Our holiday in the Balkans began with a flight to Belgrade, where we were met by Iva's father Angel. We caught the bus into town, arriving at the bustling central bus station at the foot of old town. I quickly found a classy old pekara and purchased some sirnica, a morning pastry of layered dough, cheese, and oil, which I enjoyed thoroughly (along with a yogurt). We made various travel arrangements and then caught the bus to Pirot.
Along the way we were caught in a tremendous thundershower - the bus had to drive slowly as a result and the roof hatch began to drip. There were very few passengers on board and the conductor made us each a coffee in lieu of the normal coffee stop. (This did mean no bathroom break, but that wasn't a problem.)
We spent several days in Pirot, Dimitrovgrad, and the surrounding area where Angel's family is from. We stayed in the apartment Ratko (Iva's brother) had in central Pirot - nicely decorated and painted by his students!
One day we hiked up to the hills above Dimitrovgrad to visit Angel's bropther and sister, where we were plyed with tons of great food. Both live on small farms and make their own cheese, etc.
We also saw some relatives and friends in town, including a guy Iva went to school with (briefly) who runs a farm where tourists can stay and learn about local traditional farming, etc. (More info later.)
After a nice stay, we said farewell to Ratko and caught the bus to Belgrade, where we boarded a night train to Zagreb.
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1 comment:
It's fun to get some updates, Paul. Sounds like things have been going well. ;-)
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