Serbia, a different destination

Naples-Munich-Belgrade

Prologue: as usual a few days before departure, I gather what's needed for the trip: the tickets, the medical insurance, the passports...but where are they??? Could it be I left them in the backpack after the last trip to Turkey and Bulgaria? And Manu washed them..noooooooo!!! they're all swapped and mouldy—and now what!???. The next day we do a tour de force to the police headquarters of Naples and Caserta and thanks to their immense kindness and helpfulness we manage to get the passports in two days...thank goodness!!!!. In the morning we wake up at 4:30, prepare the last things and quickly go down; the plane leaves at 8:00 from Naples and thanks to my sister I even manage to save on parking...thanks Dany!!. The plane leaves late because of the fog (but how—we're in Naples?), let's hope for the best because the connection with Belgrade is very tight.

Fortunately everything goes smoothly and we're in Belgrade on time; at customs the woman at the passport office looks at us with suspicion..we have a passport issued on 12/10/06, the day before; we explain our problem and there goes the stamp (even though she asks for the old one, and I...why should I carry it with me??). After the check we pick up our luggage and withdraw cash (max 20000 din at 1 euro=81 din); just outside there's the very convenient JAT bus that for 160 din takes us to the train station (20 min); from there we decide to stay at the Hotel Postal where we take a double for 3150 din (the room is rather simple but ok. Unlike what's written in the beautiful Serbia guide (Bradt, better than Lonely Planet), registration with the police is still done but no receipt is issued.

We go down, buy a phone card and call Italy, where you have to dial 9939 instead of 0039; the call with the card is very cheap. From the train station a few steps and we're at the bus station (BAC); obviously everything is written in Cyrillic; we stop at any window and ask for a bus to Sarajevo.... despite being only 340 KM the bus takes about eight hours!!!!!! departures are at 6:15, 7:00, 8:00, 10:00, 11:30 and 13:15. From the station we take a taxi that takes us to the centre for only 170 din; we decide to eat at Big Bull, a butcher's with a very good restaurant below (we eat the usual soups, a beautiful mixed grill of meat and the typical Serbian meatball) where we spend 1270 dinars for two people. From there we continue along the streets of the centre; I must say that Belgrade is a beautiful city full of parks and green areas, and moreover it's spotless!!.

At the end of the pedestrian street, near the main park, there are stalls selling beautiful ceramic works; we bought some beautiful little bells.

Belgrade

Today we slept a lot, we really needed it; we go down to the lobby where we have a meagre breakfast of omelettes..., by taxi we return to the main street (Kneza Mihaila), very beautiful, where we stop at one of the many cafés (street of taste, I think) where for 290 din we have two cappuccinos and an excellent chocolate pastry. From there a few steps and we're at the beautiful Kalemegdan, the very large city park located on a hill overlooking the Sava and Danube rivers. As soon as we enter the immaculately kept park (English lawn and lots of colourful flowers). We stop near the statue dedicated to France, where there are street stalls run by old ladies selling beautiful crochet work. Meanwhile Manu tries to photograph a squirrel busy looking for food.

We head towards the castle located in the centre of the hill; from the main gate you can see the clock tower; once inside there's the open-air military museum (free like everything here in Serbia), where tanks and cannons are displayed. Entering the castle you come to a terrace where you enjoy a fantastic panorama over the Sava and the Danube; from there a few steps to visit the two Orthodox churches located on the east side. Having left the castle we go to visit the ethnographic museum (100 din), and then we head towards the artists' street, that is Skadarska, but it's definitely not the time—we'll pass by in the evening. We eat something along the way and head to the church of St Sava, very beautiful, all white; the peculiarity of this church is that although construction began around the middle of the nineteenth century, the numerous wars prevented its completion.

Towards the end of 2005 the exterior was completed; the interior, as said, is under construction and I must say that visiting an unfinished church gives a strange feeling. After our outing we go again to the bus station to buy the tickets for Sarajevo, 2750 din (two people); we'll leave tomorrow at 8:00 and arrive at 16:00; on the tickets the gate and seat are indicated, plus a token is handed over for access to the coach park. Afterwards we go to the Orthodox cathedral and from there again to Kalemegdan to admire a fantastic sunset over the Danube; at a certain point we notice a crowd of people around a bench; we go closer—they're all intent on watching a chess game!!!. We decide to end our day by going to eat at? (that's its name), located in an old building; the food is excellent (1050 for a goulash, potatoes, oven-baked lamb).

Mostar (Bosnia Herzegovina)-Podgorica (Montenegro)

The journey from Nevesinje (Bosnia Herzegovina) lasts four hours; the border with Montenegro is very quiet and there are no problems. The scenery here changes drastically; we've gone from the plains of Serbia to the mountains of BiH, all the way to the classic Mediterranean scenery of Montenegro. The first big city of Montenegro we encounter is Niksic, but first we drive alongside a fantastic lake full of little islands..exceptional, a pity we're only passing through. From Niksic to Podgorica it takes us 1h, and we arrive around 20:00. The bus station is far from the centre and we don't have the guidebook; we decide to sleep near the train/bus station, choosing the Hotel Europa (35 euros per person)...remember that in Montenegro the local currency is the euro, and the difference (in price) is very noticeable.

We decide to go around and after about 10 minutes we're in the centre; I must say Podgorica is awful; personally I think it's really not worth staying here more than one night (even less). We ask about the trains to Belgrade, but we discover that the 11:00 one doesn't exist (another note: unlike Serbia and BiH where the locals bent over backwards just to make themselves understood and help you, you notice that money and tourism have poisoned these people, who don't make the slightest effort to make themselves understood or to understand a guest....it's something I hate) and that departure is at 14:30 (there are two night trains at 20:00 and 22:00 I believe); the journey lasts 7 hours (10 by bus).

Podgorica (Montenegro)-Belgrade

Since we have to leave late we wake up calmly; after all, check-out is at 12:00. At 11:30 we go out and head to the station where we buy the ticket (14 euros plus 1 euro for the reservation). The walk through the centre confirms yesterday's impression; finally we set off; in practice, even though Montenegro recently separated from Serbia, there's no real customs, so there won't be any passport checks. We arrive in Belgrade at 22:20, get off the train and head straight to the Hotel Postal where we fork out the usual 3150 din.

Belgrade-Golubac-Belgrade

Today we have to see the Golubac fortress (the photo is the cover of the Bradt guide); after a good breakfast of the usual cappuccino, we head to the BAC where we buy two tickets for Golubac (1000 din); the bus leaves at 9:00 (there are several) and in less than three hours we're at our destination. I ask the guy at the Golubac ticket office if there's a bus that passes by the castle and he replies that you have to walk and that it's only 5 km (!!!!). Ok, the town of Golubac is on the bank of the very large Danube and in the distance we see the castle, which however gradually disappears as we get closer; the road isn't very easy because there are many bends and obviously there's no pavement.

We arrive at the castle, which is quite nice, if only for its position; the main road passes inside and (being) careful you can climb wherever you like because there's no custodian; the nice part is also going down to the riverbank to admire the panorama. On the way back we're quite tired and decide to hitchhike to return to the town; a very likeable Serb picks us up, speaks excellent English, and during the five minutes that separate us from the station we talk a bit about Serbia and its tourist potential. In the town we stop to eat at the only restaurant, that is the hotel's, where for 1400 din we eat two abundant mixed grills of meat. At 15:20 we take the bus to Belgrade.