Travelling to an unfamiliar city made me feel uneasy. But before I left home to catch the night train to Belgrade, my boyfriend assured me that it would not be much different from Sofia.

On the cool spring morning of my arrival, about 6am, Belgrade was not awake yet and the only sounds came from occasional trams. The building of the train station, glowing in a warm yellow at sunrise, indeed reminded me of home, but of my Plovdiv home. The streets were so quiet that I would almost think the city was deserted.

The opening My "first bit of Belgrade sightseeing", as the staff of the hostel I had booked called it in the directions on their website, was there to increase my concern. Only a two-minutes' walk from the train station, I came across two buildings that were gravely damaged by bombing. As I learned later, the Yugoslav Army Headquarters were nearly destroyed exactly eight years ago, in April 1999, and since then they have stood there as monuments of the not-so-distant past of Nato aggression.

That, however, was my first and last encounter with Belgrade's war history (not counting a somewhat disturbing fresco of air bombers on a wall in the Student Cultural Centre). That was the last note of quiet, too. As the day bloomed into a pleasant and warm afternoon, so did the bright colours of tulips in public gardens and the sprays of fountains in the city's squares. A leisurely Saturday crowd filled the streets.

I could not help but compare Belgrade with Sofia. While Sofia's streets were crammed with noisy and dusty vehicles, Belgrade won me over with wide pavements free of parked cars. Crossing a street in Sofia is a risky business and I was afraid the scarcity of pedestrian traffic lights in Serbia's capital would make me fear for my life even more, but to my surprise drivers courteously stopped and waited when someone stepped on a zebra crossing. So much for the uncivilised Balkan manner.

The Saint Sava cathedral, advertised in some brochure I picked up at the hostel as the biggest Orthodox Christian church, was the next surprise. I imagined that it couldn't be bigger than Saint Alexander Nevski in Sofia. It was. Its bright white marble walls rose to 65m, and together with the domes and the central cross, which is 10m high, the total height is 79m. I later learned from the official site [hramsvetogsave.com] that the church has been under construction since 1895, with periods of interrupted work during the Balkan Wars and World War 2.

The interior was still unfinished, but open to pilgrims nonetheless - while construction workers climbed ladders or sat suspended in the air plastering the walls, old ladies with their grandchildren lit candles near the altar and curious tourists took pictures. Though the atmosphere was not the typical one for a temple, the amber light seeping through the stained glass windows above the altar and the scent of incense and candles filled the air with reverie.

Rocking the night I was not in Belgrade for the sightseeing, though, and I did not visit many of its landmarks such as the Kalemegdan Fortress on the banks of the rivers Danube and Sava, the Knez Mihailova pedestrian street with its hip shopping area, or the bohemian quarter Skadarlija.

The name of my attraction was Kamelot - my favourite band as of late. I had a ticket to their concert and was geared up for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I was also outraged that the American rockers would visit Romania and even Serbia but not Bulgaria. My national pride filled me with firm belief that Sofia was a worthier host to such events - after all, we recently joined the big happy European family, while our neighbours to the west were far from even applying. But bands have their plans that the average fan would not understand.

While I walked the streets of Belgrade counting the hours to the show, I came across more proof that cultural life in Serbia's capital was blooming. The building of the Belgrade Drama Theatre (Beogradsko Dramsko Pozoriste) was encased in an avant-garde cage of glass and metal covered with larger-than-life portraits of actors. Along with plays by esteemed Serbian playwrights the stage hosted productions of world-known authors such as Closer by Patrick Marber, Some Girl(s) by Neil LaBute, Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey and Resurrection Blues by Arthur Miller.

At some big traffic intersections I noticed billboards announcing a Rolling Stones concert on July 14, part of their A Bigger Bang world tour. One of my companions told me that Iron Maiden had played at Belgrade Arena, newly built in 2004, only a month before. And while Bulgarian fans will enjoy a show of the heavy metal veterans at Lokomotiv Stadium on June 4, some big names from the international pop and rock scene still don't find the detour to Sofia worth it.

Kamelot, to my dismay, were one such name. The show took place at the Studentski Kulturni Centar (SKC) in the heart of the city, a building that much resembled the Military Club in Sofia, both outside and inside, with its large hall and column-supported balcony. A couple of hours before the concert a crowd already flocked at the entrance, consisting predominantly of long-haired young men in black band t-shirts and several girls in black fishnets and corsets. Some of them eagerly circled the band's tour buses, hoping to catch a glimpse of their music idols.

