00.19 We are still on the train which has taken us from Bar in Montenegro. We are on board the train which would have arrived to Belgrade's main train station two hours ago. Now we have at least come to Belgrade's suburbs and we have stopped at the station Novi Beograd. How much longer will we remain on this train? Is the hotel where we booked a room open at this hour? Is the room still ours?

00.32 We are on the move again, really fast and in the opposite direction. What's happening?

00.58 What happened was that we were on a side track, going backwards and then we ran the final bit to Belgrade's main train station. We stepped off the train and rushed towards the hotel which actually is owned by the Serbian State Railways. There we were checked in and handed over our passports to the reception. Now we are in room 204 at Hotel Beograd. A sign on the door to our room says that we may smoke in the room. We do not smoke, we want to sleep!

We are finally in our room at Hotel Beograd.

08.22 Robert just wondered, should you or I take a shower first. The answer from Christer was that he would shave. I have both showered and shaved. Today it's comeback time in Belgrade. It is nearly nine years since Christer and myself were here last time. Then it was +35 degrees Celsius. Today it is much cooler.

09.24 Dorucak is completed, the breakfast is eaten. We took a table in the non smoking section of the restaurant but cigarette smoke moves so there was no significant difference between the various tables. My coffee thirst has rendered me a debt. I will pay just as soon as I get a hold on some dinars.

09.44 The hotel does not want money from us. They are sending the bill to the booking service Hostelworld and they take the money from my creditcard. Now we are going out to once again see Belgrade.

A nice view from Hotel Beograd.

Gavrilo Princip started the First World War but he has also his own street in Belgrade.

10.42 Now we have exchanged our euro to dinars. There was a small exchange kiosk underground at Zeleni Venac, the vegetable market. Tomorrow’s airport bus departs from this area. We have located the bus stop and checked the departure times. We are now having a bench break at Trg Nikole Pasic (Nikola Pasic Square). It´s a beautiful fountain here which was photographed in 2002 as well. We are thinking about what to do today. We are a short distance away from the country's parliament.

10.57 We have photographed the parliament, and wondered if the president who lives across the street from the parliament has to cross the street, or if there is an underground passage between the two buildings. The round tour bus which stands nearby was not for us, it was a customized tour (VIP) that we could not use.

Terazije, Belgrade.

The fountain at Trg Nikole Pasica.

The parliament of Serbia.

11.26 We are having a bench break among the tulips on the Trg Republike (Republic Square). There are plenty of people in motion. We are thinking about if one of them may be the long sought Ratko Mladic? He hides somewhere.

11.41 We continue our walk and got to the pedestrian street Knez Mihailova. Two of us have memory fragmentation since the trip in 2002 and we are trying to merge those into a meaningful recollection.

11.50 Enough is enough with the wandering. We have sat down at the Choco Caffé. Some delicious pieces of cake in their windows convinced us that it was time to try them. Christer and I will have coffee with cake and Roberth will apparently have a Cosmopolitan drink. The order came spontaneously and he might regret it.

The national museum in Belgrade.

The pedestrian street Knez Mihailova, Belgrade.

Coffee, cakes and a drink at Choco Caffé.

12.21 We finished the coffee and the drink and left the Knez Mihailova street behind us and walked into the big green beautiful Kalemegdan Park. We are now sitting on a park bench overlooking one city and two rivers. Below us flows the river Sava. A short distance away it runs out into our old friend, the Danube. This is the fourth Danube capital for us since Easter last year.

13.01 We're sitting in the sunshine up at the Kalemegdan citadel. Below us the two rivers mix themselves. The entire castle area Kalemegdan is free to visit and provides beautiful views, restaurants, a museum and more.

Some people read books, others read newspapers.

Christer at the Cvetna Terasa, Kalemegdan.

The Sava and Danube rivers meet here.

13.17 It has started to rain but so far only in small quantities, so there's no immediate danger. There is however danger on the wall. There are signs of "dangerous territory" here and there but what sounds dramatic is just a warning that you can fall off the wall here at the fortress. Some soldiers with machine guns are patrolling along the wall. One wonders what/who they guard?

13.40 I am now on a wooden bridge at a gate in the stone wall here at the Kalemegdan Fortress. Above and below me are lots of schoolchildren climbing around on the cannons, howitzers and small tanks. We are at Vojni Muzej (military museum).

14.05 We started trying to get out from the Kalemegdan area. Christer found the right way out. I bought a souvenir in the park before we left. Now we will find ourselves a lunch restaurant.

Roberth and Christer in one of the gates of Kalemegdan fortress.

Vojni Muzej, Belgrade military museum.

14.11 Street after street has taken us from the Kalemegdan Park towards the centre. We tried to find the Café Antique, which we visited in 2002 but have not found it, does it still exist? We have also passed various faculties of the university and the student's own square, Studentski Trg.

14.39 It's finally time for lunch and we will have it at Restoran Crni Gruja (http://www.restorancrnigruja.com) which is named after a Serbian television series. The beer is on the table and food is ordered. We are on a street called Skadarska. It is located in Belgrade's old bohemian district. Attractions include plenty of restaurants with live folk music.

16.44 Great food (big pljeskavica) was followed by a small shopping tour. Now a t-shirt and a gift are purchased by both Christer and myself. They were purchased in small souvenir kiosks. Right now we are sitting along the city's pedestrian street Knez Mihailova.

