Smoky Bars in Balmy Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia (B)

The overnight train from Sofia to Serbia’s capital Belgrade was old, crappy and smelly. No one seemed to have consulted the EU on this one! A Chinese guy approached us on the dimly lit platform with a worried look on his face. He couldn’t believe this graffiti-covered Soviet relic was really our train. He took one look at his cabin and bed sheets and came back down to us and wanted reassurance that bed bugs wouldn’t molest him overnight! We couldn’t promise anything I’m afraid, the train was no Orient Express, but far from the worst, we’d lived to tell about!

Of course, the border crossing wouldn’t be complete without one pain-in-the-arse Customs officer with a good sense of curiosity. He made us lift our 20 kg bag with our panniers and other gear down from the luggage rack for inspection. Not that any of them ever give more than a passing glance. Getting it back up is obviously a whole lot harder!

Our old clunker of a train rattled into Belgrade at daybreak. We had booked another Airbnb apartment about 2kms from the city centre. It was way too early to go to it though, and we settled for pushing our fully loaded bikes up a very steep hill leading away from the train station. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).