There are two things that will always remind me of the Serbian countryside. One is huge plains with fields and fields of sunflowers which have bloomed and dried up, so there are all these drooping heads crammed into each field. The other is the total opposite – gorges with sheer grey stone cliffs. The sunflowers were the north and the gorges were the south, and both were really beautiful.
Belgrade was pretty chilled. We’d been told by someone in Novy Sad that Belgrade wasn’t as nice as Novy Sad because it was much busier and had lots more people. Which was partly true, it was certainly busier and had more people. However, I quite liked it.
It’s much hillier than anywhere else we’ve been so far. It wasn’t actually very far from the train station to our hotel, but we got taxis because it was so hilly and the roads are so busy. There are also a lot more stray dogs than what I’m used to. There was one in particular that latched onto us at the railway station. It was a reasonably big dog. There was one taxi leaving, and Cameron was in the front seat talking out the window to this dog (hello doggy! Who’s a good boy?!), and I believe the dog was trying to get in his window. It was up on its hind legs with its front legs on the windowsill, even as the taxi drove off. When its back legs couldn’t keep up it dropped down and started running along behind the car. We completely expected to see the dog at the hotel when we got there, but evidently they lost it in the traffic.
The driving in this part of the world is… interesting. They don’t seem to be that fussed on road rules, not like we are in NZ where there’s a clear rule for every situation. They also don’t appear to be very patient. We were behind an old car that I think had stalled trying to do a hill start on this huge angle, and everybody was tooting and gesticulating out the windows and yelling and cutting around them, across whatever lane they feel like.
However, we made it to the hotel with all our limbs and baggage and without the dog.
That evening all we did was go into town and have dinner. Again, there’s a great big pedestrian mall in the centre of town, with pavement cafes all along it. I had dinner at one of them with Kat and Cameron and Marsha. Dinner was very relaxed, and Kat definitely won the competition for picking the best thing on the menu, although I don’t remember what she had, I just remember all of us being jealous of it. I think all we did after that was wander back along the pedestrian mall to the hotel.
The next morning, we went to the fortress (hmm, sounds familiar). We had a wander around the grounds which are quite large and park-like and have nice views over town, and through the military museum. Kat and I walked in one door, straight through and out the other; we’d had enough war stuff in the previous few countries. Some of the others on the tour thought it was very good though. They had a huge collection of weapons, including a bomb that was taller than me (and I’m no shorty).
I don’t think we did much for the afternoon. Sara took us on a city walk, and showed us the important churches and the site of the old public library which had been bombed and then fenced off without any rebuilding.
I went off with Kat to see a huge church that they’re in the middle of building, which is beautiful. The bits they have done are all draped in sheets so they don’t get damaged, which I had a great time taking photos of.
Then we went and found a coffee shop and enjoyed the air con and free wifi for a bit. After that I think all we did was go to the hotel for a nap, then meet Cameron and Marsha for dinner. We went to a tavern called “?”, which is reportedly the oldest tavern in the city. I ordered a hamburger. Hamburger over here doesn’t mean the same as hamburger at home. What I got was basically a huge meat patty on a plate. When we finished dinner we went back to the pedestrian mall and people watched and discussed the cows. The cows are everywhere through Belgrade, I think they must be some kind of art installation. I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere else previously.
We had 24hrs in Nis (it usually has an upside down hat over the s and is pronounced “nish”, to rhyme with fish). It took five hours on a train to get there from Belgrade. To be honest, I didn’t think it was a particularly worthwhile stop, I would’ve preferred to spend ten straight hours on the train and have the extra day somewhere else. However, I still enjoyed it. Kat and I spent lots of time with Kylie, and here is what we did:
1. Eat
2. Drink
3. Sleep
4. Repeat
It was pretty awesome. They also have a fortress and a big pedestrian mall through the centre of town. The main restaurant street is called Tinker’s Alley, and it’s also a pedestrian mall. We went there for lunch and dinner and drinking. There was also a concentration camp, and a monument decorated with human skulls. I did not go to either of them. I did walk into the fortress to find a Serbia postcard to send to Nana, but there wasn’t a lot to see. It’s basically a local park with stone walls now.
What was cool was that we were on the 14th floor of the hotel. I don’t think Kat’s forgiven me yet though. We were given a room with a double bed and a couch on the 8th floor, and the room was really nice and had a separate lounge room and a nice bathroom, but I didn’t see the two of us sharing the double bed or either of us wanting the couch, so I went and spoke to Sara who organised with the reception desk for us (and the other three pairs who’d had the same thing happen) to change to twin rooms. The twin rooms were pretty crap, which I think was the problem Kat had. And I do agree, it was pretty bullshit that the doubles were so nice and big and comfortable and the rooms they swapped us to were small and had hard beds and crap bathrooms, even though the mix-up was the hotel’s fault. I didn’t try lying on the couch but Sara said she sat down on the one in her room and it sank almost to the floor, so it would’ve been a very uncomfortable night.
So anyway, I loved our room on the top floor because the hotel was by far the highest building in town, and we could see for miles. Also there must’ve been an air force base somewhere nearby, because there were jets going around and around over the town all afternoon and into the evening. They’d fly for an hour or so, land, then go up again, two at a time. I think they were student pilots. When they came in to land they flew right over the top of our hotel. It was awesome.
