Krakow to Tbilisi: Day 2
Belgrade was a surprise. Best beds ever!
Miskolc in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, crossing one border. Distance 555km. Spent the night in an unassuming hotel with no staff, but spacious room, amazing bathroom, large balcony, common kitchen area with a great coffee machine and the comfiest mattresses ever.
We set off from our quaint lodgings in Hungary fairly early and without having had breakfast or coffee. Figuring we could get some along the way. And a little nervous about the day ahead, having to cross another border and leave the relative familiarity of the EU behind. Serbia has also never been on my list of countries I wanted to visit. And what I know about the area could fit onto a napkin.
Also, the weather was, in Maria’s words: “dumb”, meaning overcast and a little gloomy. But this day was so full of surprises!
The first was the sheer generosity of the first petrol station we pulled into, to get our coffee. It had the most spectacular rose garden, clean and lovely bathrooms and good choices of food. It was a Shell, and it set a high standard by which we judged all other stops along the route. Mostly Shell came through for us, but sometimes it disappointed us.
My biggest request for the day was to have Hungarian Goulash, in Hungary, before we crossed the border. So around lunch time we stopped again, at yet another Shell. See the pattern here? And found the sweetest little restaurant, that did in fact specialize in Goulash. The waiter was really kind, the food delicious and we set off for the border with renewed energy.
Serbia gave us some better weather, even though we had a lot of “so flat land” scenery, as Maria’s friend described Serbia. But another surprise was crossing the Danube/ Donau. (I did say my knowledge of Serbia fit onto a napkin!)
The final surprise of the day was Belgrade itself. I had no idea what I was expecting, but this modern city complete with oddly shaped buildings, beautiful bridges and a huge mall near our hotel was not it.
We had to go to said mall as we needed to get cash for the hotel. And decided to just walk there. It was a study in contrasts between the very modern mall we were heading towards and the strange apartment blocks with creepy dark stairs we passed. We saw a completely burnt out car that the fire department were still supervising, many cats and dogs and lots of crazy driving.
We found cash in the mall and the quest for Serbian food began… and ended just as abruptly. Think “food court” in any mall ever, and you will be mostly right. There was a KFC, Burger King and Chinese food, as well as many overpriced burger places. So we did what seemed the most natural and went for Mexican, served as a generous bowl, complete with homemade lemonade and Churros. We were able to sit outside to eat and talk some more, still not running out of things to talk about :)
Actually, I have to revise my statement. The final and most welcome surprise of the day was the sheer comfort of the bed! The room was already impressive, being bright and spacious with a very generous bathroom and balcony. But the bed was sheer luxury. We had a very good rest here and took time to recover from the two days of driving. It was a good day.
PS Most photos were taken by Maria!
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