The only time I travelled into Yugoslavia during the Cold War (July '88) was rather scary - we were on a train from Italy and it stopped in the middle of nowhere and a troops appeared and surrounded the train. I distinctly remember watching them set up what looked like an enormous machine gun of some kind, which was pointed directly at our compartment.
They then did whole "papers please" routine down the length of the train. Things got quite amusing when they got to my travelling companion as he had grown a beard since having his passport photo taken - so his facial hair was given a rather close examination and a sound tug or two.
In my typically rather naive way I thought it was all quite exciting, at least until they got to some harmless old lady who clearly did not have her papers in order and the soldiers all got really very angry indeed - to the point where one took out his pistol and started waiving it around rather a lot. They probably shouted at her for the best part of an hour.
Eventually the train moved on, but it took a long time and was very unpleasant.
They then did whole "papers please" routine down the length of the train. Things got quite amusing when they got to my travelling companion as he had grown a beard since having his passport photo taken - so his facial hair was given a rather close examination and a sound tug or two.
In my typically rather naive way I thought it was all quite exciting, at least until they got to some harmless old lady who clearly did not have her papers in order and the soldiers all got really very angry indeed - to the point where one took out his pistol and started waiving it around rather a lot. They probably shouted at her for the best part of an hour.
Eventually the train moved on, but it took a long time and was very unpleasant.