Serbia

Cycling along the Danube. Glorious weather. Romania on the opposite bank.

A fortress from the middle ages to keep the turks out.

This Serbian section is particularly scenic. Note the absence of traffic. Serbia is not the most popular tourist destination.

Commoly seen in the mountains, these ovens are used for smoking meat. The aroma was pretty good as we rode past.

A cuppa break in a mountain village. We were soon the talk of the village with whispers of "Ausralia."

Negotin to Dobra, Serbia (Frid 5th June; 95.2 km @ 15.3kph)
One word to describe today's ride:mountainous. We took off from Negotin with the best route suggested by the bike mechanic: "a bit up and down" he said. "Ah, Uber die Bergen" said the man at the hotel. We thaought, well a fewhills will be ok. Anyway, the route mechanic suggested took us over a mountain range but it got us to the Danube quicker. We rode through beautiful farming landscape mixed with forest. The farms seemed bigger and very well kept here compared with Bulgaria but it is definitely not broadacre but small plots with wheat, corn and vegetables in plots side by side.
We stopped at a mountain village en route for coffee and quickly were the talk of the town. Everyone was intrigued by Don's age and asked had his doctor checked his heart out before we started out.? Sigrid was a bit miffed that they weren't concerned about her age. After reaching the Danube, we felt as though we were riding in a travel brochure. The scenery was so stunning. The Danube in this part of Serbia is fiord like, with mountainous banks on either side. We had a lovely picnic lunch in Donji Milanovac, adjacent to the Danube. We then took off with 30 km to go to Dobra, our destination for the day. We were looking forward to a relatively easy ride with one major climb.However, signs to a bike path leading to our destination led us astray. The bike path turned out to be an old road that went over two mountains and through a national park. Much of the surface was so broken up and eroded we had to do a fair bit of walking and we caught only the occasional glimpse of the river. We finally reached our destination and found a bed and breakfast establishment that also provided a lovely dinner complete with home made plum slivovich.We are now tucked up in bed really tuckered out. We have vowed to check out bike routes more thoroughly next time.
Dobra to Veliko Gradiske (Sat 6th June; 48.5km @ 18.5kph)
After a great night sleep and breakfast (tea,omelette, bread and home made jam) we left our B&B and continued along the river. We were in no hurry today and just wanted to take it all in. Stops for coffee at good view spots ( although we have now decided to give Serbian coffee a miss) stops for picking cherries and mulberries along the way. In some areas it looked like holiday homes and I guess it is close enough for people from Belgrade to come and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet on the Mighty Danube.
We arrived at the camping area we had set as a goal.where I (Sigrid) am now sitting at a table whilst writing. It is on a man made little lake beside the river called Silver Lake. We were immediately greeted by Adrian and Gerda, a Dutch "grey nomad couple" who had their camper there. We ended up being very well looked after by them: good company, travel advice re camping spots and in the end a beautiful pasta dinner in their van. As the sun set we found out why the lake was called Silver Lake. The water had the most silvery glow on it that time of the day.
Now we have just had our juice and yoghurt and are about to set off for the days ride.
Velo Gradiske to Pancevo (Sun 7th June; 97.5km @ 22.1kph)
We had a pretty big day today. We left camp at 9.30 and continued to follow thye Danube. After about 15km we were to catch a ferry across the river. We had to wait for an hour because the ferry only crossed every 3 hours. (could have been worse) On the other side we continued our ride. The terrain had turned pretty flat, the weather was hot,the road surface was hot mix, the scenery was of intensive agriculture: wheat, corn, sunflowers, vineyards, potatoes, tomatoes & fruit trees. We arrived at Kovin after 60km and had a frappe and coke each: it was a strange mixture but gave us the lift we needed for the final leg to Pancevo. Pancevo is across the river from Belgrade which about 30km away. We have decided to avoid Belgrade becoause of the traffic problems we've heard about. We booked into the main hotel in Pancevo (the only one) which seems to be a hangover from the communist era: drab, unrenovated and deserted looking but has clean sheets. After a pizza and a coupe of beers we are set for our ride tomorrow to Novi Sad, a touristy town about 100km to the north. The Serbs may be poor but they certainly like to frequent the numerous cafes and bars that are usually found in the town squares.
Pancevo to Novi Sad (Mon 8th June; 107.44km @ 22.7kph)
We took off early for Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest city. The weather was fine, the country flat with farming land interspersed with villages the order of the day.Crops of wheat, sunflower, corn and vineyards lined either side of the road. (as did ripe mulberries and cherries-yum) It was a day of getting from A to B. We arrived in Novi Sad early afternoon and were impressed with the vitality of the place so we decided to book into a hostel for two nights . At the hostel we met two Aussies cycling from Budapest to the Black Sea so we were able to share ideas over a few beers and great dinner in a fortress overlooking the Danube. Today we will be tourists, relax and look around town.