Advertisement
Published: December 29th 2006
Edit Blog Post
The bus driver seemed to be under the wierd impression that we liked to sleep under tropical climate so he made sure that the temperature in the bus wouldn't drop below 35C which made sleep not very comfortable/impossible. Fortunately after a few hours of this treatment someone managed to convince the driver that putting the temperature at "sauna" level was a bit excessive afterwhich, a peaceful night ensued.
I was dropped in a bus station in Belgrade slightly before 6AM and it took me quite a while to figure out how the tram system worked. In fact I didn't exactly get it until the next day. I bought a ticket from a stall but when I eventually found the tram stop and got on the one which was supposed to go near the hostel I was planning to stay at, I found that the machine that is supposed to punch the ticket didn't work. I got off since if you're caught with an unpunched ticket you're fined like 60 euros and then tried another tram with the same result. This time I tried my luck and no one checked it. I realized only the next day that the punch machines
Citadel 3
Cool towers were manual, not automatic like all the ones I had seen in my life so far: welcome to eastern europe!
I found the guesthouse which was in an apartment block close to the Belgrade citadel. It's called Star hostel and it feel less like a hostel than crashing at your friend's place. It's a small place so you get to know everyone pretty quickly.
I walked around town in the morning, having a visit to the pedestrian alley, visiting the park close to the Kalemegdan citadel and the citadel itself. Belgrade is situated at the meeting point of the Sava and Danube river and is They have wonderful view down the Danube from the top.
In the afternoon I got back to the hostel and talked with one of the brother who runs it and Heke, a finnish guy. We had a few interesting conversations about the Kosovo problem. The hostel owner (can't remember his name) said that if any serb president accept kosovo independance he's dead, it was not a threat simply a fact. He was not apologectic about what happened in Kosovo and was extremely angry about the NATO bombing on Serbia, the 2004 riots
Serbs love their weapon
Museum of war was nearby in Kosovo where nobody cared to defend the serbs and nothing has been done to punish the people who murdered. It's not that his points were all not valid, it's just that he never wanted to see the other side of things. He was quick to point out albanians hypocrisy but was blind to the serb's. I quickly got bored of the conversation.
Mic arrived at this point and cheered up the mood. He had left Sarajevo one day before me and we had agreed to go to the same hostel. A few more people arrived after, a canadian guy and his kiwi girlfriend, a girl from vancouver who were all leaving on overnight transport that night and finally Manos the Greek, the "modern Moliere" as he describes himself. Manos was quite a character. He had set a percentage of "beautiful women" for almost every country in Europe. Apparently Serbia is 38% beautiful, Estonia 36% and Greece a mere 16%. He loved the new discount airlines which allowed him to spend the weekend in different countries to, as he said, "taste different flavours". Quite a funny guy.
I didn't feel like going out that night, the 3 previous
night in Sarajevo had tired me out but I stuck around the hostel chatting with people. A punk girl from Chicago arrived late when Manos was giving us all a lesson in Greek propaganda (his own term) that was quite entertaining and thoroughly greek (albanians, turks and people who live in Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (don't you dare call it Macedonia!!!) are bad people!).
The girl from Chicago annoyed us all. She was trying to talk all the time over other people to say stupid stuff like: "My students (she's an english teacher in Hungary) are so stupid, they've been learning english for years at school yet they can't speak properly", "Everybody hates me in Hungary" or (talking to Heke) "So you travel all the way from home to go on the internet?". Stupid judgmental and annoying are the nicest words I can say for her.
Anyway, Manos Heke and Mic decided to go out at like midnight but I was really tired so despite wanting to experience Belgrade's famed nightlife (and women) I decided to call it a night. Apparently they had quite a lot of fun.
The next day I woke up at like
11AM only shortly before Heke and Mic. I had decided to leave Belgrade tonight and head to Romania already. I wish I had more time but I have to be in Egypt by a certain date which leaves me with little time for europe, the cold of europe is getting to me and Romania really interest me. We decided to head out to eat but it took much longer than planned so that by the time we were done I just had enough time to buy my train ticket but not enough to go have a look at Tito's mausoleum before my train in the afternoon. Bugger.
Wow, I think that qualify as my most boring entry ever. Yay!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.164s; Tpl: 0.045s; cc: 11; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0803s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
njtry
non-member comment
russian?
just that church is not russian ;-) and you missed the best part of belgrade life - didn`t really meet anyone and didnt go out... maybe thats why it is boring entry...