Holiday Inn Belgrade

... over the whole town and the 2 main churches - all 3 of which are under restoration.<br>Had a late lunch at Badnyi Mlin which was a great find. One of the coolest places I've eaten at for a while. Like stepping into a Serbian village miles away from the city.<br><br>Wednesday night went to Kacina with Ben as Mladin had told us they brewed their own beer. Unfortunately their taps weren't working at the moment!!!<br><br><br>Thursday went to ...

... castle remnants and we had a beer inside the fortress while watching some guys practice parcour on the walls. We also got whistled at for climbing on the walls. Santana was playing the next day and Max really wanted to sneak in. We did not. After, we went to the old bohemian quarter for lunch. It was basically just an over-hyped cobblestone street and a ...

... at each end of the main street and about 20 park benches strung along it. With no roaring traffic and a place to stroll it becomes a pleasent place to meet. People stroll endlessly from one end to another; it's great. I get a beer in a bar and its 90p. I get a takeaway pizza for e2.30; this town is cheap. Then i head back to the hotel to drop the book off and fail to make it off the bed. Later a major thunderstorm hits and we get rain. I Think I've burned through the T-shirt.<br>

... lager. I noted in my journal how much I thought I was going to enjoy Montenegro the next day (I was right as it happens..for once). Okino pub seemed to have a lot of Irish tat on the walls and I think it was attempting to be an Irish pub (and you'll hear more about those particular establishments later on). Of course, you can't really be an Irish pub (or, in fact, any kind of pub) unless you sell Guinness. This place lacked Guinness, and thus ...

Saturday: Let me preface this by saying, don't wander into shantytowns. Anyways...Well, I ended up waking up at 6:30 to explore the town; it was completely on accident and far too early. For some retarded reason I thought that Serbia was one hour ahead. Nope, definitely not. So I wander the streets somewhat aimlessly, seeing as I have no map and no money. Well, half by luck I stumble onto the Belgrade Fortress; which I thought was actually on the other side of the river; awesome. I ...

... at the restaurant on the prior day about a booking for 8pm or 9pm on New Years Eve, and were assured it would not be necessary. We have never seen that restaurant busy, even though the food is excellent and wine is sufficiently like vinegary diesel to meet local tastes. It thus came as some surprise for us to find the restaurant locked up and abandoned the following night. Fair enough: they had zero customers and probably just gave up (they had done this another ...

... settled into our new place. To top off our last hostel (Belgrade Hostel, just in case any of you are heading this way!), as we were leaving we asked where the staff had gone. The bald Finnish guy, still smoking, told us that he left, and that the girl who was supposed to be on wouldn't be back for an hour. Right... unmanned hostel... so we left. Luckily for them, being honest types, we promised to come back and pay later, and promptly headed back to our new hostel for a nap ...

... and eating can be quite cheap! As well as hostels I think that it could be a wonderful place unfortunately the rain combined with some sort of lovely stomach bug made my stay there unpleasant! However I would like very much to go back someday and have a more favourable experience! Some interesting things about Serbia though: Most tourist related establishments are monitored by the government to protect tourists from getting ...