Day 25. Fish soup and flys

I was really hoping we would get to ride in Tito's blue train today. It lives down at the central station and was the way he used to get around Yugoslavia. Not to be I'm afraid 

The Eurovelo 6 book recommends taking a train east out of Belgrade ,so we took a slow train to Ralja to avoid a confusing and unfriendly route. 2 German girls, Jennifer and Pia had the same idea so we had time to swap stories. About 2 hours to do about half an hours travel actually !

Train toilet. Turkish to go ?

This student was very helpful and pointed out to them that on the south bank where they intended going there were 21 tunnels . They decided to get off with us at Ralja then bike north to the left bank.

Mmm, this is Ralja station. Everyone was hot and hungry by now so we devoured a watermelon between us

The route east to Dubuvac ran on the stop bank ,with a large wetland between us and the Duna. It was the most peaceful part of the Serbian sector with only otters and a variety of lovely birds for company. Still got a bit rough though.

We only made Dubuvac by 5.30. We'd intended being 20kms further on by then at a proper town. 

  Oh boy ,This would have to be the worst accommodation yet , and you could choose anything off the menu so long as it was fish soup. Ok for me I love fish soup, but Christine's not a fan and clouds of flys everywhere didn't help. 

 They had a band tonight, LOUD. Oh well , you win some, you lose some.

Day 24. Belgrade

I read before starting that Serbia was a great nation of cyclists, they even have a 'tour de Serbia'

   Well you can take it from me,    That's   BULLSHIT !     You'll hardly see a soul on a bike and it's no wonder. The roads are crap !

However, Belgrade is amazing. Houseboats by the dozen , some as big as mansions 

We  had to shelter from a downpour under the main bridge into town

I'd booked a hostel in the centre city in case accommodation was difficult so we dropped our bikes off early at the 'Modern Hostel' just newly renovated by its young owners.  It's great !

The photo of the outside was really just to show the taxi driver pushing his car to his place in the queue. There's 6500 of the poor sods in Belgrade, about twice as many as they need, and for a 10 hour day they average around €300 a month

  There, I thought you'd be interested.

  Right, back to the sightseeing. 

  The centre city is a mass of pedestrian malls that run to the old castle. It is so impressive sitting right on the confluence

Of the Dunav and the Suva . Inside
it's walls there are beautiful walks , a zoo, museums ,restaurants blah blah blah

This photo display shows the Nazi invasion  in WW2, and then later on they were bombed again by the Americans. They've had it from all sides here,Turks, Austrians. No wonder the museum had guns from so many nations. Even the castle church had chandeliers made entirely from sabres and  bullet shells

The food in Serbia is excellent and the wines and beers top notch. Belgrade is worth visiting !

  Christine was suffering tennis withdrawals so when she saw this guy in the mall hitting a ball on a long stretchy she grabbed the chance of a hit.

Day 23. Mountain climbing

Today was supposed to be an easy 75kms to the outskirts of Belgrade.

  Yeah Right !  To begin ,the track ran out and we had to scramble over a railway line and a drain to get back onto the road

And then, horrors , we had to climb a mountain ! This range has the name 'Holy Mountains' and we didn't know about it. 

  Holy hell !! it was 5.5 Kms to the top and BUSY ! The trucks came bloody close ,

and by the time we reached the top, we were nervous wrecks. Easily the worst section of the trail. These road works were where the road was being widened.

Its pretty through here though,with lots of orchards and vineyards. The route from here on was easy, passing through lots of small villages enroute to Belgrade.

It's 10am and every shop had a few men sitting around outside with a beer. We sat for about 15 minutes enjoying an icecream and iced tea ,and at least 6 fergy's would have passed by. I love it!

Its 29 degrees today and a couple of villages later as once again we sat for a drink, this fellow pulled in to the liquor shop , bellowed out his order and the assistant bought it out .Serbian drive through !

Mind you, it would have been an effort to get down.

   Next thing, from the other way, this DIY enthusiast came past , taking home the cement. I guess the boot had the shingle in it.! His exhaust was dragging on the ground so I suppose that'll be next weeks job

The people here are very friendly , and the country side seems affluent , but we couldn't get over the amount of rubbish on the roadsides and on the streets of the towns. Smoking is still allowed in bars and restaurants ! 

  Here's a great bit of recycling though, a roadside marker post using an old bomb

We're still 30 Kms short of Belgrade , the hotel is nice and clean with a BATH

Day 22. Novi Sad

This place we stayed in is worth a mention. 

  While Mum and the kids are enjoying any sport you can think of , dad can fish all day for only $15 NZ. Fish guaranteed ,but you have to put them back ! (WHATS the bleeding point )

The bill ,including dinner , breakfast and drinks, was 5700 dinar (about $70 )

  It was a massive heap of notes and when we commented on it, the receptionist said she could remember Tito's days as a child ,when this amount of notes was needed for a loaf of bread, and a week later, for half a loaf.

   

This is market garden country, lots of workers in fields, roadside stalls , and the most fergy tractors I have ever seen. Mum and Dad would even use them to drive into town !

Now what's very typical of Serbia are the large number of these currency exchange shops as everyone here tries to play the currencies with the countries around them. 

   Novi Sad is a bustling city with many different cultures represented . We passed over the Donaz again on the way out , past the old fort

 Just out of town , confused and a bit lost, I asked a man the way to Karlovci. 

 " no problem , just follow me".  Typical Serbian attitude.

  He led us out of town and when we reached his house invited us in for coffee.

Great stroke of luck, Androv is his name and seemed to be in charge of the beautiful old church you can see opposite his house (he's on the right )

 The other man is George and he's an organ restorer.

   Before we look inside ,notice that the opposite end of the church looks like a mosque. That's because when the Turks dominated this area in the 16/1700's it was. Once they were sent packing , it was a Catholic Church again. 

The organ was in a semi stripped down state as George was giving it the full monty. He played it for us ,and to be able to see its workings and hear its music was just beautiful. The ceilings had some of the best church murals I've ever seen.

Got to keep moving, we've decided to stop at the next descent hotel we see. This road is undoubtably the busiest we've encountered

  And finally Karlovci . Looked around this beautiful village before booking into the Donau hotel . Right on the river.

Sitting on the hotel balcony overlooking the river, I noticed  at the table next to me 

Claudia ! 

  Her and Gerard were the couple from Sate (south of France) that we'd met at the Croation border. We had a lovely evening with them, comparing travel stories and sharing a great bottle of local wine

'A demain'.   ( until tomorrow)