Woke up at 07:00, down to breakfast. Orange juice, coffee, yoghurt, pastries, toast. Not a great selection of hot food.
Weather was still grey but not raining, around 9c.
Today
we're wandering around Belgrade. Song looked at the history of Belgrade
and it has been in around 140 wars. We leave tomorrow, hopefully before
the next one kicks off.
Out into the cold, walked into the
centre of the city, down the main shopping street. Lots of restaurants
with tables set up outside. Carried on to the fortress, the main
attraction in Belgrade. It was quite impressive - on top of a hill with
commanding views over the city and the confluence of the Danube and Sava
rivers. It is now a park and there were a lot of stalls set up selling
food and souvenirs. Wandered around a bit then back down the main street
again and coming towards us was a procession of people dressed in
medieval gear and wearing armour, some on horseback.
Popped into a
cafe, had a latte that came with a straw, something new, also had a
Nutella and cherry crepe while Song had a salad. Cost about $9. We asked
for the non smoking section and the waiter told us downstairs, we were
the only ones there. Others arrived and all lit up - obviously something
lost in translation, so we got out of there.
When we emerged back
onto the street it had been raining, so we missed it. Just as well,
because I'd left the umbrella back in the hotel (I've got to stop doing
that). Saw a bakery and bought some rolls for the bus trip the next day.
The bakery was the same colour scheme as a chain we like in Europe -
Pauls - and the food was the same, but the name was different. So there
you go.
Walked around the corner to an old part of the city, which
was really one street lined with restaurants and with a cobblestone
road, which was a twisted ankle and faceplant waiting to happen with all
the rain making them wet.
Not much to see, so headed back in the
rain via a market, bought some fruit then back to the hotel to do the
photo backup ritual - SD card out, copy to the PC, copy to the external
HDD, upload to the cloud.
It started to brighten up so we went out
again, back to the fortress so Song could take another 200 photos (I'm
not joking). Lots of people out now, filling the restaurants and
strolling around. Walked to the number 2 seafood restaurant. Got a table
OK even though it was Saturday night, luckily it was early so it wasn't
very busy and we actually had a smoke-free meal for a change.
They
gave us a small starter of tuna and whitefish pate and bread, then we
ordered - I had squid stuffed with risotto and prawns, Song had grilled
squid. Both were served with shard cabbage on potato (same as the
restaurant yesterday - it's either traditional or trendy) and a leek and
carrot thing, We also ordered a seasonal salad which was basically
coleslaw without the mayonnaise.
The meal was pretty good, but not as
good as the place the day before. They gave us a complimentary dessert
to share and a coffee - not because we complained, but because it was
our first time there.
Not wanting to walk anymore, and because some
of the streets looked a bit dodgy (we felt OK during the day), we got a
cab back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we're up at 06:00 for a 7 hour bus trip to Sarajevo.
