Blogs from Serbia, Europe - page 25

A quick update for our time in Belgrade and I must say we didn't get up to much at all really.. To tell you the truth we didn't think that it was a very nice place at all Belgrade. The buildings were not the best and really grey although there were a couple of very nice buildings to be seen! When walking through the city we came across a few bombed out buildings that were quite interesting to see and in front of one of them there was a protest going on and they were after money they are owed from the 99 NATO was. That is the kind of city it is Belgrade but our hostel was awsome though! Free beer and spirits in a hostel was a real surprise! Also the food there is ... read more

De trein van Istanboel naar Belgrado houdt 9 uren halt in Sofia. Niet volgens het reisschema dat we in het station zien hangen, wel volgens de conducteur die ons dit komt vertellen als de trein pas vertrokken is. We zullen een nachtje later toekomen in Belgrado maar zo hebben we wel de kans om onze benen te strekken in Sofia. Op het eerste zicht lijkt de stad opgetrokken uit Oostblokgrijs en fastfoodrood. Sofia weet ons niet direct te bekoren. Na dit korte intermezzo in Sofia doen we een tournee in Servië. We starten in Belgrado. Een stad gelijkaardig aan Sofia maar ze weet ons toch meer te charmeren: het is hier een stuk levendiger. Er is duidelijk al meer geïnvesteerd in gezelligheid en voetgangersvriendelijke straatjes waarlangs de jonge deernes paraderen: het is een kwestie van zien ... read more

The Old Serbian Train The train from Thessaloniki was stinking hot. The seat covers were a nice shade of brown so there was no telling how disgustingly dirty they really were. There was no air con, just open windows and curtains that would flap in the wind. We had seats though. The 3 of us shared one cabin and thought we may even sleep that night. The cabin seats six, so when you fold the seats down can sleep three, kinda. We had about an hour and a half to the "Macedonian" (F.Y.R.O.M.) border. Kell and I were slightly nervous but Dejan was confident that we wouldn't have a problem. When we arrived at the border a policeman came and took everyones passports and headed off to his little room to run their checks. Everyone took ... read more

So the train I was originally getting from Sophia to Belgrade never actually turned up so I had to wait around another 8 hours to leave. The train then was about 4 hours late getting into Belgrade which, though not a problem for me, caused loads of people to miss their connecting trains. Whenever any of the backpackers asked when we would actually arrive all the ticket inspector would do was to laugh which makes me think that the rail timetables in these parts are simply a formality and should never actually be taken as any indication of the time you'll actually arrive. Serbia was completely different from what I was expecting after seeing all the troubles on the news only a few years before. The city of Belgrade has very few physical reminders of the ... read more

In the words of Ian Oliver, translated on the internet, "Behold, come down percussion hammer". PROLOGUE Serbia, Serbia, Serbia. Ah Serbia. In order to fully appreciate our experience the reader should imagine a constant stream of beautiful, leggy, 6ft1 women. Now, with that in mind, the blog may begin. We arrived in Belgrade after a lengthy 13 hour overnight train journey, in our own 3 person sleeper cabins, which we were slightly ill at ease about, particuarly as we stood on the platform surrounded by a gaggle of very suspicious looking characters. They, we later discovered after later observation by means of the train window, were in fact smuggling all manner of goods. Despite our shuddering terror, the journey turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable. From the moment we arrived in Belgrade we could tell it ... read more