EURO-JOURNAL DAY 40 (SARAJEVO - BELGRADE)

Yep, all the hangover, but with none of the late night partying we had hoped for on our last night. James, Suvi and I made it up in time to get our late morning train. We even had enough time at the station for a breakfast beer. However we didn't prepare well for the journey. Suvi bought some food, but James and I expected beer would be sold on the train and that would help us to postpone the inevitable hangovers. The first few hours onboard were great. Still buzzing from last night and this morning's alcohol, we were in great spirits and had fun chatting with other backpackers on the train. But as the afternoon sun rose, we started to heat up and sober up. At a couple of the stops, thirsty James hopped off the train to see if there was anywhere selling beer. Despite having no local currency or shoes on his feet, he made a good effort for the team. But at one stop, no sooner had he jumped off the train and skipped across the tracks barefooted, than the conductor blew his whistle and sent the train off again. We we are pretty suprised by the quick departure, but none more than James who turned tail and started to nimbly skip over the tracks, avoiding anything sharp, toward the moving train. Luckily he reached us before the train picked up too much speed. I held open the door with my body and reached out my arm. He grabbed it and jumped aboard to the laughter and applause of the other passengers. Later in our train car, James wondered what he would have done in that Serbian village if he hadn't been able to get back on board. With no shoes, bag, passport and just a few euros for beer, it might have been an interesting situation. I reassured him that I would've called out "stay where you are" and come back for him with. Any man that will take those risks for a cold beer should not be left behind.
By the time we reached Serbia's capital, Belgrade, we were well and truly dehydrated. I was the first to get some local currency out of the train station ATM so took a walk outside and marched up to the nearest kiosk selling beer. Always wary of big sity train stations and the people that loiter there, I was a little worried when I set my beers down on the uneven surface and they knocked over a bottle of water that a local man was about to buy. "Sorry", I said. He looked at me and asked "English?". "Irish", I said with a big smile. He returned my smile and left. While confirming the beer prices with the pony-tailed, bushy eye-browed young vendor, he asked in perfect English, "Did I hear you say you're Irish?" I told him yes and he shot me a beaming smile and said he loved Irish music. "Oh, yeah", I asked, "U2? Cranberries?" These groups are universally known and U2 were massive back in Bosnia because of the song Miss Sarajevo and because they toured there, even when other groups wouldn't. But the still-smiling vendor said "No. Traditional Irish music; folk music". I was impressed and bluffed knowledge at my country's music as we chitchatted for a minute. Then I returned to the station with four cans of beer for myself and a very grateful-looking James.
A lot of people from the train were going to the same hostel and most were talking about taking a tram. But James, Suvi and I opted to share a taxi as we were 3 and we didn't want to waste precious drinking time. We checked into a hostel suitably named Hedonists and got straight into party mode. Following a shower and more beers at the hostel, a squad of us headed out together to see what this new country had to offer in the way of nightlife. First, we visited the pedestrianised area near our hostel which hosted lots of restaurants and bars. We ordered a well-needed feast on the terrace of poshly-waitered place and drunk more beer while waiting for our food. By the time the mixed grill we were sharing arrived, we were pretty tipsy. Thankfully the half-cow on our table and salad filled with jalapeno peppers sobered us enough to manage a bar crawl through the town.
Belgrade has a nice vibe to it, certainly not what I would've expected when thinking of Serbia. It also has a reputation for an all night party scene. We were most definitely not disappointed. We got word that the place to be late night in Serbia is down at the River Danube where all the clubs are. We met some other backpackers who were with a local lad and he brought us down there. All the clubs are on old boats docked in the river. Brilliant! The indide of the boat has bars, DJs, great sound systems and everything else needed for dancing and a good time. And for a breath of fresh air or a smoke or a chat, the decks were open. And each boat had free entry and different types of music as well as being close together. So if you didn't like the hiphop boat, which we were on, you could simply get off, walk a few minutes, and get on the techno boat, or the RnB boat, or whatever. It was great!
At about fivish, I started to feel a bit tired so set off to make my way back to Hedonists. I bumped into Dan, Storm and Avneel, other backpackers I'd met, as I got off the boat and we decided to share a taxi to the hostel. But before bed, Aussie Dan and storm talked me into having a ciabatti (Serbia's most famous fast food) with them in a place they'd found earlier tonight. We grabbed some grub and sat in the park adjacent with some locals to eat. The boys walked back to the hostel as first light was breaking, but I got talking to a local girl who offered to take me to the "fort". "There's a fort here"", I dumbly asked. "Yes, just over there", she pointed. So off we walked through the park to a spectacular, massive fort. I was very impressed, not only by this massive, old fort, but also by the long, curly-haired, slim, local girl who hadn't pulled away when I tried to hold her hand. We sat on a bank overlooking the danube and enjoyed the sunrise. What a romantic end to a long and fun day. First impressions of Serbia are very good.

Storm, Dan, Avneel, James and myself getting started in the first bar.

Lovely local lady.