7/23 Tuesday Our apartment is fine so far. The couple in "our" room departs, leaving for Dubrovnik. We chat for a bit, telling some of our experience there. Adnan's wife comes up to clean the room for us, and we can move in. It's big and comfortable, with a sofa, coffee table and terrace. Not long after, we are joined by a young couple from the UK, here for a few days, then going on to Dubrovnik, just as the others did. We note the fact that with the four bedrooms, there is actually room for eleven people here, so at least we don't have a full house. We want to organize our next trip to Belgrade, so we take a walk to the bus station, about two miles away, and an interesting city tour along the shops and parks. We pass the green market on the way, where a suicide bomber killed a couple dozen people in 1994, triggering UN action against the aggressive Yugoslav army. Bob tries to buy a bag of walnuts, but his first vendor doesn't understand and really doesn't want to deal with him. A second woman understands, and lets him buy a bagful. At another block along the way there is an old building housing the meat and dairy market, so we stop in for a look. The place is full of counters with chicken, beef, eggs and cheeses in all their old-world glory. We buy some sheep cheese and some cured beef for lunch. We feel a little guilty buying our small portions; all the vendors are proffering samples and seem so disappointed in us when we make our meager order. Our snacks are incredibly delicious, though, so we manage to console ourselves. At the bus station, we're told that there's only one bus to Belgrade, leaving at 6am, not an easy time for us. We walk over to the nearby train station to check our options there. It's bizarrely empty, post-apocalypse empty. Have you ever seen an empty train station? Does not bode well for our train plans, and sure enough, the lonely ticket clerk barks, "No train to Belgrade!" when we ask. Back to the bus station for our tickets. Next, we head over to the tram stop to find out if there are any trams running at 5am, so we can get a ride to the bus. No luck, we'll have to make sure we can get a cab. We wait for a tram back into town, finding the schedule somewhat less agreeable than in Dubrovnik. After a half hour wait, thinking we should have just walked, our tram arrives. Sarajevo had one of the first tram lines in Eastern Europe, "Before Vienna," as Adnan has told us. It's possible that this is the very same track as our car bounces and shrugs along the rails. Now we're ready for dinner, and some pizza is what we want. As we stroll through the old town, we can't seem to find any of the dozens of restaurants we've seen before. We pass shops and coffee bars, no restaurants. Finally we see a big Coca-cola banner with pictures of pizza hanging over the entry to a very nice garden café plaza. We go in and ask for a table, saying we'd like to order pizza. The waiter looks confused. "Pizza?" he calls over to a co-worker, "Pizza?" He tells us, "No pizza, just drinks." Ok, we can't argue about the signs, we just continue our search. Another place has an actual menu on their door, listing different pizzas, so we stop and ask for a table and pizza. Again the waiter says, "No pizza, just drinks." We look confused, so he adds, "Kitchen fire." Ok. Next! Finally, we walk down a street that's filled with canopies covering café tables, dozens of people, tv screens at each section and loud music. It's like a nightclub, but with everyone sitting and talking at the tables. Along the street we find an actual little restaurant and get a table just inside, since there's a lot of smoking going on at the outdoor tables. We're rewarded with a nice dinner of pizza and salad. For more video and travel tales, follow our blog at http://bpeurope2013.blogspot.com/.

• published: 30 Jul 2013
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