Slavija Lux Belgrade

... taxis, roundabouts... at one point we went up the curve... But he got me here in record time and all for 6 Euros!! :D<br> <br><br>After a good nights sleep I managed to seperate myself from my bed and wandered around the city and my second impressions confirm my thoughts from last night - there is definitely a different feel about the city. I walked to the old fortress/castle remains that look out over where the ...

... was a saturday, best day of the week in most cultures around the world. We had a great crew, great ideas, and the energy to create what could potentially be a legendary night. Before the night though, I had some other plans. I had found the Belgrade Cricket Association (YES!), a club of cricket lovers from Serbia, who have pretty serious practices and some matches. I wanted in on the action, and I was told to join them. So yes, I played cricket in Serbia! These ...

... and cloth shoes with curly points that resembled clogs. Girls wore glittering red-orange aprons, baggy white pants, bright-orange hair shawls, and the same shoes. Everyone wore smiles. Even shaven-headed "tough guys" wore the costumes, and intensely happy smiles. They didn't dance as couples. Instead, neighbors held neighbors by the belts, or placed arms on each other's shoulders. In all-male or all-female lines, and sometimes in girl-guy-girl lines ...

... The signposting was fairly intermittant too but the maps were ok. I was so early in Belgrade that I had lunch in a park on the outskirts. And for a change I didn't get lost coming into the city. However I quickly found that the street signs were in Serbian while the hostel address is in latin. This was going to be tricky in a city of two million people. The hostel directions said go to the "Belgrade Fair" tram stop and its nearby. The address is the actual ...

... Found the same sort of thing in Bosnia and so far these have been my two favorite countries. Me and the British boys are only staying one night though and will take the overnight train to Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. Theyll be going on to Pula, Croatia but Im so exhausted that Im going to hang out in Slovenia a ...

... way, especially one lady who kept spraying me with spittle when she talked! and a guy who said he was a dentist and who reminded me of the dentist in little Shop of Horrors (the crazy one who ends up getting fed to a man eating plant). Just like being back in London really... A wander through some of the very old ruins. Apparently this city gets razed every 50 years or so.... Great hospitality ...

... were staying had arranged for us to be picked up by a private driver for less than the cost of a taxi. What a godsend that was, as we were all exhausted. On the way in the driver showed us the Holiday Inn that was famous during the Balkans war, we drove down Sniper Alley, and he showed us the Library/City Hall, a glamorous Austro-Hungarian era building that was now a burnt out shell. At Halvat we received a warm welcome and were shown to our cosy room where we crashed into our beds.

... the Serbian boarder was not that much of a hassle. Serbia was the only country that we didn't have insurance for so we expected to buy 2 days worth at the boarder. We went into buy insurance and were promptly told that we must buy 1 months worth, as there is no daily coverage. Being a Sunday, of course, there was only one option and you really don't want to argue with a Serb at the boarder, especially when they were keeping Dan's passport until we could provide ...

... go. I spent my first night in Belgrade in a terribly dodgy motel after failing to locate a hostel or other student-oriented housing. In my room barely large enough for a twin bed I spent my night deep in the bottle trying to figure out what drew me to this city deep into the former Yugoslavia. The following day, after finding a wonderful place to spend the remainder of my time, I found my answer ...