Dilapidated Serbian train to Novi Sad in Vojvodina

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Serbia is a bus country: there are some train lines, but nobody uses them.

Naturally, Masayo and I decided we wanted to try a Serbian train, just for the experience. You can’t be visiting some country and not check out its train service!

After our too-short stay in Belgrade, our destination today was the town of Novi Sad, in the north part of the country (near the Hungarian border) known as Vojvodina.

First we had trouble even leaving Belgrade, though. After a BG of 174 and a repeat of yesterday’s delicious breakfast, we checked out of Apartment Mornar 1 and trudged through the city to the train station. We got tickets for a 12:00 train, $4.50 each.

Noon came and went and the train didn’t show up, though; they were making announcements but all I could make out was “Novi Sad”. It’s never a good sign when your train is late and they’re making announcements about your intended destination.

Eventually a lady at a kiosk said we’d missed our train (I didn’t see how) but we could take another one. She printed new tickets for us; the sign behind her said it would be arriving on Platform 8. “Platform 4!” she told us, with confidence. I held up four fingers. “Four??”. Yes, she said. Platform 4.

A train arrived on Platform 4; we got on, hoping it was the correct one. We were lucky; it was. A few others were on the train — locals, looking unimpressed and resigned. Locals never enjoy mundane transportation as much as travelers do.

We chose our seats poorly, sitting backwards the whole way to Novi Sad even though it wasn’t a reserved-seat train and we could have sat anywhere. The windows were caked with months or years of grime; as we passed over the Danube on the way out of Belgrade I could barely see it.

And this was how we watched the northern Serbian countryside slip by all afternoon.

My BG was 195. I took some Humalog in my seat and had a small cereal bar and a banana for a snack. Oh, who am I kidding? It was lunch.

Novi Sad

It was cold and drizzling in Novi Sad when we arrived, and starting to get dark. It isn’t a tiny town, but the train station is located away from the center in an area of broken sidewalks, auto repair shops, and grass lots. Kind of a humdrum introduction.

We walked to Hostel Zlatna Greda, a little privately-run place in the middle of town that was spotless and felt very secure — Novi Sad seemed like a pleasant, safe town, but our hostel’s effusive and kind owner had a complicated triple-door system to get in and out of the property. Our room was excellent, decorated nicely and very clean. I got the distinct impression we were the only people staying there.

By dinnertime my BG was 167, and we found a place called Jug (I guess; its Cyrillic name was ЈУГ). I had a beer and the usual local specialty, ćevapi and pita bread. Nothing is better after a day of traveling than a cold beer with bread and fried meat. Even cheap, basic local food can seem uncommonly tasty when you travel.

Dessert was a pastry from a nearby bakery, and another beer, in the hostel room. The Humalog shot I took for it proved insufficient: I was 294 before bed, so I took more. The wifi in the room worked well, and I tried to bid on a rare record on eBay, but was outbid. More money for traveling!

So… the train may have been dirty and somewhat dilapidated, but it got us up to Novi Sad, which despite the drizzle is a really nice, clean-looking town. Buses may be more convenient and useful in Serbia, but overall I can say the train was a great experience to have had here!

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