Belgrade was pretty chilled. We’d been told by someone in Novy Sad that Belgrade wasn’t as nice as Novy Sad because it was much busier and had lots more people. Which was partly true, it was certainly busier and had more people. However, I quite liked it.
It’s much hillier than anywhere else we’ve been so far. It wasn’t actually very far from the train station to our hotel, but we got taxis because it was so hilly and the roads are so busy. There are also a lot more stray dogs than what I’m used to. There was one in particular that latched onto us at the railway station. It was a reasonably big dog. There was one taxi leaving, and Cameron was in the front seat talking out the window to this dog (hello doggy! Who’s a good boy?!), and I believe the dog was trying to get in his window. It was up on its hind legs with its front legs on the windowsill, even as the taxi drove off. When its back legs couldn’t keep up it dropped down and started running along behind the car. We completely expected to see the dog at the hotel when we got there, but evidently they lost it in the traffic.
The driving in this part of the world is… interesting. They don’t seem to be that fussed on road rules, not like we are in NZ where there’s a clear rule for every situation. They also don’t appear to be very patient. We were behind an old car that I think had stalled trying to do a hill start on this huge angle, and everybody was tooting and gesticulating out the windows and yelling and cutting around them, across whatever lane they feel like.
However, we made it to the hotel with all our limbs and baggage and without the dog.
That evening all we did was go into town and have dinner. Again, there’s a great big pedestrian mall in the centre of town, with pavement cafes all along it. I had dinner at one of them with Kat and Cameron and Marsha. Dinner was very relaxed, and Kat definitely won the competition for picking the best thing on the menu, although I don’t remember what she had, I just remember all of us being jealous of it. I think all we did after that was wander back along the pedestrian mall to the hotel.
I don’t think we did much for the afternoon. Sara took us on a city walk, and showed us the important churches and the site of the old public library which had been bombed and then fenced off without any rebuilding.
I believe that we then wandered over to have a look at the local market, which went for miles and sold everything you could ask for. We found a lovely man selling fruit who gave us a free plum each even though we hadn’t bought anything. We’d seen these plums around the place before then but hadn’t tried them. Their skin looks blue, but when we bit into them they had really yellow, sugary tasting flesh. So Kat went back to buy some and tried to give him the equivalent of about 50c, and he gave her two or three times the amount she wanted.
Then we went and found a coffee shop and enjoyed the air con and free wifi for a bit. After that I think all we did was go to the hotel for a nap, then meet Cameron and Marsha for dinner. We went to a tavern called “?”, which is reportedly the oldest tavern in the city. I ordered a hamburger. Hamburger over here doesn’t mean the same as hamburger at home. What I got was basically a huge meat patty on a plate. When we finished dinner we went back to the pedestrian mall and people watched and discussed the cows. The cows are everywhere through Belgrade, I think they must be some kind of art installation. I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere else previously.
We had 24hrs in Nis (it usually has an upside down hat over the s and is pronounced “nish”, to rhyme with fish). It took five hours on a train to get there from Belgrade. To be honest, I didn’t think it was a particularly worthwhile stop, I would’ve preferred to spend ten straight hours on the train and have the extra day somewhere else. However, I still enjoyed it. Kat and I spent lots of time with Kylie, and here is what we did:
1. Eat
2. Drink
3. Sleep
4. Repeat
It was pretty awesome. They also have a fortress and a big pedestrian mall through the centre of town. The main restaurant street is called Tinker’s Alley, and it’s also a pedestrian mall. We went there for lunch and dinner and drinking. There was also a concentration camp, and a monument decorated with human skulls. I did not go to either of them. I did walk into the fortress to find a Serbia postcard to send to Nana, but there wasn’t a lot to see. It’s basically a local park with stone walls now.
What was cool was that we were on the 14th floor of the hotel. I don’t think Kat’s forgiven me yet though. We were given a room with a double bed and a couch on the 8th floor, and the room was really nice and had a separate lounge room and a nice bathroom, but I didn’t see the two of us sharing the double bed or either of us wanting the couch, so I went and spoke to Sara who organised with the reception desk for us (and the other three pairs who’d had the same thing happen) to change to twin rooms. The twin rooms were pretty crap, which I think was the problem Kat had. And I do agree, it was pretty bullshit that the doubles were so nice and big and comfortable and the rooms they swapped us to were small and had hard beds and crap bathrooms, even though the mix-up was the hotel’s fault. I didn’t try lying on the couch but Sara said she sat down on the one in her room and it sank almost to the floor, so it would’ve been a very uncomfortable night.
So anyway, I loved our room on the top floor because the hotel was by far the highest building in town, and we could see for miles. Also there must’ve been an air force base somewhere nearby, because there were jets going around and around over the town all afternoon and into the evening. They’d fly for an hour or so, land, then go up again, two at a time. I think they were student pilots. When they came in to land they flew right over the top of our hotel. It was awesome.
Overall I really enjoyed Serbia. It's definitely one of those places I never expected to find myself!
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