after an unforgettable two-week road trip through Romania we set our sights
on what has been described as the most scenic train in Europe but in order for
us to get this we would need to make our way to Belgrade Serbia
for some reason despite the countries bordering each other there is no direct
routes from Romania to Serbia no direct trains no flix buses and private transfers are spotty
at best and expensive at worst according to the internet there was a direct train
between Timisoara and Belgrade but since Serbia and Romania's railway
companies don't really gel very well that train's not running anymore they've severed
every direct line between the two countries which leaves us with one pretty uncomfortable option
it's a single carriager
this train we're on is literally one carriage i don't think i've ever been
on a train that has one carriage locomotive carriage everything just one little nugget
after hours of research we've decided that the closest Romanian train station to the Serbian
border is Morovita that's where we're going now the difficulty is once we get there the next
train we need to get leaves from Vrsac, Serbia the challenge is how do we get from Morovita,
Romania to Vrsac, Serbia there are no trains no buses no public transport of any kind
we're hoping we'll be able to get a taxi across if not it's gonna be a three and a half hour walk
it's very bumpy
we've done trains in India Vietnam Thailand
but that one hurt my back what a welcome though great that was the bumpiest train ride
this is the part of the day that we thought was going to be the most stressful as soon
as we walked out of that train station this guy came up and said taxi so we're hopping in his car
yeah time difference yeah so he's saying there's a one hour time difference between Serbia and
Romania yeah so what's happening so we are in a taxi it's going to take us to the train station we
need to get to in Serbia Vrsac and then we catch a train to Belgrade its costing us 40 euro which is
a lot of money English passport with a passport English passport yes Australia Australia okay
but there's no other options
it is way more expensive than we thought it was going to be though
40 euro seems ridiculous for what is essentially a 20 minute ride
but we don't really have an option he was the only tax taxi there it's actually just a private car
so it is what it is
all good, let me just turn this down
got the money from the ATM it's gonna be like 60 Australian dollars which is a lot of money but
the train ticket was only like two dollars on each side so it's
about a normal travel day just came back there and he was like Policia Policia and wouldn't let me
cross the road so i think there's going to be some corrupt cops here yay and then he was like beer
beer and i'm so i think he's going to buy beer i'm not sure i'm really not sure
um but this is what we're left with when they don't have a direct train between countries
it's exciting though i feel like these moments are always the scariest or the
most stressful while it's happening but these are always the things we look back on with the
fondest memories of being like how ridiculous was that i can't believe this ended up happening
so i'm hating it right now i'm anxious i'm stressed i'm worried
but it will be a good story it'll be something we remember yeah sure we're not gonna forget it
jeez yeah when he was like you're marijuana no
no no no because they lock you up they'll lock you up but like out of the blue as well so that must
happen he's really scared about cops so i don't know whether we're being scammed or yeah
border crossing was pretty easy grease the palms a little bit with some beers straight through
i'm learning how to say thank you in Serbian
Vala
onto the train station
and taking this all the way to Belgrade
gosh it was a full service
not only did taxi take us across the border but he came out and made
sure we got the right tickets jumped on the right train carried your bag carried my bag
we are officially in Serbia we are on the train for this from Vrsac to Belgrade an expensive
but pretty easy travel day so far nothing it keeps going he was super nice like it was very expensive
but he did everything he got us from getting off the train all the way to getting on the next
train to Belgrade that's pretty good yeah that's really nice and he was it was really nice i loved
it every time he would speak another language we'd be like um and he'd just say the same thing louder
that first train really hurt my back it was hard plastic seats and the bumpiest rockiest thing
i've ever done literally so many trains we've done around the world that one was the most
uncomfortable and now this one's up there with one of the best it's so nice a little tray table gross
bin don't look in there but really nice seats i guess it's just this train to go
and just like that we are in Serbia from here we've got a 10 minute walk and then a bus and
then another little walk and we should be in the old town which is near where we're staying
and we just booked down next thing we're going to do which is a overnight train
that means we have an extra night in Serbia so we have an extra night here