For around two centuries, until 1918, Zemun was a Habsburg frontier town, looking across the rivers at Ottoman and later Serbian Belgrade. Its landmark, the Gardoš Tower, also called the Millennium Tower, opened in 1896 to mark a thousand years of Hungarian settlement in the Pannonian Plain. The 36-metre tower rises from the ruins of a medieval fortress, and locals also name it after John Hunyadi (Sibinjanin Janko), the Hungarian commander who died here of plague in 1456, weeks after his victory over the Ottomans at Belgrade.
Wander up through the lanes of Gardoš hill for views over Zemun’s red roofs, the Danube and the Belgrade skyline; the tower itself holds a gallery and a viewing platform. Below, the Zemun quay (Zemunski kej) runs along the Danube as a long promenade lined with fish restaurants, cafés and floating barges, a favourite spot for an evening stroll.
Together they make an easy half-day escape from the bustle of central Belgrade.
