A short stop in Belgrade

From what we had read, the eight-hour train journey from Sarajevo to Belgrade is beautiful, so we were looking forward to the trip.

Having not quite figured out how the whole Balkan train thing works yet (it is a bit late in our time there to have finally grasped it, still we'll know for next time!), we arrived on the platform about 15 minutes before the train was due to depart only to find the train waiting and most compartments almost full. Fortunately, a lovely Bosnian family of four and another Bosnian woman travelling on her own managed to squeeze us in with them. All apart from Adrian, who had to stand in the corridor. 

Squished in

The family were incredibly good with Eleanor and Leo, helping then with their stickers, sharing food and generally helping to keep them amused. The son must be in his early 20's and spoke some English, so we had a bit of a conversation, which was great. They got off the train about and hour and a half later, and the woman about half an hour after that, so from then on we had the compartment to ourselves. We spread out and spent the afternoon eating, playing charades, I spy and memory. The scenery is definitely beautiful and we very much enjoyed the trip, but it wasn't quite as striking as the trip from Mostar to Sarajevo.

We were pleased that we'd brought a good stock of food and water as there was nothing on the train and it didn't stop long enough anywhere to jump out and buy snacks. Towards the end a man came around offering coffee. It was Turkish, so very strong and sludgy. Great with a spoon of sugar though and gave us the energy we needed to walk the couple of kilometres from the train station to our hotel.

Old city walls

In the morning we went for a walk through the city, well a small part of it, to see the citadel. Belgrade has a population of over 1.5 million, so is a big city compared with our recent stops. There is a mix of architecture, from solid socialist blocks to modern buildings to older Ottoman constructions. We saw one building that had been bombed by NATO in 1999 and had a massive hole in it.

A walk in the park

The citadel is the old walls and inside is a fantastic park for wandering in the sunshine. The edge of the park overlooks the point at which the Sava River meets the Danube. They are both huge rivers, so it is an impressive view.

Despite it being 26 or 27 degrees, autumn is clearly on the way; the leaves on the trees are turning and there are lots of piles of dry leaves on the ground. The early autumn light is beautiful, especially with all the colours. Eleanor and Leo had a great time collecting conkers and sticks and spotting local wildlife (a squirrel and a lizard).

Where is the airport?

We had no trouble finding an early lunch as there are restaurants and cafes everywhere. We tried some yummy pastries and the best coffee we've had in ages. A real latte!!!

After lunch we raced back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the airport to catch a flight to Istanbul.