Belgrade
Our last night in Budapest we were a little tired and cranky. We had no hostel and a train around midnight to catch so we had nothing to do. It was cold at the train station, but we tried to sleep.
Our night train was too short, so we were tired when we arrived in Belgrade, Serbia.
I've noticed that when taking trains one usually sees the worst parts of a city beside the railroad tracks. This was especially true in Belgrade where we saw areas filled with little shacks and piles of trash where gypsies were living.
We only intended to spend the day in Belgrade as we had a night train planned to Montenegro. Therefore, we had no hostile to stay at. Getting off the train at 6am in Belgrade we were tired and a bit intimidated.
Belgrade is definitely not as tourist-friendly as Budapest. There is a lot of work left to do.
We attempted to book a hostel so we could rest for the morning even, but the hostel was a bit unfriendly and so we decided just to walk to the main sight in the city, which was the Kalamegdan Fortress.
Luckily for us the sun started shining and it was a great day. We spent all of it sitting in the park at the fortress: reading, napping, and taking pictures.
I felt a bit like a homeless person sleeping in the grass with my backpack, but I was so tired that I didn't care.
The views from Kalamegdan were beautiful of the Danube and the Sava rivers crossing. The fortress was from when Belgrade was a Roman city.
I always find these old fortresses interesting. They went to such great lengths to build these protected cities up on the hills. It's really quite amazing to imagine all of the work that went into it.
This statue is called the Pobednik, which means the Victor in English. It was erected after WWI and placed at the Kalamegdan Fortress instead of in the Republic Square where the statue of the rider is because people complained about the nudity.
Mike thought it was neat that there were so many old men playing chess in the park and I really enjoyed a chance to eat some baklava!
That night we asked for directions to a movie theater and then watched The Rocker because it was the only movie they had in English. It was kind of lame but cute and it killed time.
In the end, we felt lucky that our day had gone so well, but we were happy to board our train that night and say goodbye to Belgrade.
***edit*** Mike tells me that we saw the movie in Budapest. Apparently this vacation has all become a blur to me because it was so long!