Blogs from West, Serbia, Europe - page 12

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

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

There's no need to write a lot about this mountain area, because you can see how beautiful and peaceful it is from my pictures. We were there in early Spring (March), so forests and hills just started turning all shades of green, but such fresh, clean air and excellent food made our week as relaxing as it can get. While we were on Zlatibor, we made a short trip to see Mecavnik on Mokra Gora mountain, which is a resort created by Emir Kusturica, famous Serbian film director. The reason why people go to see it, even if not staying there, is the way it was built, since it looks like an old Serbian village with huts and houses completely made of wood, but with a special Kusturica touch, which you can easily notice, if you've ... 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

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 direct line but by rail it was 15.4 km; the average gradient was 18% and there were 20 tunnels. Steam trains are the main attraction but we preferred to walk. We visited locations where Kusturica’s 2004 film “Life is a miracle” was made. There is a small hotel “Mokra Gora”, where ... read more