An early start and a long day ahead…
We met the rest of the guys at Oslo airport
and checked in for our flight to Prague, en route to Belgrade. The people
organising the Guitar Festival had worked hard to make things as easy for us as
possible and they met us off of the plane and wheeled me into the terminal where
the press were waiting.
After a short but pleasant welcome and after
answering a few questions, we piled into the mini-bus for the 250 km drive to
Zajecar (pronounced Zayecha). We had water and sandwiches for the journey
but we had to make the inevitable stop for beer along the way which ultimately
meant the equally inevitable stops to get rid of some of it!
The main roads were okay, the green, rolling
hills looked pleasant enough and things really improved once someone figured out
how to open the roof ventilator so we could get some air into the vehicle!!
Yugoslavia used to be made up of 6 republics, most of which are now independent
and Serbia’s eventual fate is wrapped up in the political conflict with Kosovo
but I am quite sure, from speaking to the people here, that all will eventually
be well and that they will prosper. Driving around the country you can see
that there is a lot of construction underway although it does seem to be moving
very slowly.
Anyway, the drive was soon over and we
arrived in Zajecar, a small, semi-rural town and checked into our hotel.
Soon we were walking around town and on our way to a delicious meal of local
meats and vegetables, all local and very fresh, but we were all tired from the
long journey and made it back to the hotel for some sleep.
We have to thank the organisers for taking such
good care of us. Tomorrow should be fun!
