The young couple departed 2 stops later, in
the suburbs of New Belgrade/Zemun I presume. We chugged along slowly to the
next stop and 3 railway workers came into the cabin. I just read. I think they
were getting a lift to near the border (which they indeed did, to Sid). I just
read in the stifling heat that was produced with no really open windows and 4
men. The journey to the border, through the Vojvodina, was what can now be
described as a normal journey – Stop-Start-Stop-Start. There must be a rule
that train drivers shouldn’t trust car drivers at crossroads, as we always
seemed to slow or stop and have a few blasts of the horn.
Anyway the scenery was what I came to expect
of Serbia too – flat. Save for a parallel hill that seemed to follow us to the
border; to the north, all there was were cornfields. One thing to note is that we
didn’t pass another sizeable settlement until Bosnia. What there were copious
amounts of were villages and hamlets. Some no bigger than 20 houses. The
journey to the border was quicker than expected and the Serbian customs quicker
than usual. We then crossed over. Now I was in recent history.
This was the border region of the early 90’s
conflict between Croatia and Serbia (or Croats and Serbs I should say). Again
the geography was similar to Serbia. The dwellings were the same too. But now
there was the Latin alphabet. We passed through Vinkovci train station. It felt
eerie to me, as I know that the town of Vukovar was only kilometers away, and
was one day a bustling town. Then it was razed to the ground. Incredible.
The train continued west to Strizivojne
Vrpolje, where we then turned south. 20 minutes we were at the border again. A
swift check by the Croats let us then go forth over the Sava to Bosnia &
Herzegovina – but technically “Republika Srpska”. We then went through another
swift check and were free to continue. For a while the geography remained the
same. Then it began to get hilly, then more so like the Conwy Valley, or
Llangollen. They were covered in a ripe green expanse of forest. We meandered
in-between hills and through valleys. Occasionally we went through the hills.
Slowly we reached Doboj, still in Republika Srpska – just.
About 20 minutes from here I noticed two
things that stuck out. One was that every village or small town we passed there
were minarets and towers topped with the crescent and star. They were so
numerous such as like passing Welsh village by Welsh village and coming across
chapels and churches. Except these were new, and in use; not decrepit and in
disrepair. It was an odd yet satisfying sight, as I now knew I was closer to
Sarajevo and in the Croat/Muslim Federation of BiH.
The second was my first physical proof of the
war. Pock-holed buildings were springing up. It caught me off guard actually,
and made me look at my surroundings a lot more clearly and with context. If they
didn’t have pockmarks, then they had filler plugged over them. But the scar was
still underneath. Also to note was that there were a lot of houses being built,
or had recently been built, from Croatia to Sarajevo in fact.
An old man came in, then left. Then a young
lad came for the remainder of the journey. We then came up to Zenica, which is
the largest town I’ve seen since Belgrade. An industrial city from appearances.
But very much Muslim dominated. We continued on.
From here, a new road must be in construction
as road works made the traffic build up as we scuttled past. At 18:00, and with
the sun on its final descent to dusk, we arrived. Just a short 10 hours.
I
walked out of the station, towards a main road that would lead me directly to
my hotel. Along the way I passed the ‘famous’ Holiday Inn hotel, I passed
market that was mortared by the Serbs ending scores of lives, and skirted the
Old Town. I also withdrew cash.
After 25/30 minutes of walking I reached the
Pansion Stari Grad; a friendly guy welcomed me and explained about breakfast
and wifi. I went up and showered, then had 20 minutes to myself. The old town
is on the doorstep. So I had a little walk around, when a firework went off to
mark the end of fasting.
I sat in a restaurant-cum-fast food place and
sat next to a young lad. I had cevapci – the veal sausages with naan style open
bread and onions. Lush. And only for 10km (£5) with a Coke. I then had an ice
cream for 2km then walked to 60 seconds to the hotel where I relaxed, then
slept.
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