Saturday, 15 June 2024

Serbia and Montenegro, part 2, Wednesday May 29th, 2024

Wednesday, May 29th 2024

I had a full day in Belgrade for sightseeing. I had booked two walking tours through the Guru walking tour app. 

However, I, first, had to sort out a train ticket for the train, to Podgorica, tonight. I took a bus to the Centar train station and bought a ticket for the 20.30 to Podgorica. 

I returned to the city centre and had an omelette with salad, bread and coffee outside the Cafe Mihail in a shady pedestrian street. 

The first walking tour, Downtown Belgrade, started at 12.30. I met the "guru" (leader) by the fountain in Terazije Square.
Our walking tour started and we later walked down Skadarlija street, once the bohemian area, where artists and musicians lived  and were frequently enjoying the coffee, drinks and food in the kafanas. 
We continued through the city streets on our way to Kalemagdan Fortress, we passed by the language school & Bajrakli Mosque, which dates from the 1500s. 

The Fortress is on top of the hill, in the middle of a park. There are areas where we saw the place where the Danube & Sava rivers met. We also saw New Belgrade. 

On our way back to the city we stopped to see the Cathedral of Saint Michael and the kafana next door. This Kafana has the name? (question mark) due the church objecting to the name "kafana by the church". 

Our final stopping place is the Kralj Petar Primary (elementary) school, which has an interesting story. 

After this walking tour I went for a blueberry flavoured beer outside the Black Turtle bar with a guy from the USA and another from Spain. 

We returned to Terazije Square where I joined the second walking tour. 

Belgrade Modern Age walking tour with Nikola. The walking tour involved more walking, as we covered the out of town area. The theme was post Yugoslavia, we passed the National assembly, old and new city halls, the parliament building and then into Tasmajdan Park to look at the monument in memory of lives lost during the bombings of Belgrade in 1999. 
We walked to  Slavija Square which is a modern roundabout which has a large fountain in the middle and many busy roads converging. 

This tour ended in another park with the huge St. Sava Church and the Karadjordje Monument. 
After the walking tour I caught the 36 bus to Beograd Centar station and waited for the 20.30 night train for Bar in Montenegro. 

I had reserved a bunk in a compartment. The bunk was at the top (of 3) and I settled down for the night. There is no bar, buffet or restaurant on this train, passengers are advised to bring their own food and drink. I had brought a yoghurt drink and a burek (a pie made with meat, cheese surrounded with filo pastry). 


Serbia and Montenegro 2024 Part 1, Belgrade, May 28th 2024

Tuesday May 28th 2024

Photo, National Museum, Trg Rupublike 

The Virtual Tourist Euromeet was held in Kotor, Montenegro during the weekend of May 30th to June 2nd 2024.

However as I wanted to have more time to explore the area, I took off two weeks from work and made a plan which included exploring the two capital cities, Belgrade and Podgorica.

The flights were booked by my work colleague Christophe. The price of the flights included the ability to check in a suitcase.

The flight BA0888 LHR to BEG leaves early in the morning at 07.50 but arrives at 11.35, which gave me some time to explore Belgrade. 

I left my home in Calcot around 3.15 am and I travelled by Reading bus route 26 to Reading station. I then caught the 3.50 Railair coach to Heathrow Airport.

I had plenty of time to check in and pass through security before the flight departed. I had some Pret coffee and a almond croissant in the departure lounge.

The flight left on time. I had a window seat. All passengers had a complimentary bottle of water and a biscuit. The flight was very smooth, there was no terbulence.

After landing in Belgrade, Nikola Tesla Airport, I had to collect my case and I caught the A1 shuttle bus to downtown Belgrade. 

I found Belgrade a difficult city to navigate, but I eventually found my apartment, Marcel, Karad'ord'eva 91.

Soon after I settled in to the apartment, I went to get some lunch at nearby Bistro Savska. I had a beer and a Srbska salad for my lunch. 

I returned to the apartment until about 5pm, when the weather was cooler and I met Allan Christensen and Karl Reinecker from Virtual Tourist. 

We explored the city including the Kalamegdan fortress and park. The city was named as White City (Beograd) after this fortress.

We also walked to Trg Rupublike (Republic Square) and found the Flamingo Bar. We had a beer, but as the cuisine was Chinese, we decided to find an alternative bar which served local (Serbian) food.

We had a cevapi in pitta bread with chips and salad in Walter's Bar-Restaurant a few blocks away from the centre.

I returned to the apartment around midnight.