Belgrade, Serbia

     Our train to Belgrade was quick. The border patrol officers were efficient and silent and let us sleep for the most part. Some of the other countries(finger pointing at Turkey) could learn a lesson on how to handle night train passport checks. We arrived quite early in the morning and our attempt to contact the hostel was unsuccessful. We later found out this is because its run by a young couple who have leased an apartment to run their own business. While we applaud them, it makes getting in touch with them difficult. The other problem is that Serbia is non-EU so the roaming charges there run at about 3 Euros a minute per phone call. Yikes! We spent the first day resting and having small walks around the city. In the evening, we met up with a friend of a friend from Madrid. He took us through the fortress and to a bar that overlooks the river for a drink. It's the nicest place in the city. We found out later that Belgrade, while not a beautiful city, has one of the more vibrant nightlifes in Europe.

     On Wednesday, we woke up and headed back to the train station to leave our bags. The hostel was located quite far from the station and we didn't want to have to walk all the way back to get our bags just to not pay a couple of Euros. Although, when we arrived at the luggage storage place, it started to seem like not just a bad idea to go store our things at the hostel. There was one guy in a run down back room of the bus station watching everyone's bags. We had no choice but to trust him with our stuff. He grunted at us and gave us a ticket to reclaim our things.

     Our first stop were some of the governmental buildings near the city center. The Parliament and Presidential Residence are in close proximity to one another. We took a picture of the President's house not knowing what it was. We were quickly approached by a guard and forced to delete the picture due to security reasons. The funny thing is, we could have taken tons of pictures on the other side. Opposite from the residence is the Belgrade Government Building and the National Parliament.

     The city has a lot of history as it has been in existence of some sort since 6000 BC. It was the edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Because of this, it suffered many battles and wars that left the city ruined. It later rose to prominence as the capital of Yugoslavia. It agains suffered damage from the NATO bombings during the Yugoslav Wars and the controversy surrounding the Kosovo region down south. Serbia uses the Cyrillic Alphabet like other Slavic countries but they have recently taken to putting everything in the Latin Alphabet as well. This makes navigating the city a bit easier but as we found, there were many streets that didn't have posted signs.

     We wandered through the Bohemian Quarter on Skadarlija Street. It was highly recommended by the hostel and the tourist office as a great place to eat. There are many restaurants lining the cobbled streets. Belgrade seemed to have a lot of fun graffiti and street art on the buildings.

     After a quick bite to eat at a gyro shop, we returned to the Fortress at the north end of the city. It's named Kalemegdan, which means Fortress Square in Turkish. It sits at the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers. From it, you can see the area of the city known as New Belgrade. It was an attempt during the communist years to build a new city under the dream of communism. There's not much to look at now and we were told that the people there don't generally come across the river to the old part of town. Most of the city's history revolves around the fortress because it existed within the walls.

     The original fortress stones were laid in the 3rd century BC. Like many places in Europe, it has a touch of Roman occupation. It sat, like with other waring neighbors, at the frontier of Europe and wild Central Europe. The Romans fought often with the Huns as they tried to sweep across Europe. A legend tells that the grave of Attila the Hun is under the fortress. As you walk around, you can see different construction styles and areas that look obviously older and more worn down than other parts. It's like looking at a living history of the area.

     As it was quite hot, whenever we found some shade in the park around the fortress, we sat for a bit to rest. The park has lots of places for kids to play and fountains that cool the air. There's even a zoo and a theme park within the complex. Our friend's friend we met up with told us one time, a guy drank too much and fell over the edge into the bear pit. He was never seen again. After the fortress, we took care of some errands and wandered through the Student's Square and some of the main pedestrian streets in the city. We tried to go into one church but an old man with a cane grunted at us and motioned we should move along.

      Steve Urkel's car, Serbian style.

     Another stop we had to make was by the Yugoslav Defense Ministry. These buildings were destroyed during the NATO bombings in 1995. They have been left in their current state as a reminder of the bad times I guess. It's quite surreal to just walk up on them and see these buildings with mangled concrete slabs, blown out windows, and rubble everywhere. 

     Our last stop on our tour of Belgrade was at the Cathedral of Saint Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church. His remains were burned on the Cathedral's spot in the mid-16th century by the Turks. The building itself is beautiful on the outside. It's painted bright white with green domes and gold trim work. Everyone told us it was considered to be the symbol of Belgrade and that its even better at night. The idea for the church came to life at the end of the 19th century. Unfortunately, the various Balkan and World Wars delayed the church's construction. It was used by German and Russian forces as a parking lot and storage facility. The construction started again in 1985 and the large dome was put atop the structure in 1989. Here are some day and night shots of the building.

