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Brasov, Bucharest and Belgrade....

Ok so I haven't really had the opportunity to add to my blog this past few days, and have consequently taken some flack for that.

Budapest I must say since we left was amazing, a real gem... maybe not quite as special as Prague but a really interesting and beautiful city all the same.

Brasov turned out to be a great idea, staying somewhere a little quieter and off the track so much. Our host was excellent and there were some great photo opportunities. Essentially we did a bit of mountaineering and lots of walking, one of the nicest highlights being the hunters tower. A small boy beckoned us into an off the path tower built into the castle wall, and showed us around it was very well presented and had some lovely views of the town from above. Then on to the mountain and the panorama was spectacular, even if the Brasov sign was a little cheesy.

Moving on to Bucharest we only spent one day, which was enough. We saw a few museums which were intersting but really the city was a little too much in terms of few quiet spaces and it was generally confusing. Despite paying 12lev for a map we still managed to get lost within minutes, to be fair we haven't really followed main thoroughfares anywhere; the whole trip has been about discovering new things and this was in keeping.

Sofia was great, although it rained cats and dogs for a while in fact the roads were like rivers for an hour or so. Taking in the archilogical museum and the ethonographic museum on the second day we did tick our cultural boxes somewhat, although there were no real vantage points for photographs.
We did wind up a little pissed in the evening for the second time this trip, something regretted a little in the morning. We did however make friends with the host and this involved trying wine, and discussing things that had to be tried when visiting Bulgaria and England.

So today a day trip in Belgrade. We arrived very early in the morning, to a deathly quiet train station. The first hour spent finding left luggage and booking tickets for the next leg.
Afterwards, we walked pretty much the perimeter of the city centre along the rivers and this was very beautiful once we passed the bend in the river.
The citadel was very interesting, housing lots of nooks and crannies. Plus a zoo and a military museum, we visited both and the highlight for me was a display cabinet containing something called u-238, now it is my understanding that that is the weapons grade isotope... but I could be wrong ha ha.
The zoo was very good, but there seemed to be unfair amounts of space for some creatures and not for others; I guess the city is still getting back on its feet but hopefully it will improve the quality for the animals a little including using more water in the pools etc as opposed to washing the grass (an hour after it had rained).
The ethonographic museum was very large and interesting, but perhaps a little tiring after a long night on the road.
Anyway we did plenty more besides in all the last few cities but for now it is relaxation time and we leave for Zagreb in a little over an hour and a half.

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