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 [View Full Entry]

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In April 2005 Joca and I went to Mokra Gora over weekend. Close to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, this mountain if famous for the Šargan Eight (Serbian: Шарганска осмица), a narrow heritage scenic railway, running from the village of Mokra Gora to Šargan Vitasi station. It was build after the World War I as part of the line Belgrade-Sarajevo. The climb over the mountain was an engineering masterpiece: from Uzice to the summit the height difference was 240 metres; it was 3.5 km dire [View Full Entry]

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We arrived back at the Bus Station in Belgrade, after 3 days in the north. The arrivals is across the road in a separate section and the missing onslaught of taxi touts from the airport are all there in force. We ignored the clamour and proceeded to walk up the hill towards Republic Square to get a bus to our accommodation - a word of warning if carrying a large rucksack, the hill is steep! One of the things we didn't accomplish in the previous few days, was go to the Nicola Tesla Museum (200 dinars). He was basically the father [View Full Entry]

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Belgrade - apart from a few perceptive pieces in the travel sections of the weekend broadsheet newspapers and a growing reputation amongst the dedicated followers of the club scene, it doesn’t usually get a glowing press. As a rule, it seems to suffer from the reputation which the previous tensions in the area brought about and unfortunately our visit coincided with some more international bad press after football related violence before a Europa League game in mid September and threatened violence around a subsequently banned civil rights march. I had read a number of pieces of travel l [View Full Entry]

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After some ticketing hassles in Vienna, we made it through to Belgrade and had 6 hrs to kill. Of course we decided to make a short visit to the city. Negotiations started as soon as we stepped out of the arrivals lounge, with the first taxi offer being about ten times what was suggested by the trusty Lonely Planet. We opted for the 500 Dina option of the airport bus. Nothing to see on the trip into town through the aroma suggested the urgent need for innovations in personal hygiene. The bus dropped us in a dingy part of town where [View Full Entry]

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I figured that if I were to go to a completely unfamilar place with a different alphabet, I may as well make friends before getting on the train. It so happens, Liam, this scottish fellow was that very person. Safety in numbers and all that. Ended up having him tag along back to the hostel, and fortunately, he'd brought some cyrillic translations, or I'd have been that much more disoriented. Like Italy, nearly everything I wanted to go to was closed because it was Monday. But, unlike Italy, the clubs are absolutely packed monday nights. So Liam and a bunch of [View Full Entry]

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DAY 103 Flying to Belgrade this morning!! We are on our own for the next month. No more having to fit into other peoples schedules. We are up at 5:45 and leave the hotel at 7:00AM. We take the metro to the bus station. It's an hour ride to the airport. We are flying JAT airlines. This is the Serbian Airlines. We have no idea what to expect, but everything seems to be just like all the others. Going through security they pull out our water bottles and my hand cleanser that is 110 ml bottle, although is not full. They [View Full Entry]

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After catching an overnight bus from Sarajevo (leaving at 10pm, arriving at 6am) I was ready for sleep. Partially because of the usual restless night that you would associate with overnight traveling and partially due to an annoying American that wouldn't stop talking to me and who decided it would be a good idea to have a conversation at 4am when im trying to sleep, arrgh! Although I was tired, I knew that rest was not an option. I had been 'umming and arring' about whether Belgrade (which is where I was btw) was worth a night or two. I had [View Full Entry]

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Београд, Beograd or Belgrade, Serbia We decided to travel to Serbia earlier than originally planned after finding out about the Schengen Rules for travel in the EU. We thought we would leave the Schengen area for a while now rather than later. Without much notice, two very nice women in Belgrade accepted our request to couchsurf with them. Tina and Lily, roommates and architecture students at the University of Beograd currently living in a student dorm so generously offered to let us stay with them. However, when we arrived in Belgrade (by way of a ve [View Full Entry]

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Belgrade day 4-5 (July 1-2) A very local train to Belgrade (plastic seats) but comfortable enough for the short journey. Then a half hour local bus to our hotel, who didn’t have our booking and they were full from having the European Youth Games in town. While our leader sorted it out, we went in search of coffee and a toilet (the hotel refused to let us use theirs!). Fortunately, the coffee shop had no problems letting us use their toilet, even before we’d ordered so our faith in Serbian hospitality was restored. We took taxi’s to the alternate hotel that [View Full Entry]

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