Dancing up the Danube: Part 1

From Sarajevo, we our Journey took us to another war torn fall out from the hedonistic days of the former Yugoslavia, the states former capital, and now capital of Serbia, Belgrade. The journey departing Belgrade left at the bleary eyed time of 6:00am, the previous nights BBQ and beer not encouraging much enthusiasm for a 5:00am awakening. The journey was again sumptuous, bouncing through gorgeous tree filled swathes of aggressive hilly terrain. This included seeing spots marked off by tape, an indication of land mine filled countryside. The final approach to the Serbian border was a captivating lake, which the road followed the lakeside, with gorgeous backdrops of a slightly mountainous view. I had little idea that this lake was part of the border between Bosnia and Serbia, only twigging when the occasional Serbian flag was seen on the other shoreline.

Going through the border was again slightly drawn out. Hutch's desire to get a 'Welcome to Serbia' sign on the border, was less welcoming that he'd imagine, getting frog marched back onto the bus! This was the second land border we had crossed, and the second time Hutch had pissed off a border guard, following his topless approach into Bosnia and the failure to produce the passports in record time, resulting in the border guard in Bosnia to scream at me!

Once through to Serbia, the landscaped changed as did the use of the alphabet; the Serbian's use Cyrillic, the landscape now flatter and less scenic. Poverty also seems to slightly improve, with better established housing and more cars scattered as we headed to Belgrade. Once dropped into Belgrade, another currency was required to ensure we could have the statutory arrival beer; The Serbian Dinar, with a conversion rate of ~150 to the pound.

In a scorching hot Belgrade, we were due to meet a friend who was on a 6 month placement. The last time I had seen her, she was in New York on a different placement. What a contrast, but nonetheless, we were in Belgrade, and Charlotte Read had foolishly agreed to not only meet us, but host us. Before the rendezvous, we had a meander through Belgrade (via a split toe nail for me; lesson, don't wear flip flops on undulating pavements in Belgrade), and settled at a recommended lunching spot. To our surprise, the traditional menu hosted:

• A Calf's Head in Tripe
• White Glands (Bulls Sex Glands)

Once opting for and consuming less outrageous food, we departed in a taxi to Boleč. We arrived to a jubilant Charlotte, who was glad to see English people. Once having a beer and idle chatter, we worked our way into downtown Belgrade, ready to experience the reputed party capital of Europe.


There was no disappointment. We stumbled upon a frantic private party on a boat on the Danube and were welcomed to the party by the ever so stocious Ivan. The back drop from the boat was the gorgeous Kalemegdan Park and more of Belgrade. We partied hard until 6:00 and knew it would soon be time to go, when Ivan was carried off the boat looking pretty ill. Ivan will forever be known from this trip as Ivan the Terrible after the former Grand Prince of Moscow. Belgrade didn't disappoint for nightlife; we were there on a Monday night, and the appetite was buoyant and the locals welcoming and encouraging to our requirement for a party!!


When we gently awoke, we got ready and headed off, but not before being struck but something strange. Rain! It was the first time on the tour we had experienced it, and thank goodness for my borrowed Anderlecht jacket. After a tour of the previous nights back drop, Kalemegdan, and other pivotal sights in the city, we headed into the bohemian quarter Skadarlija for a final beer in the city before heading back to Boleč to go to the station for our next Danube destination: Budapest. The final beer was a thanks and fairwell to Charlotte for hosting and joining us; Hutch and I have offered a reunion meal upon Charlotte's return to Nottingham.

Once aboard our new host, we settled into our sleeper carriage and started consuming the couple of beers we had for the journey. Upon departing Novi Sad, a sudden flashing and banging occurred (I know I've mentioned this in a previous stat post, but for continuation I will include in this post). Initially I thought it was some firework being launched towards us, but this flashing and banging continued for 30 seconds or more, I started to fear for my life; we were in Serbia, and the possibility of coming under attack was high. As soon as it had started, it disappeared, the train coming to a sudden halt during the 'attack'. After some moments, we were informed that it was from the high voltage electric cable. It had fallen onto the train, causing high powered static and plasma explosions. The fact the cable had come down on our carriage accentuated the visual and sound quality. To also find it hanging precariously outside our window was not only confirmation, but fascinating. 

