Stops: Beograd Centar, Bar Station (Days 195-196 )

Finally! A sleeper train! My attempts to take a sleeper from Warsaw to Budapest were thwarted by the massive flooding along the Danube. I wound up flying and completely bypassing Krakow and Bratislava, so it was doubly unfortunate. But, I finally got one.

The trip from Belgrade up through the mountains into Croatia and then descending to the Adriatic in Montenegro is 296 extremely scenic miles with 254 tunnels and 435 bridges. The daytime service only runs during the summer, so I will have to come back to see this line in all its glory. But, thanks to Tito, who apparently really loved his private train, and over twenty years of construction you can make the eleven hour journey in style quite reasonably.

Leaning out the window of my compartment at Belgrade Center Station. Yes, the windows open all of the way and you can lean out for fresh air and the view.

The counter over the washbasin flips up and sort of latches into place.

The whole compartment. The mattress on the bed was very comfortable. I booked a first class single compartment, but apparently that wasn’t available, so they just gave me a triple all to myself. With the upper berths folded it was quite spacious. Would be pretty tight for three. A real bargain at 94 Euros total considering no hotel expenses for tonight!

Leaving Belgrade.

Pausing somewhere.

Brief stop at a local station. Getting further up into the hills. It got pretty chilly as we went up, but I kept opening the window now and then to peer out. It got very, very dark. No city lights or signals along lonely single track stretches. Clear skies made for pretty good star gazing as we whizzed along. Something miraculous about seeing the Milky Way over mountain peaks at 60 miles an hour.

Finally, it was getting late, so time to settle in for a bit of reading and rest. Appropriately enough, I finished volume two of The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, and then sleep. The gentle motion and rhythmic click clack on a sleeper train always give me a good night.

The bad news was that customs and border police knocked on doors around 4 am. The good news is that Serbia and Montenegro have cooperated to do it jointly rather than twice. And, the better news was that I caught the sunrise as we approached the coast.

The first of many, many old stone buildings and ruins which dot the landscape in Montenegro.

And, I got an early check in at my hotel which is across the street from a small farm with sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, and peacocks.

If you want to see the daytime scenery, pop on the video below.