It started with a disagreement. Where to go on an early autumn break? I wanted a city and history, my boyfriend wanted coast and stunning scenery. The solution? Two days in the Serbian capital Belgrade, a train ride to Montenegro, and some time on the Adriatic.
In the end, the cinematic train journey proved the real star of the show. Belgrade is an eclectic mix of Habsburg, Ottoman and brutalist architecture with a buzzy nightlife. At the we learn that the Belgrade to Montenegro train was one of former communist president-dictator Tito’s proudest projects.
The line opened to great fanfare in 1976, after Yugoslavian engineers had spent 20 years burrowing through mountains to reach the Adriatic, carving out 254 tunnels and 435 bridges. Tito had his own private train attached to the tracks days before the official opening so he could enjoy a coastal holiday away from the hot government headquarters in Serbia. Its faded blue carriages can still be seen in Topcčider park and the museum among other communist paraphernalia.
That first 300-mile journey took seven hours and stopped at over more than 50 towns. It was a beautiful route, but the glory was short-lived. In the 1990s, Yugoslavia fell apart in a bloodbath.
Parts of the railway line were bombed and the link to the coast ceased to exist. Then, in 2016, the line was revived, in a joint effort between Serbia and Montenegro, a rare instance of cross-border infrastructure revival post-Balkan wars. At first, it had a few teethi.