What's the most magical picnic spot you can think of?

In Belgrade we spent the majority of our sunny winter days strolling and picnicking in a park that we think is up there with the best picnicking spots we've encountered. An Australian beach with rock pools filled with crabs and starfish might just beat it. I imagine Disneyland is up there too. And Southbank in Brisbane and ...

OK maybe it's not so great ... nah who am I kidding, it was fabulous. Let's say it's in the top five places we can imagine!

The name of this magical spot?  

Kalmegdan Park

Kalmegdan Park is the most popular park in Belgrade, with locals and tourists alike. Picture kilometer upon kilometer of paved flat walking trails, wide green spaces filled with towering trees, gorgeous views of the city and two rivers, one of which is the Danube!

Then throw in a handful of museums, tennis and basket ball courts, two small playgrounds, a coffee shop and restaurant.

And now for the selling point ... picture all of this set within and around the grounds of fortress dating back to the 11-18th Century, depending on what part of the fortress you are looking at, and is built on top of the ruins of a number of other fortresses dating back as early as the 3rd Century.

Can you see why we were impressed? This is the early morning view from the top of the fortress over looking the old lower city, the outer walls and the point that the rivers meet.

The fortress complex and park are impressively huge. This shot was taken between the inner and middle walls of the fortress.

It's hard to grasp how large without an aeriel view - I don't have one of those but here's a map.

Until just a few hundred years ago this was 'Belgrade'. The city's population lived within the fortress walls. So it's easy to grasp why it's so extensive.

Inside the inner fortress complex was where we set up our picnic spot. The kids saw the perfect picnic seat ...

a watermelon chair next to half uncovered ruins ...

Then it was off to explore ...

Between the inner and outer walls near the Military Museum is an impressive display of what we assumed was an example of every tank, gun, vehicle and boat that's been thrown against the city in the last hundred years.

Do you think we should be disturbed by the look of glee in Noah's eyes in this last photo?

About Kalmegdan Park

Kalmegdan Park is located in the old city. It's easy to spot on a map, right at the end of the main shopping street. The city tram '2' stops right outside.

You need to allow at least half a day to see the park. We did that and still ended up back there to explore more and a few extra times for picnic breakfasts. There are a number of places to buy drinks and food within the park but we usually dropped by one of the nearby bakeries or supermarkets on our way to the park.

There are two playgrounds but the better one was near the zoo.

Speaking of the zoo, it's very inexpensive to go to  (6 euros for me and the kids) but the enclosures for many of the animals are depressingly small. Even the kids ended up saddened by many of them.