Belgrade and more...

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Belgrade


The train from Sofia to Belgrade was the worst ever and I was on it for 11 hours! Really dirty, people smoking in the carriages, and a police raid half way through; I found out later they found a load of brown paper bags stashed inside the seats of one carriage, presumably something on its way from Istanbul to Western Europe. In the end it wasn't so bad, it was just me and one Serbian guy in the carriage, having a kind of half conversation with what little English he knew and my phrasebook. My couchsurfing host met me at the station which I was so grateful for because I was knackered! Jelena (pronounced Yelena) lives about 30 minutes from the centre of Belgrade and I didn't fancy navigating by myself at night after 11 hours on a train. She told me she doesn't normally go out at night because in her neighbourhood are packs of stray dogs and she has been bitten twice coming back late at night. She is scared to go out at night.

Now all the negative stuff is over, I have to say that I really like Belgrade, and despite smelly trains and mangy dogs, I recommend going there! Jelena walked me into the town centre in the morning, we saw the cathedral on the way and ate a Serbian hamburger. We saw some Roma kids playing in a fountain and stopped off a book vendor where I brought a National Geographic with an article about the Roma. We walked on to Trg Republika and the pedestrian street in the centre. We walked down the street to another church and saw the famous ? cafe. Then Jelena left me to wander on my own. I went to a park where there is a fortress with amazing views of the rivers and it has Roman remains. I went to sleep for a while on the grass - it was a hot day, 24 degrees - and walked all the way around the fortress. At the entrance (which of course I ended up getting to last), was a long row of military machinery, all shapes and sizes.

That evening I met up with Jelena, another couchsurfer Angels from Spain, who lives in Belgrade teaching Spanish, and her couchsurfing guest from Germany/Turkey, on his way to Istanbul. We had a couple of drinks and a nice chat and a Serbian pancake. Unfortunately due to Jelena's fear of stray dogs we left pretty early, but it was lovely to meet the two couchsurfers.

Next morning I went for another walk around the town. I found the Bohemian street, preserved in the centre of bustling Belgrade its like entering another world, pretty shops and cafes on a tranquil pedestrian street lined with trees and fountains, very chilled! I wandered around the old town and Student park, had a coke in a cute cafe, and walked back up the main pedestrian street. I headed back to Jelenas and cooked some food.

That evening we went to a couchsurfing meeting in a really cool bar, covered in plants and running water, complete with resident cat! About 11 people came to the meeting from Serbia, America, Italy, France, Germany and of course, Me! I had a good chat with 3 Serbians and the Italian girl, was a lovely meeting!


Back to Budapest


I was meeting up with my friend from home, Matt, in Bratislava on the 18th, so had to head back up towards Bucharest. I travelled with an Australian girl, Beck for about two weeks and we met in Budapest while she was waiting for a package to arrive in the post. It still hadn't arrived when we left so I told her I would go back to Budapest on my way to Bratislava and see if I could get it for her. I stayed with the same host I did before, Guillaume, and of course the package wasn't there, but we had a good evening anyway! I met Guillaume's girlfriend Kati, a sweet girl who looks just like a young Winona Rider, and we went out for a pizza. Guillaume is French and Kati is Hungarian studying French at university. They are such a sweet couple! We had a fun night chatting, eating the best pizza in Budapest (yes- VERY good!) and walking around in the rain for ages. We stopped at a bar and had a shot of the local liquor, which I have forgotten again what it is called! We headed home and watched 'The Hangover' on the laptop - very funny!


Bratislava, Slovakia


In the morning I got on the train to Bratislava and met a lovely Portuguese couple on the train. I met Matt at the station, I hadn't seen him for about two years, since I left Swansea! But I have known Matt for a long time because we used to do Gangshow together and my first show was 1997, so that's like 13 years! We went for a walk in the town and ate at a cheap cafeteria type restaurant, pretty good! The old town was so picturesque it was gorgeous! It was so clean, the buildings perfect, it felt like being in Europe again after the roughness of Eastern Europe! There was a man in the old town square playing ''Hotel California'' on a hundred instruments at once, clever! We walked up to the castle for a view of the river and the old town. In the distance you can see all the communist block buildings lined up, they really stand out compared to the cute little old town. We walked back to the station and had an ice cream.


Back to Vienna

Vienna is about 1 hour on the train from Bratislava so I asked my friend Astrid if Matt and I could stay there the night. I love Astrid so much it was amazing to see her again! We chatted all night and ate Astrid's Grandmothers bread and goats cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil. We talked until 2am and then Astrid's boyfriend Christian came in, just arriving home from a sailing trip in Croatia, with 20 bottles of beer! Eventually we got to sleep, Matt was falling asleep on the table because he had been up all night the night before and been travelling all day! In the morning we talked for ages again and so Matt never actually got to see any of Vienna, because then we got the train to Slovenia....

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