience danced with the Mediterranean songs by Jellena, and loved the performance of “Zemlja gruva” (Groove land) and cheerful Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra. The band said that “that night the Sava was more beautiful than the Mississippi“, the famous river where their favorite music originates from.
Belgrade fortress and Branko’s bridge were already covered with colorful lights of reflectors when the boats gathered anticipating the announcement of the winners. On that occasion the Sava looked like a Christmas tree, all sparkling and magical. And the boat crews kept singing.
The winner was a white boat “Marija 3” decorated with a purple dragon and big plastic dolphins surrounded with large flowers.
Everything was ready for the fireworks. It made the sky above the city shine as covered with millions of sparkling stars. And since Belgrade’s Rivers never sleep on Saturdays, the party continued on numerous splavs (floating river clubs) till the early dawn.
Gallery: www.tob.rs