Peter and Roberth are ready to attack the big lunch (pljeskavica).

The restaurant street Skadarska, Belgrade.

17.16 We're back in our room again. We are thinking about our remaining money and activities. Here, we´ll relax before we set out again. We are in a need of a short siesta. This is due mostly to the amount of meat we ate and not because of the sun or heat.

18.48 Now we have rested. We are out on the streets again. Right now we are standing looking at two half-demolished buildings with vegetation in. We don’t know what caused this. Unfortunately, the clouds opened up. It's raining and we were sheltered in a doorway.

This building was destroyed when NATO forces attacked Belgrade 1999.

19.09 We have ordered three long espressos in the café Nusic. We sit under large umbrellas and avoid the rain. A guy and a girl at a neighbouring table wanted a picture taken and we helped out. As a bonus they received a photo of me as well.

20.50 Romany and other music is flowing. We are back on the street Skadarska. We mostly walked around and around since I last wrote something. We bought some things at a store, wandered off to the Kalemegdan Park and dirtied the floor of the newly cleaned public toilet and walked back. The idea was to create hunger in our bodies. It is highly doubtful that it has succeeded. The lunch still isn't fully digested.

21.25 Roberth has found a nice restaurant along Skadarska. There is live music here and the staff wanted us to sit indoors because of the drizzle. The restaurant is called Tri šešira (Three Hats) and here we'll drink a Serbian wine named Vranac.

22.15 A lady in gray with a hat is singing and a few men are playing guitar, clarinet and accordion. I guess it´s folk music. The atmosphere is good and the food likewise. Our restaurant has had some famous guests over the years. George Bush, Tito and Jimi Hendrix are among these. Imagine that gang at the same dinner table! It is also said that Alfred Hitchcock was on a diet but broke it when he came to this restaurant area.

The Alexander Nevski cathedral looks beautiful in the dark.

Entertainment at the restaurant Tri Sesira.

23.29 We are home and happy. The final purchases were made in a grocery store on the way home. We purchased some local rocket fuel. This was the description of the purchased beverage in a guide book that we read. Now we will pack everything. Tomorrow we will travel home.

AFTERWORDS: The crumbling buildings were the remnants of the Yugoslav Ministry of Defence, which was bombed by NATO 1999 as Belgrade was bombed by NATO to put an end to the war in Kosovo.

Saturday 30th of April

05.34 The morning of going home is here. My comrades’ night's sleep has been disturbed by screaming drunk Serbs out on the street.

06.25 Tooth brushing and packing sounds can be heard. It was a quick breakfast today. We managed a quick meal before checking out. Now it is time to say goodbye to someone who has been on many trips. I'll get rid of the thermometer which has followed us in the recent years. It is completely out, dilapidated.

Early morning outside of Hotel Beograd.

06.54 Our passports have been returned to us and we have, after checking out, slowly moved towards the bus stop at Zeleni Venac. Now we are waiting for our bus arrival and departure. Our room was simple but served its purpose. Old hotels from the communist period have its charms, it's simple, old but you know what you get.

07.12 Another departure has begun. The shuttle bus has come and left with us on board. We are on our way to the airport.

07.45 Now we just arrived at yet another airport. This ones name is Nikola Tesla, named after the brilliant Serb inventor who emigrated to the United States but never took a patent on his inventions and died poor. It was at a record pace to get past the controls and into the departure lounge. Now we have burned 720 dinars, US$10 on three large espressos and three croissants. Now we got rid of every coin from this country. We are ready for the flight home.

Our last dinars were spent on coffee and croissants.

09.02 We have sat down in our seats. It's time to fly home to Sweden. Once again, we have the pleasure of flying with Norwegian. The advantage is that we are landing at Arlanda airport and have reserved seats. The disadvantage of this company is that they have relatively few departures compared with other budget airlines.

11.33 Our descendance at Stockholm has begun. I have had time to sleep and some reading during the flight. This time I have read the crime story "Bleeding Hearts" by Ian Rankin.

SWEDEN

12.23 A Serb before us in the passport queue didn’t get into Sweden, not by now anyway. Those who believe that foreigners can easily slip into Sweden should take a plane from Serbia here. A lot of people were taken aside, questioned and treated suspiciously. Christer is now withdrawing money, Roberth gets rid of liquids and I and the entire luggage are sitting in a café here at the airport. It's the same café which Christer and I sat at on the summer trip 2010, namely Simply Coffee.

14.23 We are taking it slow, killing time here on the ledge above the Sky City at Arlanda. We are close to where we were a week ago. It feels longer ago.

Christer and Roberth are drinking expensive coffee at Simply Coffee, Arlanda.

16.46 Roberth has jumped on his train and is on his way home and we regrouped ourselves to the sofa we sat in when we returned home last year. It's cooler down here.

17.47 We had planned for a pasta dinner at Sbarro, an Italian restaurant in Sky City. They have closed. Alfredo's is almost full and East & West is expensive with small portions. Within an hour we are heading north. What shall we do about food?

18.55 We ended up at Alfredo's after all. Now the train rolls to the north. The sun is shining. Travel and vacation draws to a close.

22.36 The passengers are back on the starting point. We are in Sundsvall again. After having visited early summer in the Balkans, it is now time for normal life in the spring weather. It will be normal life for us until summer when new horizons and escapades await us.