Sarajevo to Podgorica via Beograd & Uzice

Monday (19th June) checked out of our accommodation, stood outside attempting to call a taxi, using the local app, but not managing it, thankfully our host came out and offered to order us a taxi, which turned up in 5 mins. We needed a taxi, because despite being walking distance from Sarajevo’s main bus station. The bus we need to Belgrade (‘Beograd’) was going from Sarajevo East Bus Station, 7.5 Kms east of the city centre. Sarajevo was updating its transport infrastructure, so no trams were working. We were nice and early for the bus, so managed to pay the ‘bus station tax’ (??) and get a coffee before the mini bus turned up for our 8 hr trip!

The mini bus was a pleasant trip, being used like a local bus, picking up and dropping at what seemed like random places, but the bus was never overcrowded, and stopped at couple of cafes for 20/30 minutes. We arrived in Belgrade about on time, then had a 20min walk to our accommodation. Another AirBnB, it had to be said a slightly old and decrepit one. Rog ran the kitchen tap, at first the sink didn’t drain, then it did in to the cupboard underneath, the pipes were not connected properly!! We informed the host, and just told them we wouldn’t use the kitchen sink, we were only going to be there 2 nights. Turns out the host was on holiday in Greece, so he apologised and sent a nice photo of a Greek sunset!! One to notch up to experience.

Tuesday, Belgrade is another city updating its transport infrastructure, all trains now leave from Beograd Centar train station and neither of the two old stations. As Nic’s foot was still not great, Rog went for walk to the rail station, to get seat reservations for the next part of the trip, doing the scenic train route through Serbia and Montenegro. After 1/2 hr in the international train office Rog managed to get the reservations we needed, with no English spoken and yes, Serbia is the only language you can’t download offline in Google Translate, and there is no mobile signal in the station, but got there eventually, and only time will tell if it worked!

Went out to dinner at the restaurant on the corner, very close to the apartment. Rog ordered cevapici (sausage shaped meat balls) and got 10 with 5 chips! Big chips but only 5 of them. Nic ordered Pljeskavica (meat patty) which was huge and got slightly more chips!

Wednesday, we had a hot walk to the station for the train to Uzice, about 4hrs (the train not the walk)! , the reservations sort of worked, a lady was sitting in one of our seats, but the two seats opposite were empty, so we sat there until she got off after about 1 1/2hrs. Then moved and spread out a bit! A short walk to our accommodation. The door was open, and there was an honesty box for the cash in the hall, we never saw anybody!

We had no reason to visit Uzice, we’d never heard of it before, but it was on the scenic rail line and we could get some nice/cheap accommodation, so we planned a stop!

Another dinner out where the portion sizes were ridiculous, Nic ordered the local dish Karadjordjeva, and got twice what you would expect, before we ordered we’d laughed at what we now realise was a only half portions being delivered to a table of older ladies, the half portions still looked big.

Thursday, Nic’s foot was doing a lot better, so we planned a walk along an old railway line to the ‘Great Dam’, an enjoyable walk out of the city, thankfully there was plenty of shade, because it was a hot day.

Friday, back on the train from Uzice to Podgorica (Montenegro) the train was coming from Beograd, and was 30mins late arriving, once on board, found that one of our reserved seats was occupied, we were just working out what to do, when the conductor arrived asked if everything was ok, checked out ticket and threw the guy and all his luggage out of our reserved seat. It’s scheduled for 7 hrs so we were pleased to get our seats. The train kept the 30 min delay through Serbia, but because of the 40min scheduled stop at the border, and a quick passport check leaving Serbia, we were back on time. 40 minutes later we had the Montenegro passport control, still all good. Then at the next station everything ground to a halt in an amazing thunder and lightening storm! There was some brief explanation given, which we did not understand, then the conductor got off the train and sat at the station cafe drinking coffee and smoking. From the multi lingual rumours on the train, there was either no electricity in the overhead power line, or a problem with a goods train ahead of us on the tracks or both! Anyway after 1hr 30 mins we were on our way again. About ten minutes before we got moving again, 2 Swedish passengers in our compartment declared they were getting a taxi as we could be stuck there all night! It gave us more room in our compartment, and we chatted a bit more with our remaining travel companions.

The scenery from the train was spectacular, the further south we got, the more spectacular it seemed to get, we are definitely glad we have done the route.

We arrived in Podgorica about an hour and half late, attempting to keep our accommodation host up to date with our progress, which was not easy given the number of tunnels, causing issues with both the mobile phone signal and also the GPS, so we didn’t know exactly where we were.

A 10min walk to the accommodation, then Rog had to run out to the local bank to get some € to pay!

Saturday, we had a walk around the city centre, it’s not very big, we have to keep reminding ourselves that Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro. We stopped for coffee and cake at a little art gallery in the old town.

For dinner we had pizza, whilst watching attempts to install a new sun canopy on the café opposite, we finished our dinner and left, they were still trying! A couple of hours later a huge thunder storm arrived, which lasted several hours, we did think of the guys potentially still up ladders trying to secure their new sun shade!

Sunday, walked to, and around the local park, nice view over the city and also the surrounding hills. Had coffee, near the cafe with the new sun canopy to see if it had been finished, they were still working on it, but a couple of the men were sitting under the main section, so they obviously had confidence in their work.

W/c 19 June

2 trains

468 Kms

Totals

51 trains

9,726 Kms