6 weeks around Europe

Surprising Belgrade is a very nice city.  In appearance a little tired and battle scared from the 6 wars it has endured over the last 100 years but has some beautiful buildings and parks. Today I did 2 walks, the first was the 20th century history walk which took in places of interest during that period and the guide, Stefan, talked about Serbia’s chequered history.  How after the First World War it was joined in an uneasy alliance with other Slav countries and became know as the Kigdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later in 1929 it changed its name to Yugoslavia eventually, after 4 name changes and divisions with the other Slav countries, reverted back to Serbia in 2003.  The time under communist rule and Tito and then Milosevic.  It’s sobering to think that less than 20 years ago this city was being bombed by NATO due to the arrogance of 3 nationalist leaders of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro - each as bad as the other but NATO saw Serbia as the worse, hence a...

Early start, Lyn walked with me to the bus stop to catch the 6.39 bus to the Keleti Station.  Had a great time with Lyn, but now time to move on.   The train to Belgrade doesn’t have a restaurant car so I made a roll and bought a cake last night and put in Lyns fridge, so this morning I made a flask of tea so that I had enough provisions for the journey, except I left the roll and cake in the fridge - doh!!! At the station, bought another roll and cake to take on the train.  Went to the advised platform to get on the train and thought there must have been a mistake; me and this Swedish guy walked to the train together and both stopped, checked our tickets and looked on puzzled!  The train was very old (not in a good way) and covered in graffiti.  The Swedish guy checked the carriage number and proclaimed this to be our train -  oh dear. The journey was very long and the train very slow - over 11 hours and we were held at the Serbian border for over an h...

Lyns apartment is in a really good position, within walking distance of lots of lovely places and so handy for public transport.  With the benefit of having, as Lyn puts it, a really fit looking German as her neighbour - unfortunately I could not verify this as I didn’t see him but I’ll take Lyn’s word for it. Also, found out that Lyn is a bit of a voyeur, from her balcony she can see the apartments of the people opposite, they now have no secrets - haha.  Last evening whilst we were having a little glass of wine on the balcony she was letting me into their world.  Lyn should put a pair of binoculars on her Christmas list - she’ll get a better view and be able to see the apartments to the side as well! It is so darn hot at the moment and not ideal for sight seeing, well into the 30’s, In fact on Sunday it was 36 degrees at one point.  But this didn’t deter us (although Lyn has done all the sights many times she still puts up with being dragged round again - such ...

Lyn and Tebor met me at the station and I went back to Lyn's for a shower and cup of tea.  Tebor came with Lyn in case she got lost - he’s such a lovely gentleman. After a brief rest and putting on  a knicker wash, we went up to the castle.  Lyn’s has a beautiful apartment on the Castle Hill.  From the top there are lovely views over Budapest and the Danube.   The Castle area itself is like an old town, beautiful buildings, churches and of course the Castle - very much a tourist area. Had lunch in 21 (a restaurant in the Castle area) and walk to various hotels and fav haunts of Lyn’s for a drink and sight seeing.  The walk across the Chain Bridge,  which spans the Danube, is lovely as you can see up and down the river with the various river front buildings and cruisers which moor up here. Then back to Lyns for a sit on the balcony and an early night