So, Serbia. We flew out of Ljubljana in the evening on the world’s smallest aircraft (I’m sure future travels will prove that this isn’t really so, but it sure felt like it!) run by Serbian JAT airlines into Belgrade. We have a mere 24 hours in this city, and I can tell already that Serbia is going to be my first mistake in timing, as Nige becomes ever more excited about what Lonely Planet is telling him he has in store.

I managed to change some money as soon as we got through customs, and finding the JAT bus was easy as the airport is relatively small and the bus was waiting right outside. We kind of forget living on the continent how convenient the Euro Zone is for tourists (no matter what your views on what it does for the economy of the individual countries). I have distant memories of having to change pounds for a myriad of different European currencies on trips abroad – often having to be prepared with a bit of this, and a smattering of that (needing to stop for a coffee in France on the way to somewhere else meaning that it’d cost you in commission almost as much as you were trying to change).

Anyway, safely on the bus with a pocket full of Dinars, we settled down for the journey into town. What we actually got was a 1970/80’s musical education of epic proportions. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Close to You by the Carpenters directly followed by a bit of Status Quo.

The drive into town seemed to take forever, and every mile or so the bus seemed to pull over at a random place to drop of various Serbian freeriders (the policeman certainly did not pay!).

The location of the hostel was supposed to be ‘right next door’ to the JAT bus stop, but in reality it was off a street on the other side of the square, and I had to nip into a couple of places to ask directions, but once we found it, all was well.

This is the first hostel we’ve stayed in that has actually lived up to my vision of what hosteling would be like – Tina and Ivan were young, extremely welcoming and the common area actually had people in it who were talking to each other.

Ivan gave me some homemade wine while I was registering – poured from a lemonade bottle and made by some friends of theirs in Kosovo.

Before long, we were walking into the centre of the city, which – bearing in mind it’s a Sunday night I thought it was pretty buzzing with people. The bars were full and loads of people just hanging out outside having a great time. Nige, however, didn’t seem to see it. He kept frustratingly looking for the ‘nightlife’ and ‘jumping crowd’ which in actual fact was all around us. I don’t think Nige found what he was looking for during the whole evening – whether it was a particular bar, a particular restaurant, or a particular street. All very frustrating as by just opening your eyes and looking around it’s possible to see many more things you never even knew existed.

Anyway, we didn’t do too bad for old folks that had had a full day of sightseeing in Slovenia followed by flight and bus to Belgrade.