Yeah, well....
I guess there is many a slip twixt the bus and the trip!
Arrived at the travel agency in Belgrade at 12 m'day on Wednesday to check in for the 6pm departure to Greece that evening, only to be told it had left at 7am that morning...
...without me!
Shock, horror, how dare they?
It seems they tried to contact my friend re the sudden time change, but she was at work and I was in transit and she can not use a private phone at work! So...
Got my money back and proceeded to have a nice 3 day stay in Belgrade instead, even though it sleeted, snowed and then poured with rain for 2 days!
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| One of the 2 types of breakfasts served at the Astoria Hotel in Belgrade! I preferred this one as the English Breakfast has a bowl of chips, 8 pieces of French toast, an amazing type of sausage as variance to the vegies, cheese and "vegetable stuff" in the left hand dish. |
Went touring on the one sunny day, shopping for some Xmas things for my grand daughters, bought a navy dress jacket, new PJ's etc and tried on lots of coats and shoes, but nothing fitted as I wanted it to. I only shop while away, so it was fun to look at things.
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| A 500 billion Dinar note from 1993 in the hyper inflation days in Serbia. Worth about 3 euros...less than 5 Aussie dollars. |
Found lots of great building ideas for the new big room, like vanity basin and cupboards etc. Found awesome tiles like I have never seen in Hungary, probably due to the Greek and Turkish influences from down that way.
Found a super flooring shop too that has all the decking, parquetry etc I simply can not find in Budapest. All the people in the shops spoke great English, so I was able to accomplish a lot.
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| Some of the older buildings have been preserved like this one, in the streets, has bullet holes in it from the street fighting in the recent Serbian battles for freedom. So much stuff we from OZ take for granted. |
Also discovered a marble heating system that simply plugs in. No piping needed, no plumbing, no gas etc etc.
Jelena has 3 different sized panels installed in her apartment and they certainly did the job in the sudden drop from 20C to zero temps.
Very classy marble panels of any finish...bronze look, rough marble, polished and so on.
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| The oldest traditional building in Belgrade. Built by the Turks hundreds of years ago in the Turkish occupation. |
All up it would cost me one fifth of the price of traditional heating I was going to do, to set my place up for next winter. The company is in Nis, a city out of Belgrade, so am hoping they can transport to my place here!
Installation takes about 20 mins a panel to fit, test, and as they drill the screw holes the guys vacuum the falling dust so nothing hits the floor or air around! Amazing.
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| And she said Serbian was really easy to read...it is pronounced just as you read it! Really? |
I also ate out every meal, something I really don't do a lot and have never eaten 3 meals a day in restaurants or cafes or fast food outlets, even whilst traveling.
I like to make most of my own meals or buy fruit, nuts or yoghurt because I don't like artificial things in my food, that's why I always chose accom with kitchens.
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| My fave hang out in Belgrade...The Cigar and Champagne rooms at the Astoria...Love the lights! |
Took my friend to the Astoria for a "lamenting no Greece trip" massive English breakfast/brunch and bubbly and it came to 18 dollars OZ for us both, not each, even with a picallo of bubbles each!
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| Ahhhh, right where I belong! |
The Astoria Hotel has superb food and strangely enough it is half the price, or less, than the sidewalk cafes. I had all my meals, except the steak dish on the first day, at the Astoria, which is over the road and down a 100 mtrs from my accom, my dentist, the train station and only 200 mtrs from the centre of Belgrade.
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| Now, THAT'S a mug...My 2 most fave people in Belgrade...Zorena on the left and Jelena on the right. Zorena is the manager of Home Sweet Home, so the owner told me. |
So a bloated 3 days later, I arrived home unexpectedly to find the dogs had destroyed their bedding... which unfortunately included a few old feather and foam pillows!
'Nuff said!
You can imagine a windy morning, millions of feathers and bits of foam, blowing in whirly-winds around the inside garden fence...
Amazing...NOT!
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| Pansy wall. In Summer this wall is covered with petunias... |
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| Entering the famous Bohemian centre... |
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| A lovely day fior touring...Free 3 hour walking tours are a great way to orientate in all cities when traveling. |
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| The big stones on the street, used as cobble stones, are not suitable for any type of shoe with a heel! |
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| Entering the old city buildings area... |
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| It pays to look up on occasion! |
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| Entering the wonderful park to visit the massive fortress.. |
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| You can not imagine how really Yuuuggge this thing is! |
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| Peeping through one of the gun slits in one of the outer bastion walls. |
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| 4 levels of bricked terraces...An enemy would not stand a chance with this set up! |
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| Gateway into another part of the bastion. It was a city within walls and had a milatary set up in there too. |
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| A very hot day when the sun was out, thankfully for taking pics. Next day it hit zero and sleeted, snowed a little then poured for the next 2 days. |
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| Renos underway... |
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| It is big! These are some of the old dungeons... Note how tiny the person on the bridge is. |
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| Aiming high for great views. |
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| Now, that's how you do it! The Sava and Danube meet here.. |
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| Lovely views... |
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| Looking down you can see some of the old remains of homes within the massive complex. |
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| Some more crumbling remains... |
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| Jelena works in that big black building sky scraper... |
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| Inside one of the old dungeon cells...no windows and taken thru the grate in the door, with a flash as it was pitch black inside. |
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| The tour only went a certain way, without steps mostly, due to the age group range. So many oldies walk this tour, so lots of steps are mostly out for large groups like this. |
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| Some of our group of over 50 people taking a break in the shade. |
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| A display pic on the promenade of troops leaving for battle. This is from the other side of the complex. |
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| My little castle still stands! |
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| My sister calls these white flowers/weeds, living snow! |
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| From the park you walk across the street into my fave strip in Belgrade...the fabulous cafe culture. Love it, but don't drink coffee in Europe. I make my own in the mornings and that's it for the day. So many people drink cocktails or juices/soft drinks. It's clouding over and getting colder by the minute, now the tour has finished! |
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| Was walking past and noticed this unusual meal, so I ordered one, even though it was in an edible pastry top hat! hahaha... |
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| Steak, capsicum, lettuce! 3ingredients and it was simply delicious with the mustard drizzle. |
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| Waiting inside to pay for the meal and experimented taking a pic in the mirror without me being in it. |
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| So many nice looking edibles, but Ican't ever remember being tempted. I just love looking at them. |
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| Then it started to sleet on the way back to Home Sweet Home! |
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| A nice warm place out of the cold and wet outside... |
Went home on the Thursday 10 pm night train and arrived at my place at 10 am from Belgrade and Budapest...all 3 trains and the bus were fast connections this time.
So ends my Big Fat Greek trip!
Have a workaway guy coming for a few weeks next week so am madly rushing around to sort out the rooms.
Imre was to paint the front room windows and door trims while I was away, but it will still be done on the same days...just with me here now.
So, all the best and I hope you enjoyed the little trip into lovely Belgrade instead of Greece.
Cheers,
Mary
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