Six Poplars Swimming Area | Old Belgrade Stories

Can you imagine a time when the Sava River in Belgrade was so clean that its water could be consumed?!

Although from today's perspective, that sounds unbelievable, the truth is that until World War II and immediately after it, the largest "Yugoslav" river along its entire course, from its source in the Slovenian Alps to its confluence with the Danube in Belgrade, was so clean and unpolluted that it's hard to imagine today.

Those were the times when there was no industry or factories in the Sava basin discharging their wastewater directly into the river, when there were no rafts and restaurants whose sewage mostly ended up in the river, and when the cities and settlements along the Sava were much smaller, allowing the river to naturally self-purify.

Even then, as today, the Sava River attracted the people of Belgrade like a magnet. In the area of today's Sajam, which was then a suburb upstream of the city, there was a famous bathing spot called "Šest topola" (Six Poplars).

Professor Aleksandar Ajzinberg, in one of his books, testifies to the popularity of this excursion spot in the years before World War II and immediately after its end, before the massive construction and expansion of Belgrade. The "Šest topola" bathing spot actually consisted of three smaller bathing areas or, as they used to say, "bathhouses."

The so-called "Municipal Bathhouse" was an organized beach that could accommodate about 1,000 swimmers. It was mostly frequented by families or, as one would say, "decent people."

About fifty meters downstream, there was a beautiful wooden raft painted in green, called "Smiljevo," with two enclosed pools for swimmers and rental cabins. It was mainly visited by elderly Belgraders who had been bathing there for generations, even before World War II.

Further downstream, there was a third bathing spot, known as "Signal." According to stories, it was frequented by newcomers, people who had started moving to Belgrade shortly after the war and who stood out from the rest due to their regional accents and lack of regard for order and cleanliness on the beach. All three groups enjoyed the summer on the Sava, from morning till night.

In the following years of the "industrial revolution" in the former country, the fairgrounds emerged in the area where the "Šest topola" bathing spot used to be, with numerous exhibition halls that still stand there today. Only a restaurant bearing the symbolic name "Šest topola" serves as a reminder of the former bathing spot.