Belgrade Station
Belgrade Railway Hotel Parking Lot
Belgrade Railway Hotel Bathroom
We pulled out of Budapest station on our way to Thessoloniki almost two hours late. We were scheduled to change trains in Belgrade, and had a one and a half hour stop there. We realized that catching the second train was going to be mathematically as well as physically impossible unless we made up some time on the way. Well we didn’t. It was one of those bewildering almost surreal experiences.
We were almost at the train station on the outskirts of Belgrade when the young conductor who spoke English came to our seats. “The train will circle Belgrade“, she said. “You can get off here or stay until the main station‘. There was no point in asking why the train would circle Belgrade, or how long it would take, we had reached the end of her English.
We elected to stay on until the main station, but everyone else on our car got off. It’s happened a few times now, and I can tell you there are few things I have experienced that are as disconcerting as being alone on the train car, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere! I went into the next carriage and found a few other young travelers who had also elected to stay on until the main station. We reassured each other as best we could and stared out at the darkness as the train cirlced suburban stations and soviet style apartment blocks loomed up on the horizon.
We were about four hours late and it was mignight by the time we got to Belgrade main station, the railway company kindly offered to put us up for the night at the railway hotel. That was the most appealing option at midnight, so we took them up on it. The last I saw of the other half dozen young travellers from the other car was their backpacks as they fanned out of the door on their way into the neon lights of the city.
Now, to those of us from Canada, the “Railway Hotel” brings up images of the Banff Springs Hotel, the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, or the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. Oh, wait, this is an ex-Soviet country. The railway hotel is basic soviet working comrade accommodation. Our first clue that it was not going to be luxury accommodation was when the “railway man” who lead us to the hotel took us back along the platform, out on to the tracks, and across what may have been the railway workers’ parking lot to get to the hotel. Inside we met a tired looking clerk who took all our passports and began to transcribe our essential information by hand, and then with a typewriter. (You remember those, right?) The room was a three bed dorm style, it was clean enough but very, very worn. Street noise was endless, even during our midnight to 7 am stay. We had to get up early to catch our 7:40 ride to Thessaloniki. Breakfast was not included in the service, so we ate train platform food (greasy) and coffee (great).
The buildings, people and general atmosphere reminded us very much of Russia, we really felt we were back in the USSR when Nelson found beer in 4 liter plastic bottles, so we bought some to take on the train. It is prudent to carry supplies at all times when on trains because you never know when you will be stranded or shunted to a siding!
We were almost at the train station on the outskirts of Belgrade when the young conductor who spoke English came to our seats. “The train will circle Belgrade“, she said. “You can get off here or stay until the main station‘. There was no point in asking why the train would circle Belgrade, or how long it would take, we had reached the end of her English.
We elected to stay on until the main station, but everyone else on our car got off. It’s happened a few times now, and I can tell you there are few things I have experienced that are as disconcerting as being alone on the train car, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere! I went into the next carriage and found a few other young travelers who had also elected to stay on until the main station. We reassured each other as best we could and stared out at the darkness as the train cirlced suburban stations and soviet style apartment blocks loomed up on the horizon.
We were about four hours late and it was mignight by the time we got to Belgrade main station, the railway company kindly offered to put us up for the night at the railway hotel. That was the most appealing option at midnight, so we took them up on it. The last I saw of the other half dozen young travellers from the other car was their backpacks as they fanned out of the door on their way into the neon lights of the city.
Now, to those of us from Canada, the “Railway Hotel” brings up images of the Banff Springs Hotel, the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, or the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. Oh, wait, this is an ex-Soviet country. The railway hotel is basic soviet working comrade accommodation. Our first clue that it was not going to be luxury accommodation was when the “railway man” who lead us to the hotel took us back along the platform, out on to the tracks, and across what may have been the railway workers’ parking lot to get to the hotel. Inside we met a tired looking clerk who took all our passports and began to transcribe our essential information by hand, and then with a typewriter. (You remember those, right?) The room was a three bed dorm style, it was clean enough but very, very worn. Street noise was endless, even during our midnight to 7 am stay. We had to get up early to catch our 7:40 ride to Thessaloniki. Breakfast was not included in the service, so we ate train platform food (greasy) and coffee (great).
The buildings, people and general atmosphere reminded us very much of Russia, we really felt we were back in the USSR when Nelson found beer in 4 liter plastic bottles, so we bought some to take on the train. It is prudent to carry supplies at all times when on trains because you never know when you will be stranded or shunted to a siding!
The Mafia are going to get you John!
ReplyDeletePosting pictures of bathrooms is important secret intelligence information!