Whilst we were looking out, Hutch noticed another curious passenger poking his head out, further up the carriage; he too had the cable, but hadn't seen it's proximity to his head; centimeters. Hutch pointed this out, and the passenger had a sudden jump and was panicked. Accordingly, Hutch was rewarded a hero; he had just saved this dudes life.


The repercussions of the cable meant we would be behind schedule, whist the required repairs were executed. The jubilant mood of our first sleeper train had been killed, and in between the noises of the repairs, we slumbered in our carriage until we got to Budapest, only being awoken at the border for Passport checks (this one went without incident, given the two previous troubled crossings). I was also fortunate enough to quickly make a reflected sun camera, to witness the rare transit of Venus, over our life source, the Sun. This was fortunate because it was due to occur at sun rise, just as the border control was happening. If you missed it, the next one occurs in 2117.

Lets make like a Croatian town and... Split

Starting at 2:00 in the morning for anything is normally a pain. But not when it is the start of a 24 day excursion around Europe. All the planning and indecisiveness has been dealt with and now, finally the journey starts, with a car journey from Nottingham to London Stansted Airport.

As previously mentioned, our flight into Croatia was via Frankfurt, and departed Stansted at 7:15. Stansted at that time of the morning, just before a mega bank holiday, is a disgrace! The Weatherspoons was full of hen and stag do`s and there was just nothing pretty about it.

So we eventually departed, and pretty quickly end up in Frankfurt. A short stop over (with a dodgy interaction with a transvestite) and we were on our way to Zadar. The original plan was to get a bus to Novalja, the town on the island of Pag, about 90km north of Zadar. Upon landing it was red hot and immediately the beach and an ice cold beer was calling me. The bus journey was ditched and replaced with a hire car to speed us along our way.

The car journey was sumptuous, the scenery consisted of rolling arid coast line backing onto a mountain range with the Adriatic glistening in the sun and loads of islands dotted about; this was paradise!

Once in Novalja, we settled down with a beer on the beach, the hostel, Big Yellow House has a great bar and some fantastic staff to help the party atmosphere. I was the victim of my own success, and end up falling asleep upright at the bar!

The next day we lazily up, feeling slightly worse for ware. We moved out, next destination Split. The previous days scenery couldn`t be missed either, so we stopped off in the town of Pag and had a quick dip in the sea, before hurtling to our bus to Split.

The bus route to Split from Zadar is fantastic, and traces the coast down passing numerous islands and rolling over some dramatic hills and mountains. Upon arriving in Split, we settled in our home for the night, Beach Hostel. It was getting late and upon some great help from the manager of the hostel, we walked through Split old town and through the decaying roman ruins and had some dinner, before heading to the beach and hitting the bars hard. We met up with a group of Croatians and waded into the sea once the club had kicked out, before heading back and sampling some local liqueurs, which were pretty rank, then realising we had about an hour before our morning bus departed for Sarajevo. We had to drunkenly rush back to our hostel, pack, and head straight for the bus station, before starting yet another leg of our journey.

Once on the bus, we both conked out, only to be rudely awoken at the Bosnian border by a steely faced police officer, shouting "Passport" several times at our fragile faces. Once awake, we witnessed yet more lush scenery, dancing through mountains and valleys. We stopped a couple of times before hitting Sarajevo, to witness some abject povety and the biggest challenge so far; nobody could speak any English. With some basic pointing and gesturing, I managed to secure some Bosnian Marks to acquire some snacks and drinks, whilst also having to find the petrol station so I could break the large 100 note the ATM spat out at me.

We eventually got to Sarajevo and the scars from war were still evident. The occasional bombed out building and several poc marks from bullets on the building. Our hostel, Harris Youth Hostel was atop a large hill, with a fabulous view over the fantastic city. Once our bags were dropped, we headed straight into Sarajevo, taking in the Latin Bridge, where World War I was effectively started with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia, then cruising around the old town, stumbling across a couple of relics from the war and admiring the clash of east meets west. The hostel offered a BBQ for the evening, so after walking around and finding a couple of excellent viewing places of the city and a roman fortress, we headed back.

So, that is where I am, I`ve had plenty of food and have a couple of beers waiting, which by the way, cost about 50p each, so on that note, I am going to leave you and enjoy the view, which you can see in the picture.

View over Sarajevo, where I will be enjoying my beer

The final planned route across Europe.