Blogs from Belgrade, West, Serbia, Europe - page 12

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

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

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 of modern electricity - although as non-scientists we seemed to have allowed this to by-pass us on the journey through life. After various studies and jobs around Europe, he went to the USA to turn ... read more

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 all expressions were severe but perhaps 2 km away was the lovely Kalemegdan citadel. The buildings we passed on the walk were austere and pretty ugly. Some had once been beautiful but were crumbling now. ... read more

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 heard some pretty average things about it and apparently the only good thing about it was the nightlife and since I was trying to avoid nightlife (need a break) I decided to see Beograde in ... read more