Over the next few months I’m going to do a series of posts looking back on the holidays and travelling Rosie & I have done since we met. It won’t include everything, but each week I will post a gallery of the memories from a single holiday with a little bit of text describing my/our best memories from that holiday. I hope you enjoy it.
This week we are looking back on our Explorer Scout Summer Camp in Serbia. Rosie & I were part of the leadership team for the Welsh Contingent of Scouts at the Serbian National Jamboree. However, we decided that being as were would be in that part of the world, we would extend the trip and do a bit of independant travel whilst we were at it.
The Jamboree itself was due to be held in Niš in Southern Serbia, but we couldn’t fly direct.
Instead, we flew to Budapest, Hungary and travelled by train/bus down to Niš. Rosie & I left the UK
a couple of days early to spend some time in Belgrade before heading down to the Jamboree. We stayed
in a youth hostel where we met some really friendly backpackers and learnt how to make Turkish
coffee. It was brilliant, but one thing we need to remember for the future is that Serbian maps
don’t necessarily show all the streets. It took us ages to find our hostel 
. Belgrade is
a beautiful city, full of contrasts, that at some point we will revisit.
We then decided to take a bus down to Niš to meet up with the Unit at the Jamboree. When we got there we found that the Jamboree hadn’t even been set up, but within 24 hours everything was ready. It really was a contrast to the 2-3 week build periods we have for Jamborees in the UK. The Jamboree itself was excellent and if you want more details please visit the blog on FreeSpirit ESU’s site. Some of our fondest memories of Niš include:
- the bar at the bottom of the hill from the site, which sold the best burgers in the world!;
- the price of beer (approx. 90p for 2 litres);
- the day at the lake;
- and the incredible experience of a Jamboree run so differently to what we are used to
.
After the rest of our Unit were bundled in a bus for a couple of days in Northern Serbia, Rosie and
I headed back to Budapest for a couple of days sightseeing. We got to see Attilla the Hun Street,
the parliament building, St Stephens Basilica, the children’s railway and some crazy locals with
pool noodles all over them! We even got to learn & practice some Hungarian with a waiter at Pizza
Hut 
.