     We had a cheap dinner and headed back to the bus station to make sure our things were there. We caught an overnight bus to Dubrovnik. With all of the raucous people getting on the bus, it promised to be a long, arduous, and uncomfortable journey.

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Budapest - Day 3

     On Monday, we decided to do a quick tour of the Castle Hill in the Buda neighborhood in the morning. Our hosts had a plane to Istanbul later in the afternoon and needed us to leave by 3 pm. Just down the street from them is km 0. It's the point that all roads to Budapest are measured. It sits at the base of a cable car that, for a couple of dollars, takes you to the top of Castle Hill. 

      Once you get up there, you find a palace complex that has been turned into a National Art Museum. As is normal in European cities, the museum was closed as it was Monday. Yet, there were guides offering to give us a tour of it. The castle is almost 600 years old but the site has been the home to the Magyar kings since the 13th century. After World War II, the bombing left the castle in ruins. The current building is a 20th century construction based on medieval findings of the castle grounds found under the rubble.

     This fountain commemorates the hunting achievements of the royal family members.

     There is a street just outside of the palace that is lined with small kiosks and stalls that sell lots of tourist items. The best thing there is a small stand that sells fresh cooked pastries dipped in cinnamon/sugar, vanilla, or chocolate. 

      The view of the city from Castle Hill is spectacular.

      Another famous landmark on the hill is the Matthias Church. The best part of the church is the tiled roof that is common in Hungarian architecture. The first building was built in the early 11th century and was changed to the current more gothic design 300 years later. It's named for King Matthias who ordered most of the large scale changes. It has seen the coronations of several Hungarian kings throughout the centuries.

      The inside of the church is great because it doesn't follow the typical pattern of decoration. The walls are all painted with elaborate designs and bright colors. It's a real joy to just sit and look around at all of the things going on in the church.

     Just outside of the church is the Fisherman's Bastion. It looks more like a ferry tale castle than anything else with its pointed tops and fat castle towers. It, too, was nearly destroyed in World War II and has been restored. The seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled Hungary in 896. 

      The Parliament building is probably the hallmark of Budapest. It sits right on the Danube River and is remarkable. The neo gothic style reflects the inspiration it draws from, the Parliament building on the Thames in London. The Hungarians asked for their Parliament to look similar to England's with one difference, they wanted theirs to be bigger. It's decorated with statues and images of famous rulers and leaders of the Hungarian past.

      Here's the Geleti Train Station. We had to make a quick stop here to drop off our bags. Our hosts gave us the friendly boot around 3 pm but we weren't about to carry around our lead weight bags until our 11:30 train. Thankfully, bag storage at most Eastern European bus/train stations is quite cheap.

      Finally, the afternoon of our last day, the skies cleared and we had nice weather again. Of course it would happen the day we were leaving. Oh well. We enjoyed the break from the summer heat. The guidebook we had been using recommended we take a stroll up the famous Andrássy út. It starts at Elizabeth Park and goes all the way to the City Park with the public baths we visited the previous day. The buildings along the walk were majestic and imposing. The streets have tree lined sidewalks for pedestrians to enjoy the views. One of the first major landmarks we found on the street was the House of Terror. We didn't go in because it sounded like the Hungarian version of a concentration camp. Lots of people were tortured and killed there. Many of their photos line the walls on the street. It's intense to see.

      Here's a fun statue we found a few blocks down from the Opera House. Death is holding a human head over a decapitated body.

      Our final stop of the day was at Saint Stephen's Basilica. Stephen was the first King of Hungary. It was hard to visit because they were having mass but the right hand of said Stephen(over 1,000 years old) is said to be housed there. It's size is the same as that of Parliament, a subtle insinuation that worldly and spiritual matters have equal importance in Budapest. It was completed in the early 20th century.

     After running all over the city, we had a quick sandwich at a small shop. We followed that up with a beer and a fruit soup that is famous in Budapest. It's a lot of cream and fresh chopped fruit all together in a bowl. It merits mentioning for two reasons, you must try it if you visit the city and the other was an incident we saw go down at the restaurant. For it, we love the Germans even more. The waiter took the bill to the table behind us. They handed him a credit card to pay with. He responded that he could only accept cash because the machine was down. The patron responded he had no cash and was told by the same guy that cards were accepted. The waiter then explained that the machine paper was out and he couldn't run it. The patron responded he didn't care, go get a roll of paper. He sat and waited and finally paid with his credit card. We applauded him. It's alway great when someone tries to get out of doing their job but, in the end, are forced to do it anyways. 

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