Leaving Budapest was actually quite a challenge and not because I didn't want to leave (which was true) it was because the train station was a disaster. I arrived with about 30 minutes to spare but could not find my destination on the board so I began to ask people. I was told told the wrong platform twice and was wandering around like a chicken with its head cut off. No one seemed to know, even the people that worked there. By some miracle I found the platform and was pretty sure I was headed in the right direction. I was getting a bit concerned a couple hours into my journey because my ticket did not say Belgrade but was told it was the correct place. I finally asked a lady sitting behind me if she knew where the stop I wanted was and she said she was going to that place as well. Instantly I was not so worried. We got off at the right stop and then the real challenge began. I successfully got a tram to the area my hostel was in but then my directions did not match any of the street signs. I quickly realized my directions were in English and the street signs were in cerrilic. I once again had to ask someone for directions. The lady I asked made it really simple she told me to go straight down the road I was near and walk three blocks and the street I want should be on the right. I started walking and as I'm making my way down the street I hear someone sprinting behind me. My first thought was I was about to get robbed. I turned around and realized it was the lady I asked for directions. She had run after me to let me know she had told me the wrong directions. It was still very close to where I was but I could not believe how nice she was to chase after me to correct her directions. I think this just generally symbolizes how wonderful the people in Eastern Europe are.
The morning of the 4th I did a free walking tour and about 10 minutes into it the lady leading it pulled out a plastic water bottle out of her bag and told us about rakia which was a local alcohol that everyone had to try. She passed out small plastic cups and about 30 people took shots of rakia at 10:45 in the morning. After the tour a group of us decided to go to a local place for lunch. After a delicious lunch we split into two groups; one group that wanted to go biking along the river and the other group wanted to get their pictures taken at a bank and have it printed on money for free! Both sounded like fun to me but of course I chose to go with the biking group. We all met up later that night for drinks at the "?" Bar. After that we ventured to a boat party which we were told was the last one of the season, I believed it because earlier we were told there were no more that year.
On the 5th of October the group of us that soon became known as the Belgrade Crew did a second walking tour to a different part of town and met up for a pub crawl in the evening. We went to three bars, one traditional serbian bar, one pub and ended at a club.
On the morning of the 6th I had scheduled a 7am door-to-door hostel drop off service for 20 euros. I woke up looked at my watch, saw that it was 10am, stared at my watch trying to figure out what it was I had to do that morning and when I finally realized I missed my bus I jumbled out of my bed and went to reception. Joe, the guy at reception for Hedonist Hostel said don't worry I booked you the 2pm bus before I could even say anything. I was so relieved! He then asked me if I am normally a really heavy sleeper and then explained he and the leaning lady had attempted to wake me up but my only response was rolling over in bed and swatting away their hands when they poked my nose. I have come to realize when I drink quite a bit I sleep really heavily.
That morning Yagiz from Istanbul mentioned mentioned that an omelet sounded good and then we were both determined to find omelets for breakfast. It was a the beginning of tretiorous search. We asked Joe where we could find omelets and he told us of palace near by, however, after a long search we had no luck. We walked around a bit more and then returned to the hostel where we told Joe of our lack of success. He then told us of another place near by but it was close to 2pm so we had to be quick. With our struggles that day we were again unable to find anything and ended up returning to the hostel empty handed with hungry stomachs to wait for my van. We waited in the main room where reception was and Joe disappeared for a while. When he returned he had made me a scrambled egg! I couldn't believe it- it was not an omelet but I was so happy and overall this challenging day was lovely because of the company I was in.
No comments:
Post a Comment