Belgrade

Although it's near the end of our trip the journey from Skopje to Belgrade is our first taste of an overnight train. There are only a few people getting on so we have a cabin to ourselves despite it having 6 'beds' in it. We don't know how safe someone on the top two beds would feel as they all just look like oversized bookshelves hanging on the walls! We decide to take the bottom two, just in case we fall off in the night. At first it's nice to be in a warm cabin after sitting on the platform, but soon we start to sweat as it just seems to be getting hotter and hotter in the train. Cue a rather uncomfortable night's sleep, but even that makes the 9 hour trip seem a lot shorter, plus it saved us from having to pay for a night's accommodation!

Top, middle or bottom?!

We are immediately shocked at just how cold it is here, Skopje was like summer in comparison! The heat of the train seems a million miles away now and we slowly freeze waiting for our tram. Thankfully Christine reads the signs properly otherwise we would've gone in the wrong direction as James is still far too confused by the Cyrillic writing! We've got ourselves a nice flat really close to the centre and our host is good enough to let us check in at 8am and we collapse gratefully into a real bed for a few hours. We're here for a while so spend the rest of the day stocking the fridge and making some plans for the week.

It's time to see what Belgrade has in store for us today so we wrap up in most of our clothes and head out into the cold. First stop is St Mark's Church, burial place of Alexander I of Serbia (horribly murdered in 1903 so we'll leave you to look up the details if you choose). It's obvious why Belgradians are proud of this place as it looks just as decorative outside as inside. We continue walking past the Parliament building and on to the bohemian quarter; Skadarlija, which has it's own history. It had always been the home of artists of different forms and managed to keep it's cobbled streets and dilapidated roofs despite the rise of the city around it. It even has it's own flag and a handy signpost to help you find the Moon! Alas it's become such a tourist draw that now it's full of overpriced restaurants rather than taverns occupied by singing Serbians but it's still a nice change from the modern city around it. We walk up and down a few more streets getting a feel of the place but it's very much a shopping city and our pennies won't go very far!

St Mark's Church

Tomb of Dushan the Powerful

Inside St Mark's Church

What's this all about?

Parliament

No idea. Is the horse tired?

An introduction to Skadarlija Street

Skadarlija Street

Which way to the moon?

Parliament at night

The next day we head for the remains of the old fortress. There are reminders of the recent wars surrounding the entrance, large guns and tiny tanks (that, to be honest, look like fun to drive), but the gateways to the fortress seem to have survived remarkably well and all seem to be about 300years old. There's some good views from the edges of the walls, especially of the unique point where two major rivers, the Sava and the Danube, meet but it's clear from the signs that tourists will get no sympathy if they fall off the edge! On our hunt for photo opportunities Christine manages to find a tramp 'toilet' in one of the look out posts. Yuk. Back to the warm apartment for a wash!

What are the chances that someone has left the keys in?

The joining of two rivers

Anyone fancy peering over the edge? No? Us neither!

At the top of the fortress

Stinky look out post

An upside down tree.

Today it's Christine's turn to be ill but she still feels like shopping so we head out to the big market. On the way we explore St Sava's Cathedral which is absolutely huuuuge! We could see it poking over the top of buildings from way off but it took ages to get to it. The inside as a bit of a let down though as it was going through serious renovation so we couldn't really look at anything but the ceiling, way up in the air. The domes that made up the roof did look spectacular from the outside though. The market is just around the corner but was half empty, obviously Serbians do feel the cold too, but it was still amusing to see some of the rubbish that people were trying to sell. I suppose it is true that one man's (or little old lady's) trash is another's treasure! 

St Sava's Cathedral

We're sure it's beautiful under the covers.

An ill Christine but she's still smiling (kinda)

We stop for a rather disappointing lunch in a posh restaurant then head to the Tesla museum across the road (James has been going on about it since we arrived). We get an introductory video about Tesla's life and works which seems to assume everyone has an A-Level knowledge of physics but then get shown some cool demonstrations using his inventions. We get to play light sabers by waving neon light strip bulbs near a Tesla coil, James gets shocked by a transformer (not a robot) and Christine gets to play with the world's first remote control toy. We even got to see Tesla's ashes, held inside a specially made brass sphere. It was sad to hear that his ideas for free worldwide energy could have been in place by now if it wasn't for the greed of a few and his vision could have improved the lives of millions of people. Will the world ever see another like him?

Tesla's coil

Tesla's egg of Columbus

The first remote controlled powered boat

Tesla's urn

Belgrade is famous for it's nightlife. Every blog and article we've read raves about it. The parties get going about midnight and don't stop until it's time for work in the morning so it's time for us to try it out. We've done a bit of research and found a funky jazz club to head for but it doesn't open until 10pm so we stop at a Cuban place for a couple first then continue our mission. We find the place without too much trouble (for a change) but Oh No! The doors are locked and the lights are off. What's going on? It's not even midnight! We know we've got the right place as two guys turn up at the same time and look just and confused as us. Hmmm. Luckily we've got a back up plan so we head round the corner to the main bar street. Well that's what it's supposed to be anyway, it's worryingly quiet. A little way down the street we do find a bar that's open so we get the beers in then find it's half price cocktails. D'oh! That'll be the next round then...or not, as 5 minutes later the police come in, the music goes off and the place starts to empty. We're not having much luck. There's another place over the road so we head for that only to be told it's a private party and we're not invited. No fair. So much for legendary nightlife. It's 1.30am and we're heading back, not even by choice. We keep our eyes open for anywhere else but it's no good. Maybe it's better in the Summer.

It's our last day and we're not sure what's left to do. Belgrade is pretty small. We've heard mixed reviews about the zoo so decide to go and see for ourselves. There are cool mosaics of different animals on the outside wall and we're hopefully that the animals inside have got lots of space but a look over the wall makes us feel sad. We can't see all the enclosures but the ones we can see make us feel that it'll be too depressing to go in. We could attempt to get in and jail break all the animals but the thought of a Serbian jail is a scary one! We have another wander around the fortress and the city before going back to pack for our trip to Brussels tomorrow. 

Seeing seals

Giving the zoo a miss

Another tour of the Fortress