Day 11 - Боеград до Ниш - 12 Септембар 2012

Day 11 - Belgrade to Nish - 12 September 2012

#Србија #Ниш #Београд #Воз #Train #Serbia

Train for Niš

We were up bright and early at 05:30 after very little sleep. We didn't even have breakfast, not even coffee! We made our way outside and and it seemed that the über app wasn't working. We tried flagging down a few taxi cabs and we even waited for a tram. I decided we should walk towards the main taxi area. We walked in the direction of Sveti Sava towards a bog fountain and we eventually found a taxi there. I explained that the station was new, which was news to the taxi-driver. Eventually we got to "Београд Центар" podkop. A sterile shuns souls new station. Still no coffee. We got the tickets and found our way to the to platform 4 got on the train. This was a very modern train and all announcements where in Serbian and English. As the 6 hour journey progressed, the latin script on the digital display was replaced withe Cyrillic. The journey was mainly endless fields of maize, so I quickly fell asleep.

The city of Niš

The first driver had 1980s music playing in the background. we later changed drivers and the small villages that were visible seemed to get poorer and poorer and more run down. Finally we arrived in Niš.

Market in Niš

This was very much Eastern Europe as I would imagine it with cracked pavements and decay everywhere like Ireland in the 1980s. The taxi driver was all enthusiastic about Ireland, he said that "we are the same". He told me that Serbs were eastern Celts. He drops us at the Irish pub next to our rented apartment telling us that it was 20 metres to the left. Google maps said it was 1 km away. Him, eventually the owner contacts us and says that his father is waiting close to the Irish pub, an "old man". The guy was not happy at all that we were late! The apartment was very pleasant indeed. I do some washing, Stanislav went out and bought some shopping; bread, cheese, tomatoes and snacks. Now it was late evening. Finally we could eat and it turned out that the crisps were amazing as was the cheese, tomatoes but we still had no coffee! We finished our meal and went into the town to do some eploring. The old fortress and main gate was very impressive. The Turkish influence was more than obvious here.

Exchange office

We wing around outside the fortress walls and towards the bus station and came across even more decay. Eventually we found the international part of the bus station . Note to self: never try to exchange Croatian Kuna here! We purchased our tickets for Sofia here then wandered back towards the city centre.

Monument to fallen soldiers

On the way we came across a large monument erected to commemorate the the war in Kosovo and the fallen Serbian soldiers. We got some ice cream for Stanislav. Still no coffee. We explore some more and write postcards that we bought at the fortress. We then return to the apartment, had some lovely wine and the slept.

#Немахафа