It was with some surprise that I found I had actually remembered in my drunkenness to set my alarm for 7am this morning. Now I'm not the best person to cope with hangovers normally and I struggle to function properly for most of the day afterwards. I was thinking of actually staying in Belgrade one more day to recover, but luckily my senses got the better of me. I am already behind schedule and I knew that if I stayed I would miss out on a trip south to Nis, another important cross-road town for trade in the past.

I struggled to pack my things together, left the hostel and made my way towards the train station with my pack on my back now seemingly weighing twice its normall weight. Although the fresh air was doing me some good I was feeling pretty ropey as I found my train. I sat down and slept in agony for most of the journey wondering how on earth I had got into the state I was in!

About 5 hours later the train pulled up at Nis train station. Nis is a gateway town town between the East and West, located on Corridor X (one of the most important trade highways in Serbia and similar to the Emperor's Way in Novi Pazar). Nis is particularly endebted (for its existence) to the Roman Emperor Constantine, and he is the town's patron saint. Constantine was born in Nis in the second part of the 3rd century and his palace ruins still remain to this day. It's position has caused it to be a much fought over town, yet many different cultural influences remain from ethnic groups as diverse as the Romans, Goths, Ilyrians, Trackians, Celts, Huns and (more recently) the Turks.

Nis is supposed to have a well developed tourist centre, however the credibility of this was somewhat reduced when the biggest, and cheapest, hotel was in fact closed for a strike against its new owner. From what I could understand the strike was in its third month and the protesters had no intention of relenting. Instead they just sat around in the hotel lobby smoking cigarrettes and looking decidedly bored by the whole thing. Since the other hotels in Nis were rather expensive I decided to take a bus 12km away to the Nis Spa village, Nishka Banja. Set in the hills above and on the site of a thermal spring it is a very pleasant place with a pace of life so slow that you wondered whether anything was actually happening there. Indeed the hotel strike had influenced the two largest hotels in NIshka Banja, so I finally found an old lady who had a delightful spare room complete with coffee-making facilities and a balcony, for a fraction of the price. She spoke not a word of English, but my Serbian (now actually quite proficient) carried me through. But she kept harping on and on about the coffee-making facilities despite the fact that I told her the room was perfect and all I wanted was to be left alone to nurse my hangover.

That evening I walked to the thermal baths and found it was just the cure. I even paid for a jaccuzi in the appropriately named Hotel "Radon". I wasn't long in the jaccuzi when the man operating it told me that he put radioactive radon and chemicals inside to give it its healing effects. I was a little uncomfortable with that thought but continued, and so far haven't felt any adverse side effects!