Sign In
Blogs from Serbia, Europe - page 6
Advertisement
next time bring wifi device, it's everywhere and i could keep up better
Published: October 18th 2010Europe » Serbia » West » Belgrade
October 18th 2010
let's see: from belgrade, serbia i took the slow train to sarajevo, bosnia/herzogovenia. we crossed through croatia and made all the required passport checks. we even changed train engines at each border? why is beyond me because none was any faster than t'other. at least i added a bunch of stamps to passport, or rather i should have. i have had to just rely on the border guards for my stamps because i don't know what the hell they are doing. i didn't get stamped leaving serbia and worried a bit about this. especially when the croatian border guard balked when she perused my passport and then said "moment" and walked away with passport. i heard her calling in my numbers to check on it. a short while later she returned and stamped passport. don't know ... read more
October 18th 2010
I was alone again - after a couple of weeks travelling in cars, buses and more buses with Jon we finally went our separate ways in Sarajevo. Jon had caught his bus north to Slovenia and I had boarded my flight to Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. I wasn’t expecting much. Belgrade, according to Wikipedia has been battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times. Sounds like they're a combative lot then and now. And I knew that modern Belgrade was extensively bombed during two campaigns in World War II, the first undertaken by the Luftwaffe in 1941, and the latter by Allied air forces in 1944. Oh, and in 1999 it was heavily bombed by NATO, during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 11, ... read more
September 16th 2010
The most memorable thing about travelling is getting a local touch. Unfortunately for the romance seekers out there (you know who you are), I'm not referring to meeting local girls. I mean nothing beats meeting people who live in the place you're visiting, and who take the time to welcome you into their houses, their lives, their worlds. This was especially the case with Serbia. Through a distant contact, we were given the address of a woman in the capital, Belgrade, and she was expecting us. Her name was Violeta and that was all we knew. Getting to her apartment from the station was a major problem, the streets on our map were written in familiar Latin letters, while the actual street signs were written in Cyrillic. Plus it was dark. That photo on the right ... read more
August 27th 2010
Our silent driver took us across Moscow city centre and then down some back roads and into what looked like a disused yard. We looked at each other in the back of the silent man's silent car and thought - the adventure begins here!! Fear not we arrived at the station and what a sight it was. There were loads of Mongolians with boxes upon boxes and mannequins, sacks of plastic u bend pipes and a hell of lot more besides. Mr silent gestured for us to stay in one spot while he went off to find which train we were getting on. He came back pointed and said- yes said- three. He was telling us platform 3. After a few minutes a rush occured and people used sack trucks and trolleys to carry everything towards ... read more
August 26th 2010
Location: Belgrade, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad Length of Stay: 4 Days Cost per Day: $55 I imagine when most people think Serbia or Serbians... their thoughts and images are of the negative variety... Serbia was actually another ok place... and probably a little better set up and organised for the international tourist trade... if the opportunity came up, I would probably be open to return to this one and explore further... Certainly there is an incredible and rich history here... Romans, Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians have all left their mark... thus some of the architecture is quite stunning... in fact its mostly all I have taken photos of... Those that speak English are very friendly... those that dont are not... unfortunately... Serbia does have a train network... The trains are cheaper than the buses however I was warned ... read more
Advertisement
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
July 4th 2010
The flat, black landscape of Hungary blared at me in vibrant stillness as Jitka slept, and I stood next to the open window accompanied by Lawrence's RA podcast (one of my deep house faves whose company on my travels last summer inspired nenahýbejte se z oken), as our decaying rychlík glided around the neverending plains, with the lights of Budapest still glaring at me 100 kilometers distant, and the faraway streetlights from the parallel motorway just seeming to stay as still as the many visible stars, like a backdrop to a SNES game. Momentarily we seemed to be stopping as the sooty Rothko painting was marred by a house or factory, a level crossing, a buzzing network of sidings and having cleared these, we sped up again, hurtling towards the Serbian border at the usual speed ... read more
