Grocka and Smederevo

 I am in Serbia this week. After the usual car hire faff at Belgrade Airport, I headed for the Danube. First stop was Grocka, the site of the decisive battle of the Austro-Ottoman War 1737-39. I say decisive because it led the Austrians to agree to a peace treaty that returned much of Prince Eugene's gains from earlier in the century. However, the battle itself was only a score draw to the Ottomans.

In 1739, the village of Grocka was much smaller, and there has been development on the hills before the village and much more on the site of the Ottoman camp on the hills behind. The period map was drawn by someone who was there and looks reasonably accurate. The hills the Ottomans held are significant, and it would have been challenging to dislodge them. Sadly, nothing to mark the battle that I could find. Ottoman victories are rarely marked in the Balkans, with the arguable exception of Kosovo. More than 10,000 soldiers died here; they deserve better.

The hills on the right were the main Ottoman positions. I suspect the road into the village and the land on either side are flatter than they used to be. Contemporary notes describe it as a defile, and the top of the hill is narrow.

The river is now a stream, and the main Ottoman camp was in the hills in the background

I went a bit further down the river to the fortress at Smederevo. There is only one word for this site: enormous. The fortress is encircled by 1.5 kilometres of crenellated walls over 2 metres thick and 25 towers, each approximately 25 metres tall. It was built between 1427 and 1430 by Despot Đurađ Branković, the ruler of the Serbian Despotate, a buffer state between the Ottomans and Hungarians. It was further developed by the Ottomans after they captured it in 1459.

I last visited this site in the 1990s, and the half-collapsed tower on the railway station side still looks as if it's about to fall over. I parked well away.

Some restoration work has been done, and most of the damage was done by German ammo going off inside during WW2. Still an outstanding site to visit.

If you have the time, I would also recommend going further down the Danube to Golubac Castle. I didn't have time as I was driving right across Serbia to the western mountains for my stop in Valjevo. However, I have been there before, and it is a fabulous site right on the river.