Oct 20, 2019 - Belgrade (In Transit)

@@@@@@@ KAPOORS ON THE ROAD As I mentioned earlier, there are no direct flights between Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro and Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so if we wanted to avoid a connecting flight through other parts of Europe, we had to fly on Air Serbia through Belgrade. Initially, I thought we might as well see a little of Serbia, but we quickly realized that visiting three of the Balkan states was quite enough for this trip. Sarajevo was a priority for me especially, because of all the history that has rocked...

May 30, 2019 - Bye Bye Belgrade and the Balkans

Our tour ends in Belgrade, where we started. We fly out to Vienna at 8.10 tomorrow morning which means a 4.30 rise. Then home again with Thai via Bangkok but no stopovers this time . The snow season beckons! Flying from Skopje to Belgrade wasn’t much fun. It’s not a very big plane that does this 1hr 10min flight and it was overbooked. Our group was informed that we were the only ones without connections (mmm not sure if that was the truth) and they asked for 10 volunteers to fly at 4am the next morning. That wasn’t hard to achieve because...

May 24, 2019 - Belgrade

Friday, May 24, 2019 Exploring Belgrade A day without travelling! We had previously arranged an Urban Adventure and were to meet our guide at 10 am at the “?” tavern where we had dinner last night. We left the hotel at 9:15 am and walked over to the tavern in plenty of time. Eke ordered a cup of tea while we were waiting for our guide and maybe other participants in the tour. Our guide Vlada came right at 10 am and informed us that we were the only ones doing the tour – a private tour! We sat on the patio for a while and Vlada told us some...

May 23, 2019 - Novi Sad to Belgrade, Serbia

Novi Sad – Belgrade Eke woke up at 6 am, relaxed until 7 am, got up and took a shower while Brian was still sleeping. No rush this morning – we have a free morning, leaving for Belgrade at 1pm, being ready to go at 12 noon. Brian wanted to take it easy . At breakfast we were joined by Tracy (group member from Boston). Eke and Tracy decided to go up to the Petrovaradin Fortress just across the river Danube, while Brian would take care of our luggage, get some more Dinars and maybe get some lunch for the bus to Belgrade. Tracy and I had a...

May 22, 2019 - Ilok to Novi Sad (Serbia)

Ilok, Croatia to Novi Sad, Serbia At the border, the custom officers that had to allow us out of Croatia took their time with the first of our vans. It took at least half an hour. We were allowed to proceed fairly quickly after our driver showed our passports. One hundred metres further we had to show our passports again before entering Serbia. From there it was a very nice drive through the countryside and villages. We arrived in Novi Sad between 3:30 and 4:00pm. Our hotel is called Zenit and is very close to the centre of the city. We...

May 15, 2019 - Belgrade and Beyond

BELGRADE DAY 1 The travel to Belgrade was tedious. The flight to Vienna was comfortable and we managed a few hours sleep and were fed a generous breakfast. Then we had a 6 hour layover until our 1 hour flight into Serbia. Buying a cheaper business class fare did involve compromise. Qatar would have flown us direct to Belgrade from Doha but would have cost about another $5000. We did buy some lounge time in Vienna for €35 each and were able to have a shower and a glass of wine. The Belgrade arrival was pretty streamlined and our hotel The...

May 10, 2019 - Bangkok Stopover

BANGKOK 42 years later Our memories of travel 42 years ago are quite dim and it seems neither of us can recall much about Bangkok so our stopover here feels like a new experience. There is certainly a lot more traffic! And with 12 million people it is almost certainly a very different city than we experienced in the late 70s. We are flying Thai airlines and a stop in Bangkok virtually divides the trip in half. We are staying in the very comfortable So Sofitel in Lumphini for anyone who knows their Bangkok districts. We have excellent views...

Jan 13, 2019 - Much better Day in Belgrade

Another lateish morning and a hurried breakfast downstairs before the short walk to meet this morning's guide Tamara, to do a 20th Century tour of Belgrade. First stop was at the Hotel Moscow which was built in 1908 and is still today a 4 star hotel. To get the 5th star would mean changing the hotel too substantially which would compromise the building. Many notable guests have stayed there including Albert Enistein and his wife, Alfred Hitchcock, and of course Hollywood stars including Brad Pitt. Beautiful old building that stands out...

Jan 12, 2019 - A day in Belgrade

Had to keep the home fires burning at the hotel this morning after we all had breakfast downstairs before the girls head off to do a walking tour to get acquainted with the city. The back is sore and not up to trying to walk on slippery footpaths today as my greatest fear would be falling over. Spent my morning rinsing out socks and jocks and jamas in the hope they will dry during the day. If not will sit with the hair dryer on them later. Watched a crappy 1960s Genghis Khan movie as I played with the washing and did some reading of my...

Jan 11, 2019 - On our way to Serbia

Up and at 'em this morning as there are a couple of things we would like to do before we have to leave our hotel at midday. First up was a walk along the banks of the Danube to near Parliament where there is a poignant sculpture right on the water's edge. In 1944-45 the Hungarian Nazis of the Red Arrow party executed thousands of Jewish people in this spot and merely pushed their bodies into the river to float away. Along the very water's edge are sculptures of many life size pairs of bronze shoes, men's. women's and even a pair of child's...

Oct 15, 2018 - Belgrade 2

We spent the last two days in Serbia exploring north to the Danube. First we headed North West to Sremski Karlovci. Like so many towns along this part of the Danube, it has changed hands many times which has enhanced its culture. We visited a home where we were shown how to make Royal Bunt Cakes. The reason they were called Royal is because of the cost of the cake pan. To make one in the old days was expensive and only Royalty could afford them. The woman here, was a real estate agent and about 10 years ago started making the cakes and now...

Oct 12, 2018 - Belgrade-1

We headed to Belgrade stopping first at the Royal Winery Oplenac that was ahead of its time and in high production before the German invasion in 1941. It now produces a limited amount, but did win a couple of Gold Medals at the Belgrade Wine Fair. We then stopped at the church of St George which sits high on a hill in the forest. This is the finial resting place of Karadojordje who started the revolution against the Ottomans in 1804. The crypt holds 24 family members. Belgrade is an old city that is being modernized. When new buildings are...