Later, when the musicians came on stage after the support act, Leaves' Eyes, had done their part, the audience exploded. The charismatic presence and melodic voice of vocalist Roy Khan captured every stare in the hall and for an hour or two, I felt nothing else existed. Hundreds of voices sang the lyrics to each song along with Khan and had him repeating in amazement: "This is the best show ever." After two encores and many a fan's favourite songs performed, the lights went down and the crowd slowly dispersed.

There and back again.

The concert met every expectation I had and left a thrumming memory of a brilliant show in every aspect - musicianship, lighting, sound, stage decor, contact with the audience, you name it. Logistically and financially, my trip was by no means less satisfactory than emotionally. In most respects, I was a budget traveller by the book: I took a train and I stayed at a hostel.

Despite my long-standing aversion to trains as slow and shabby means of transportation, the night ride on the international train from Sofia to Belgrade was a perfect choice. My two companions and me had a cabin booked in a sleeping car, the train left at about 10.30pm and arrived at its destination between 5.30 and 6am local time so we had plenty of hours at our disposal - to chat, read, try to sleep or be checked by customs officers.

Speaking of customs officers, their reputation is neither true nor false. We were not prompted to bribe anyone, probably because we didn't look like smugglers, but the eyes of one of the Serbian officers unmistakably pinpointed a cigarette box that he recognised as Serbian-made.

The train ride to Belgrade and back cost me 64 leva, including the reservation for the bunk bed on the way there and the seat on the way back. I purchased the tickets from the Rila Railway Ticket Agency (www.bdz-rila.com) in Gurko Street, across from the central post office, but they also have a ticket office in the NDK underpass.

The train was initially my final resort, but it became my top choice as the bus services could not respond to my needs. Karats, the local representative of Eurolines (www.eurolines.bg), has a daily line to Belgrade which costs 86 leva for a round trip, but they only held my reservation for three days, not a week as I expected. The other bus company that travels to Belgrade, MATPU (www.matpu.com), can only offer a trip with a connection in Nis and the tickets they sell are one-way, at 38 leva; the return ticket has to be purchased in Belgrade.

In terms of accommodation for travellers on a budget, the Serbian capital offered a good amount of options - I found at least five hostels that boasted very central locations and reasonable prices. I opted for the Belgrade Eye hostel (www.belgradeeye.com), only a 10-minute walk from the train and bus stations and a five-minute walk from the target of the trip, the SKC. The building was huddled in a secluded backyard, away from noisy streets, and though we couldn't get the triple room, no one besides us was accommodated in the dorm room we took. We made use of some of the other bonuses in the hostel, such as free coffee and internet access, though the laptop they used for getting on the internet was rather old and slow, but still good enough to send an SMS home that we had arrived safely.

The hostel cost about 12 euro per person, and they had a bit higher but still reasonable rates for their private rooms. The other hostel that I had as a backup option, Hostel Belgrade (www.hostelbelgrade.com), was even closer to the SKC but did not have private rooms. Their dorm room beds cost 12 euro per night per person as well.

Finally, money exchange posed no problem and it turned out I didn't have to deal with shady change bureaux, as Resavska, a central street connecting our hostel and the SKC, was lined with offices of international banking institutions - Raiffeisen and UniCredit being only an example. The employees at Raiffeisen spoke very good English and assisted us with a smile.

The total amount I carried as pocket money and eventually spent in Belgrade was about 50 euro, and this included the hostel accommodation, a hearty lunch, an ice cream cone, some snacks for the train on the way back and a black t-shirt with the Kamelot logo printed across the chest, to keep a memory close to my heart.

Useful websites
http://www.beograd.org.yu/
vorana Doma Sindikata [http://www.dds.co.yu]
Studentski Kulturni Centar [http://www.skc.org.yu]
Beogradsko Dramsko Pozoriste [http://www.bdp.co.yu]

Upcoming Concerts in Belgrade
Vanessa-Mae, May 20, Trg Slobode
Scorpions, May 26, Belgrade Arena
INXS, June 2, Tasmajdan Stadium
Chemical Brothers, June 13, Belgrade Arena
Kreator, June 16, SKC
ZZ Top, June 21, Belgrade Arena
Type O Negative, July 3, SKC
The Rolling Stones, July 14, Hippodrome
Blind Guardian, July 22, SKC
Saxon, September 21, SKC