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Blogs from Belgrade, West, Serbia, Europe - page 5
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August 25th 2010
Day 9-Belgrade, Serbia 8/25/10 Ditto on the weather. Each day starts in the mid-60s and reaches about 80. No clouds. When we awoke, we were at the dock in Belgrade. After breakfast, we boarded the busses for a city tour. We were surprised at this relatively modern city and wished we could have had more time. The first stop on the bus tour was the old fortress. It was interesting but in most ways just another fort. It did have a number of modern day artillery and tanks on display. I never fully understood the meaning of the tanks but I remember hearing the guide talk about it. Maybe Jackie was listening….I’ll ask her later. The best part of the bus tour was driving in the part of the city where the embassies and Serbian government ... read more
August 24th 2010
Day 8-Sailing Day 8/24/10 Ditto on the weather. How long can this last? Today we sailed all day without stop. There were two river locks, known here as the Iron Gates, that we passed through. This, I guess was the technical highlight of the day. I missed the second as I chose to get a massage. We passed through the lock as I was getting my back rubbed down. I did not see a thing but Jackie said it was interesting as there was a large hydro power plant at the site and the lock bypassed the dam. The most scenic highlight was area known as Danube’s Gorges. These were impressive. We were also surprised to find their version of Mount Rushmore. I can’t remember who was the face carved into the mountain side but it ... read more
August 8th 2010
Once again, it was touch and go as to whether I would even make the flight. I missed the transit bus by seconds from the train station to Luton Airport, was then forced to withdraw cash at the cost of £1.65 to pay for the next transit bus, where I got stuck in the middle of a huge load of people and luggage meaning I was the last person to exit the bus. Ran through the airport, paid for a priority pass to get through security quickly, only to get pulled over and asked to provide a sample of my toothpaste (why do they do this to people with priority passes when such people are obviously in a huge hurry?). For heaven's sake. All that to find out my flight has been delayed by three hours. ... read more
July 14th 2010
Day 9 Budapest to Belgrade So. To start with, anyone who said "yeah right" to my early night comment on the last entry may also now justifiably say "I told you so". But no gloating! Maybe we didn't get an early night but we did have a good time at Champs bar celebrating the world cup. Which we all agreed was positively the most boring game we have seen. We had a little wager (and when I say little, I mean 100Ft each, which is about 30p) but no-one won, so the waitress got a very measly addition to her tip. Oh well. I got the score right, I just picked Holland to win. Can't say anyone was too invested in the game though, as Thomas was watching it at the Spanish Institute and not with ... read more
June 7th 2010
On the train ride to Belgrade, I was accompanied by 2 Canadian girls who were staying at the hostel in Sofia also. When we arrived in Belgrade, one of them met up with her boyfriend, and the other followed me to my hostel. After checking in we decided to try the local Serbian restaurant. The main course was a nice plate of grilled meat, but the highlight was the Serbian salad. It was a mix of tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and hot peppers in vinegar and oil. Sounds simple I’m sure, but it was very tasty. I would end up eating it for just about every meal while in Belgrade. We returned to the hostel and I sat down in the common room with my laptop. I was pretty tired after the train ride and was expecting ... read more
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Long Flights, Rushed Rome and Booze in Belgrade
Published: May 22nd 2010Europe » Serbia » West » BelgradeMay 22nd 2010
How do we even begin to sum up the last 2 days...The flights were uneventful and Kristie did pretty well all things considering, although there may be some residual minor brain damage due to her forgetting to breath and Peg's hand is sore from being squeezed so often. For a time we thought that Rome would become the journey for the most expensive ice cream ever. It was clearly obvious that none of us understood subways and public transit. We found the train, which was 30 minutes late, and got into Rome fairly easily, then walked a maze of tunnels to get the Metro. We ended up going in the wrong direction, but with the route well marked near the door we rather assumed it was a loop or would simply reverse and head in the ... read more
May 22nd 2010
Eileen: Well, where do I start? Richard, Jane, Peg and Kristy went to the bar across the street after dinner last night and did not get in till 4:00 in the morning. Mugs and I were sleeping in our comfey beds. Who was the first one up this morning? Jane, two hours before everyone else who got up at 11:oo am. We went to the local grocery store to shop for breakfast and it was facinating. The bread is out of this world, Bread everywhere, every color, kind, shape and flavor. I think this is where the saying bread is the staff of life came from. Jane cooked us up eggs and bacon, we had bread , bananas and the best sweets we found in a window at street level with a woman standing in the ... read more
March 30th 2010
BEOGRADE Day 69 My train was an hour late arriving, which isn’t too bad because I got to sleep a little longer. It still got me in super early in the morning so that I would have to wait for the ticket office to open so that I can arrange my next night train to Montenegro. After many hours of waiting I finally got my ticket and was free to check out Belgrade for the day. My first stop on my tour of Belgrade was St. Marko church. It has an amazing candelabra / chandelier thingy. It was interesting to see the amount of people that were entering just to offer their prayers to the different stations of saints set up around the church. And it was people of all ages. It is hard to ... read more
February 24th 2010
26th May ‘09: Where are all my Happy Birthday comments then, eh? Rotters.. To Belgrade, then. There is a dilapidated air about this former capital of Yugoslavia; the Partizan Stadium, at least, could do with sprucing up. The toilets are mirrorless and, if truth be told, they are toiletless; gaping holes in the floor and no toilet paper is hardly cricket for rock n roll crew. And it's hot today, mercilessly hot - by 7.30am, I’m drenched with sweat. Blasted forklift drivers are screaming around the place side-shifting staging pallets, waking up the remaining slumbering truckers. Namibian, however, is jovially filming everything this morning. ‘Come into Catering again Barny - I'm sending this video to my dad,’ he orders. So I walk in again, feigning surprise at seeing Namibian, ostensibly for the first time. His narration ... read more
November 1st 2009
Finally made it in to the Rajkovic heartland... Had a crazy taxi ride from the Airport (as one would expect) and checked in to teh Hotel where for the first time in my life I wasn't asked to spell my surname! that was worth the plane fare alone.... Considering it's only 10 years since the city was bombed by NATO it has recovered reasonably well although as I was told before I arrived it is the most nonsensical mish mash of architecture and buiiolding you have ever seen. The peopel are generally friendly if not a little oportunistic, although it appears that tourism is still a relatively new thing to Belgrade, and it shows. Despite that the city was reasonably easy to get around, and the crazy public transport system somehoe manages to work. Saw the ... read more
