Belgrade

Belgrade's central pedestrian street, Knez Milhailova, was buzzing with after-work shoppers as we scouted the adjacent side streets in search of beer and dinner. The city, situated at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, has history stretching back millennia but a decidedly modern feel today. Architecturally, its mishmash of styles reflects various conquests in history, from the Turks to the Austro-Hungarians. But housed in the ground floors of the grand old buildings lining Knez Milhailova are the ubiquitous Prada, Starbucks and Zara.

At a characterful little bar down a side street, decorated with antique furniture, old pictures and 1950s wireless radios, we enjoyed a pint of Serbia's Jelen pilsner before being driven out by thick cigarette smoke (smoking is as popular as breathing in eastern Europe). We headed to the curiously-named '?' restaurant for dinner - housed in an 18th century tavern, all crooked floor boards and wooden stools. It would feel like the tourist trap it probably is if it weren't for the staff: a family who treated us like regulars, stopping past our table to crack a joke and top up our glasses. We filled up on burek, a filo-pastry pie filled with white cheese; followed by Serbia's specialty - a huge plate of char-grilled meat.

Belgrade is a great place after dark, as we found out after dinner when the city's bars really came alive, but it's hard to fill a day there. Even after spending the morning at the hotel catching up on email, once we had ticked off the citadel and grabbed lunch at a bakery in the picturesque cobbled Skadarska lane, Lonely Planet failed to come up with any further suggestions that grabbed our attention. So we filled a couple of hours in the shops until we deemed it a respectable hour to go to a bar and fortify ourselves for the upcoming overnight train ride to Sofia.

       

A night and a day on trains - Krakow to Belgrade

The overnight train to Budapest was luxury compared to the ageing Silesia Sleeper from Prague to Krakow. Our compartment in the brand-new carriage featured hotel-quality sheets, real pillows and ample duvets, a hand-basin, coat hangers, a power socket and complimentary bottled water. Even so, we struggled to get much sleep with the train roaring and lurching south through Slovakia into Hungary.

Some puzzling changes occurred during the night. As we pulled out of Krakow station, our carriage was at the back of the train and we could look straight out at the tracks disappearing into a snowy vanishing point behind us. A bathroom visit in the small hours revealed an engine car attached and us travelling the other way. In the morning, we were going in the original direction again and there was a passenger carriage attached to ours.

Breakfast in Budapest and then a daytime train to Belgrade. A day off from our holiday bringing the welcome chance to relax in our spacious and cosy six-person compartment occupied only by us for most of the journey, and to watch the white plains pass by out the window. By the time we reached a small town called Kiskoros, the snow had turned to rain and high-trained vineyards became the dominant feature of the bleak flat landscape. There are no platforms in the small towns the train stopped at, so the boarding passengers have to throw their bags up into the carriage and scramble aboard from the tarmac beside the tracks. A woman and her grandson joined us in our compartment for a 15-minute stretch. The train paused in a field outside a small village and they jumped off and hurried across the wet grass through the rain.

So here I am writing, reading and watching the wet, featureless landscape pass by. Even though it's raining there is a hoar frost that hasn't melted, so the grass, scrub and trees are coated in shiny silver. We'll arrive in Belgrade at around 6pm, in good time for dinner and drinks in the renowned party town.