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23rd July-
Left Sarajevo at 730 and headed towards the board to Serbia. Drove for a couple of hours on small narrow roads through some pretty countryside with green mountains. Crossed over the boarder into Serbia and quickly changed some money into local currency.. I have now lost count of how many different currencies I have used. once in serbia we drove for another couple of hours before stopping for lunch. Looking at the window you see a lot of market garden type farming with fields of corn, watermelon and other veggies planted. There seems to be a lot of corn growing here. It is interesting to see so much corn grown when i haven't eaten corn while in this region Also hay stacks are used. I haven't see bales of hay just lots of haystacks. Haven't really seen haystacks since I left Romania. We drove through the republic of serbica, an area of Bosnia that is set aside for the Serbs to live in. It is a contested issue with the Bosnian people as they feel they had to make this deal to end the siege on there city.
The signs are difficult to read again, as in Serbia they use the cyril alphabet similar to Bulgaria and Greece. Drove for a couple of hours and crossed into Serbia. Stopped to change money just inside the boarder. Then it was another few hours drive till we reached Belgrade. We are staying at hotel sarejo, which is a large communists style hotel. It looks unrenovated since the 1960 as it is still complete with dial up phone, orange light shades and bathroom that leaves a lot to be desired. Headed out for a walk and visited the st sava cathedral. It is still under construction and is the largest orthodox cathedral in Europe. They have completed the outside and are just working on the interior decoration. Walked back to the hotel via the small market near the cathedral. Brought some local candy to try. Was very sugary.
Bcd at the hotel got ready to go out for a walking tour and then pub crawl. Am feeling slightly better, my eyes have almost cleared and my throat is slowly getting better. On the walking tour we pasted the old royal buildings that now house the parliament. They are built in a very Austria style of the 19th century. We contuined into downtown Belgrade stopping to note different influence on the city as Belgrade as been the site of hundreds of battles resulting in rebuilding of the city in different style depending in the community ruling. We walked to the Boheme quarter and looked at all the Hotels built in the early 1900s to house artists that were flocking to the city under the new European rule. We then made out way to the fortress of the city. Had a quick look around as they were closing sections of it off due to a visit by a U.N official. It provided for nice views over the Danube and sava rivers. The sun was setting so walked through the fortress and onto a restaurant for dinner. Enjoyed a dinner of a local pork, onion and paprika stew. Really tasty. Then it was time for a pub crawl. A local guy came to show us some of the highlights of the city. we started at a restaurant bar that had a traditional local musicians playing while we enjoyed a drink and some homemade baked beans. Then it was onto an apartment bar. This was a place up a few flights of stairs in an old apartment building were they had a bar and random collections of furniture and graffiti on the walls. Was a very different place and unique to Belgrade. Headed back to the hotel from here as am not able to drink and don't want to stay out as talking loud is hard with a sore throat.
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