#Marshal Tito often held official meetings on his train, and
travelled on it as far afield as Paris |Route: Belgrade, Serbia, to Bar,
Montenegro | Miles: 296 | Notable passengers: Nehru, Haile Selassie and Colonel
Gaddafi, among others | Dining car: four-course dinners, accompanied by Balkan
wines | Sit on: the righ-hand side, for view of the Moraca valley approaching
Podgorica
ONCE you’ve bumped off your enemies and renamed a town after
your mum, the only thing for any self-respecting dictator to do is construct
your own train – dictators from Stalin to Kim Jong Il rode the rils aboard
their own private wheels. One of the finest belonged to Marshal Tito, the
former (and often fondly remembered) President of Yugoslavia. Mothballed for
years after Tito’s death in 1980, the Blue Train recently began taking
passengers from the Serbian capital Belgrade to the town of Bar on Montenegro’s
Adriatic coast. The train today is much as he left it – you can visit the
bedroom where he napped, and eat in a dining car decorated with photos of
illustrious former passengers (including Queen Elizabeth). The landscapes
outside the window are equally majestic – with green river valleys down below,
and limestone peaks rising high above. Be sure to raise a toast to Tito at the Mala Rijeka viaduct-famous as the highest
railway bridge in Europe, and one the engineering triumphs of the leader’s
reign.
Explore Montenegro arranges travel on Tito’s train, either
as part of day trip, or as part of a seven day journey through Serbia and Montenegro,
staying at b&bs in Belgrade and the Montenegrin resort town of Budva (montenegroholidays.com)
