Aug 17, 2017 - Belgrade 2

Well I lied! We are spending a 2nd night here. This a.m. we waited for a tram that never came then took another and changed to another. We walked up the hill to the fort entrance and were dismayed to find it had been built in the late 1800's, early 1900's so not that old. The Military Museum is closed for renovations but tanks and missles are displayed outside the fort...and all late 1900's. There was a great view out over the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers. Lots of green space too. The Roman well was built in the 17th century and...

Aug 16, 2017 - Belgrade, Serbia

Although traffic was heavy, we had little problem getting pn the autoroute and heading southeast. Slowly the outside temperature climbed to 30 deg Celsius. We drove past all the big box stores...Ikea included...as we left the Old City and City Center behind. Once the city was truly behind us we found ourselves passing through corn fieds, some dry, some not and some being harvested. Some farms grew veggies and others sunflowers. Some fields had been plowed under awaiting another planting. At one point we were startled to see fields of...

Aug 16, 2017 - Belgrade, Serbia, and the Iron Gates (Danube Gorge)

During the night we berthed at Belgrave, where the Sava River joins the Danube. Geograhically, everything south of the Sava River is considered the Balkan Peninsula, whereas the land north of the Sava is in Eastern Europe. Our day started on board ship with an 8 am lecture on “Serbia Today,” which consisted mostly of Balkan history, Tito, and the war of 1991-98. It was so dense with information it made my head spin, and I can’t add any more except to say that it was the Serbian fighting and genocide in Kosovo that instigated the UN to bomb...

Jun 11, 2017 - Prizren, Kosova

After getting checked in to my room it is off tot he bus station to check on tickets to Skopje, my next stop, They sell the tickets on the bus so have to wait until tomorrow the bus leaves at 9:00 AM so will head down to the station a bit after 8 it is a 3 1/2 hour ride, maybe a bit longer depending on the border crossing, then it exploring the city of prizren, lots of mosque here, then a walk across the old stone bridge and on to the hill for the Castle of Prizren (Kalaja) wow it is quite a climb but I made it LOL nice view of the city...

May 23, 2017 - Belgrade

After breakfast at the hotel we meet as a group at 9:00 am for a walk through the main walking street to the Kalemegdan part and then on Kalemegdan Fortress was a great fort over looking two rivers, the Sava and the Dunav, Robert and I spend about 3 hours hiking around the ruins of the fort a great day. The we head back to the hotel for a bit of lunch (we had leftovers from dinner last night) Then I head out to get post cards and stamps to mail out a couple cards, and to walk to the big Greek church being built near the Trg Slavija traffic...

May 22, 2017 - on to Belgrade, Serbia

This morning after breakfast we meet our tour leader for a walk to the Petrovaradin Fortress on the banks of the Danube river, this is the largest French fort still standing, Constructed in late 1600's and is in the shape of a star, this fort was one of the few the was never taken over by enemy forces. We have a guided tour of the museum then had time to explore more of the fort on our own, a very huge fort. We head back into town on our own I stop for a great pastry and a cup of coffee, back at the hotel I meet with rest of the group then...

May 21, 2017 - on to Novi Sad, Serbia

after breakfast we take our bags down to the lobby for a short walk to the local bus stop for our bus to the train station. we Have a 8:00 train to Novi Sad in Serbia on a slow train it takes 7 hours to complete. A stop for a passport check and stamp leaving Hungary at Kelebia then on to the checkpoint for the Serbia side at Subotic, here we also change the engine and we are off in Serbia making this my 86 country. get into Novi Sad and take taxis to our hotel in the center part of the city, a bit of time to get in our rooms then off of a...

Sep 25, 2016 - Through Romania Into Serbia

After only a couple of hours in Romania we were back at a border again, this time the one with Serbia. It didn’t take too long to get through first the Romanian & then the Serbian check points & head off to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Again the countryside was flat & featureless, no trees or hills just fields of maize with a lot of harvesting taking place. There does seem to be plenty of churches along the way. We ended up in the only camp site we could find listed in this northern part of Serbia. It was well outside the centre of...

Apr 2, 2016 - Bus to Pristina via Skopje-Tetovo

4/2 So far: Greece to Albania to Macedonia ___ Hard to make sense from the appearance of things. Lots of Buildings half completed but obviously construction stalled (looking old, abandoned), For Sale signs, and newly completed as well as older buildings empty, just sitting. Then there are construction sites obviously in progress! Admittedly, not a lot, but still one wonders, who's got money to build new when so many places stand vacant? Even housing is similar - stalled and new side-by-side almost. ___ The taxi got us to Ohvid bus station...

Sep 18, 2015 - Waiting waiting

We left Croatia today. Got a ride to the airport with our host Tomislav. A short wait at a very modern airport, and we were on our way. In a turbo prop aircraft - about a 1 hr flight to Belgrade. Looking down we could see farmland in all directions, with patches of forest and pine plantations everywhere. The farms are generally small paddocks, so it was very much a patchwork. After a bottle of water and an unappetising bread roll, we were in Belgrade. There was no noticeable change in appearance from the air as we crossed the border. Same...

May 7, 2015 - Best of Balkans and Transylvania

Our Cosmos Tour arrived to Novi Sad, Serbia, our first stop after crossing the Hungarian Boarder. It is my first time ever in Serrbia and this ancient land. I exchanged 20 Euoros for Serbian dinars and got $ 2000, to have lunch in Kombinat (Food made with care) eatery. The weather is warm and sunny, I am seating under a patio umbrella enjoying my lunch.

Dec 6, 2014 - Back to Belgrade

Today was spent on the train getting back to Beograd (Belgrad). On the way down to Niš, I had to take two trains. Not sure exactly why, but my train stopped and everyone had to get off. Then we all boarded another train. It was just as well, since this new train had a first class car (not just 2nd class cars). There was only one other passenger in the 1st class car and he spoke excellent English. So, we had a long conversation until he got off shortly before Niš. Meeting the locals is one of the reasons that I love to travel by train. Even...