Greetings, travelers!

Lately I have been hearing lots of news in my country related to trains. That made me realize that in the not so distant past, probably 20-30 years ago, the rail-road transport had much more significant importance and influence over our lives that in the present days. Reflecting in that line of thoughts, I asked myself... What is the most interesting memory and experience I had related to train travels?

A few such trips popped in my mind, some pleasant, some not so much. For instance, as a high-school student I traveled with my class for six days from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Berlin in Germany. To Eastern Berlin at the times, to be more precise. There were some interesting and fun moments but to be absolutely honest, this was quite a long, boring and exhausting ride. Moreover, I didn't have any camera with me at the time, unfortunately. Those were years when we, I mean almost the whole nation, were very poor, except for the ruling communist party, of course.

Anyway :) The train travel that I put on top of my railway experience is the few hours ride on "The Shargan Eight" in the Mokra Gora region in Serbia.

Here is a funny excerpt from that trip to spice this story up a bit. ;) So, stay with me :P

Now let me jump back to the beginning of it all. So how did this glorious trip started?

I friend of mine, a great photographer, invited me with few other friends to share a travel in Serbia, few days, a handful of friends and one car. :)

So he put up all the plan, booked the hotels and the guest house stays, etc. My part was to drive the car and take some good photos to remember it all.

So part of his plan was to have one night stay at the hotel by the train station. At first this felt quite strange for me, as how could I sleep just few meters away from the passing trains???

Actually, I didn't have to worry about that as The Shargan Eight is actually only a tourist line, it's not used for other commercial purpose so there were trains moving only twice a day ;)

The hotel was nothing special, an ordinary room with a few beds, nothing fancy. But check out the view from the room:

Isn't it awesome to have views like these and greet other happy people while drinking your morning coffee? ;)

A nice present from the hotel with the logo of the Serbian Railways:

And just ten-twenty meters away from the room, this retro piece of art:

Finally it is time to hop on the train!

I felt in love with those old retro carriages. I could tell they are maintained well and despite the outlook it was comfortable and beautiful to be inside.

Check out the beautiful wooden benches and the old stove used in the winter season.

My friend here pulled out his second camera.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait!

That wasn't a camera at all but a flask full of home-made raspberry brandy, prepared by himself!

So isn't that a great start of a journey, LMAO? His liquor was awesome indeed, we saluted ourselves and the rest of the passengers in our carriage :)

Trust me when I tell you that it is not easy to impress any Serbian with home-made brandy, they are masters of producing it, but he managed to do exactly that and everyone around was appreciating his drink :)))

The train moves in a peaceful and not speedy way, the main idea is to have a great time full of beautiful mountain views and scenery stops.

There were indeed many stops that took 3-5 minutes where the guards tell the passengers to get out of the train, take few photos or just enjoy the views and get back inside the carriages.

We also had two longer stops, one for having some food, and another for a coffee or a draft beer ;) There are a couple of very beautiful and renovated train stations all turned into small museums. Gift shopping or just few minutes breathing the fresh mountain air.

I could tell the train climb high in the mountain as there were mostly pine trees along the railway.

Also, plenty of time to speak with my friends and here I found out that this lovely route is called "The Eight" as while climbing up, the railways form the shape of the digit eight 8 :)

Later on I checked the map I found out that's the truth. Quite interesting.

There were indeed moments I could see the other parts of the railway beneath us, the rails and the multiple tunnels:

A few moments that it looked dangerous. A few short moments, thankfully ;)

Well, speaking of tunnels... The route has many of them, probably they were more than fifty, cutting and crossing the mountain hills and slopes.

What I really liked about all of them was the clear info about their length. Considering the locomotives are either steam or diesel ones, this is important! LOL. You would definitely don't want to breathe the smoke coming out of the engine :)

It looks more dangerous than it is ;) Remember I told you the train moves slowly? ;)

Coming in and out of the tunnels was a sweet experience, somehow reminding me of my childhood, traveling on trains. I think I realize what I love about train rides. One could always meet new people and have enough time to talk to them, know them better, socialize. That's hardly done or is very difficult to do when traveling with your own car. Don't you think?

I liked each of the places we stopped. Imagine taking some rest at a place like this and filling your eyes with divine view like these:

At one of the stops I saw the famous Drven Grad, designed by Emir Kusturica, you could check the story I wrote about it some time ago if you're interested.

One true train day to remember! :)

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