Eastern Europe at a glance

Location: Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary
Dates: January 7-13, 2010

After leaving my friends in Kosovo, I made my way up to Budapest, Hungary, and stopped along the way in Skopje (Macedonia) and Belgrade (Serbia) so I could get more of a taste of Eastern Europe.


Upon arrival in Skopje, I was so beat that I really have the desire to cook a giant meal for myself, so I decided to fix some top Ramen and eat peas out of a can :) Believe it or not, it was delicious! I retired to my room early and met my fantastic hostelmate, Anurag, who gave me some tips for my pending journey to India (I recently decided to take a detour to India before I head to SE Asia, since it has always been a dream of mine).

In the morning, I took a 6 (but turned out to be 12) hour bus to Belgrade, Serbia. After spending so much time in Kosovo, a country that Serbia does not recognize as an independent nation, I was a bit nervous about how the Serbians would react to my visit. Since America bombed Serbia during the war in 1999 to help Kosovo, I felt that my presence may not be desirable. It turned out that in some instances, I was right- when I would walk up to someone with an open map in order to ask a question, the person would just put up her hands and walk away. The reason for this may have also been that the person was not an English-speaker, but I do think in some cases, my sneakers and backpack may have given my nationality away. However, in other cases, I was received with open arms and the response, "It's ok... I don't hate you even though you bombed Serbia..." I was able to speak to some of the Serbians about the war and it was so interesting hearing the opinions of the people who were fighting on the other side (against Kosovo). When I mentioned that I had been in Kosovo, the people would shrug and tell me that they don't go there, and I could feel the tension that still exists between the two nations.

I went to go visit the Kalemegdan, which is a huge beautiful fortress in the middle of Belgrade. Going from a Muslim country to a Christian country was interesting- many external things that I had gotten accostumed to changed- and instead of mosques I saw many churches.

More of Kalemegdan:

Inside of the fortress is a park, where many of the locals meet to play chess or just get together.

hehe...

After Belgrade, I took a 9 hour train to Budapest. At this point, I was a little tired of land transportation. For the first 2 hours I was entertained by the conductor, who came to sit with me and give me the history of the land we were passing. After a while, he asked me to marry him, and our conversation stopped there...

I arrived in Budapest, Hungary late at night, and the first thing I noticed was how friendly and helpful everyone was. I spent the next day exploring the city and the fortress that sits on the top of the hill.

Budapest is separated by the Danube river, which divides the city in "Buda" and "Pest." The city is huge, and I wish I had more time to explore.

Not my most exciting post, I know. I do wish I could have spent more time in more places in Eastern Europe, but I did get the chance to meet some kind and wonderful new people. The people of Eastern Europe continually impressed me with their hospitality and I hope to go back soon to explore new places. Next stop: Istanbul!