Nais Nis

... very day (the Italian prime minister came for a political visit and we saw him while he watched a military parade). The country is cheap though and we only spent 7 euros for 2 people for an entire day. <br><br>Special thanks to Bernhard for letting us use his shower before we got on the evening bus to Istanbul. We are not necessarily looking forward to the 2nd night on the bus in a row, but we are hardcore backpackers and that's the way a world trip should start!! ;)

... 8230;.decadent street markets where you can find nostalgic souvenirs of forgotten times&#8230;..i.e. russian icons of a communist enclave.<br>As the first stop of the trip, we couldn't ask for more&#8230;..but, anyways, just an opinion&#8230;.and yes, still cheap. Marina

got to the airport at half 4 in the morning, flight left on time at half 6, 3 seats between the two of us wohoo i can stretch out!<br><br>Got off the plane and was sooo excited I was going to see my dad in the next half hour I wanted to just leave the bas and get outside and meet him!! gray had to calm me down a bit!<br><br>Once we had bags we went to the entrance and turned the mobile on...argh it ...

... Russian sounding names and then it comes to me and he just butchers my name and now its clear that Im the only foreigner on the bus. I didnt eat anything because I never knew which currency they used. Half the time during that ride I didnt know what country I was in. Took a local bus from Nis to the border of Serbia and Bulgaria. I have noticed that when I do ask for help people are very friendly and the younger generation seems to know English well.

Arrive in Nis, very hot. Trz to decide where to next. See bus leaving in few minutes for Belgrad, decide to take it. Express bus, nearlz non stop, there in 3 hours. arrive about 5 PM. Take late 21:00 train to Budabest. Four of us in 6 compartment car. Drunk annoying Serb finally leaves us. Good conversation with young attractive Polish girl studzing architecture. Wants to design attractive liveable apartment houses for modest income families.

As I boarded the rusting, decrepit excuse for a train that was the Balkan Express, the wry smiles and s******s of the previous day´s ticket lady came flooding into focus like a slap in the face. My first priority was to escape the clouds of cigarette smoke that filled the first few carriages, so I fought my way to a rear carriage with few** smok**s. The carriages w**e sectioned off into six-seat compartments, and I managed to find one ...

here are our stories of crossing Serbia - Cerna Gora (Montenegro)... our route was north east to south east through vojvodina and around beograd into the homolske mountains. serbia, a war torn country, doesn't show the aftereffects of war in really obvious ways. the layers are thick. people do not like talking about the conflict, the same way they do in croatia horvatsko. the areas around novi sad and belgrade are (on the outskirts) very new, quick ...

To begin a short history lesson for those who dont know who Constantine the Great was. Basically he was the 2nd most famous Roman of all time (after Ceaser of course), he made Christianity the offical religion of the empire, and also founded a little city you may have heard of called Constantinople, which i will arrive at in a week and am getting rather excited about (Constaninople is a much nicer name ...

... Kula Cela, a fairly gruesome pillar, was erected when the Serbs were still at war with the Turks (quite some time ago) by the Turkish warlord after a large battle (1000 Serb and 10000 Turk deaths) to serve as a warning to any other Serbs who might consider going against his rule. I cant help but feel British politics might be in a very different state if Tony adopted this policy. Unfortunately, only the base of the tower now remains and ...

... the wonders of Kolasin nightlife. The two of us could not help but marvel at the multitude of discos and outdoors cafes lining the one downtown street, a familiar case in so many rural towns throughout the Balkans. We walked up the unlit, forested road later that night, to wait for the long slow train from Ploce. The man in the austere grey box by the station scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to ...