Serbia - Belgrade, Novi Sad, Vršac...and the question about the border crossing (7th stop)

Despite comfortable beds in the night train, it was a short night as we stood at both borders during the night and the train was very loud. Consequently, we arrived very tired at 6.30 am at Belgrade Topcider, which was also somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Without cash and the possibility to change money, we had to take the bus towards the city center. On the way to the hostel, we pass by the former main train station, which is beautiful but no longer in operation. Unfortunately, no one is at the hostel to let us in, so we leave our luggage at the bus station and go to the city center. We recharge with a mega delicious Chai Latte with vanilla milk to be ready for the free walking tour (finally!). The tour starts at 10:30 am, and it is already so hot that we immediately stand in the shade at the meeting point. It looks like we are the only participants, but shortly before the start, 3 people join us. The tour is called XX Century Tour and is led by a historian (which we find pretty cool because history seems very abstract to us). On the tour, we learn a lot about the buildings and their history. The guide refers to many of them as "unlucky" because they have been destroyed several times or never completed due to the turbulent history (world wars, socialism, Yugoslav wars, NATO bombing). An example of this is the impressive cathedral, which is now full of mosaics. In general, we find it amazing how contrasting the city looks. Beautiful old buildings from the Austro-Hungarian period stand next to socialist panel buildings. Old houses with bullet holes stand next to modern buildings with glass facades.

We are struggling with the heat again and would really like to go to the hostel. However, the doorbell doesn't seem to work because no one is opening the door. Since we are not in the EU, we need to find free Wi-Fi to contact the owner. After some difficulties, we finally manage to get into the hostel (the owner is still not there, a German guest shows us the room) and can rest a bit. Another attraction is the big bulldog, who seems to miss the owner more than we do. In the afternoon, we visit the remaining sights (Saint Michael's Cathedral, Belgrade Fortress, and the artist district). In the evening, we have dinner at a nice little Serbian-French restaurant. Totally exhausted, we fall into our beds until we are woken up at night by our hostel owner - because we still have to pay, and immediately...

In the morning, we leave for Novi Sad early. As we get off the bus, we feel the heat stroke. We get a city map and first look for something to eat. It's not easy, but we find Palačinken with Eurokrem (and Plasma). Completely overcrowded, we set off on our way to visit the many churches, as there are plenty of them in Novi Sad. To see something different as well, we cross the Danube to Petrovaradin Fortress, which is slightly elevated. We find it impressive how wide the Danube is at this point. But on the fortress, we also realize that the weather is exhausting us. The visit to the small town in the heat is so draining that we first look for a café and drink lemonade. Then we go straight to dinner and are glad about the air-conditioned interior of the restaurant. That may sound silly, but with the heat, we just weren't capable of more (the thermometers show 42 degrees at times). We like Novi Sad more than Belgrade because it is smaller and the old town represents more of a core. It also looks less thrown together. Novi Sad is definitely worth a visit!

Since our plan now is to go to Romania, we get on a bus to Vršac on the border. How it happened: Since our arrival in Serbia, we have been thinking about the best way to cross the border. In the information at bus and train stations, as well as in the tourist information, it becomes clear that it will not work by bus or train. Generally, we do not get the impression that they want or can help us there. So we put all our hopes on the border town of Vršac. It cannot be that no one goes over the border here to study or work, right? Well, when we arrive there, we actually find out that you can only cross over with your own car (which we obviously do not have). It is rumored that the train and bus connection was discontinued so that more people would fly from Belgrade to Timisoara. Therefore, our plan is as follows: a taxi should take us to just before the border, which we then cross on foot in the midday heat, hoping that someone will pick us up on the other side. Actually, we have more luck than we hoped for. In search of a taxi (again in over 40 degrees), we meet a very helpful man who even organizes someone who can drive us directly to Timisoara - and that even though we communicate with hands and feet. By the way, Vršac is also a very nice little town. So we are glad to have visited it unexpectedly. Now that we have successfully and unspectacularly arrived in Romania, the journey can continue as planned. Well, whether we stick to the old plan is another question...