Forests, fortresses, farms and a ferry
Even though the last six days in Serbia took us through the two cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad most of our cycling was through farmland and small villages.
Peter and Leigh outside the fortress at Golubac
Still overwhelmed by the stunning scenery and exhausted from the climbing through the Iron Gates section of EuroVelo 6 we enjoyed our rest day in Donji Milanovic. We had booked a room in a family guest house on the banks of the river and it was so good to be welcomed with a lovely cup of tea and fresh homemade biscuits - and to top it off our host offered to wash our clothes. We also brought out our camp stove for the first time (we had struggled to find the correct fuel). A park bench by the Danube was our kitchen and Peter cooked up a tasty pasta dish.
With another big climbing day (for Leigh) and a forecast for rain we decided to put our bikes on a bus for the 56kms to Golubac. At this point the Danube is 6 km wide and such a strategic position means … a fortress. So we cycled out and wandered around the recently restored medieval fortress. From Golubac we cycled along the river to Ram (and another fortress), managed our first ferry crossing of the Danube and thanks to a recommendation from fellow cyclists @pedalsandpuffins we spent a great evening at @Banatomia1086. In a simple farm house with a warming wood stove our host Stanojevic shared (over endless homemade raika) his vision for the farm he inherited from his grandparents.
The day into Belgrade was going to our longest so far ... and to say Leigh was anxious is an understatement…82kms on a loaded bike! Leaving early we managed to visit a bike shop for a new pump, demolish tasty burek and already have 45 kms under our belt by 12.30. At the town of Omoljica we stopped for a short break ... just as we leant our bikes against their house Borislav & Svetlana came out and invited us inside for what we thought was coffee ... little did we know! We were not aware that November is the month of patron saints in Serbia and families celebrate (Slava) their patron saint by gathering together and eating - and it was Slava for the Blagojevic family. They shared their feast with us ... soup, sarma, lamb, pickled vegetables, cheesecake coffee and slices ... such generosity. Two hours later we hopped on our bikes for the remaining 37 kms into Belgrade on a cold Friday evening. Adding to the challenge of cycling on a very full tummy was 12 kms was on a very rough track on a levee bank in fading light. Thankfully we had scheduled a rest day to visit Belgrade ... the time off also gave Peter a chance to repair the 3 punctures from the previous day (the levee track!). He pulled out two dozen prickles so only having three punctures was a good result!
Belgrade has been destroyed and rebuilt around 40 times in its 2300 year history, most recently the three month NATO bombing in 1999 so though our apartment was in the city’s second oldest residential building it was only circa 1852. Belgrade is a lively city full of young people and lovely to walk around at night. As well as coffee we love ice cream & gelato - even when it is cold we cannot resist - interestingly when we bought gelato in Belgrade they weighed our scoop for the cone!
Still building up our cycling fitness we needed a nights stop midway between Belgrade and Novi Sad... we choose Stari (old) Slankamen ... unfortunately the guest house only took cash and we made the mistake of not having enough ... then we found out the closest ATM was in a town 23 kms away! So 4.5 hours and 2 bus rides later (reading bus timetables in mainly Cyrillic script is challenging!) we had the cash to sleep easy!
The cycle into Novi (new) Sad gave us our first chance to really test out our wet weather gear. Thankfully the rain stopped just as we arrived at the gorgeous town of Sremski Karlovic and we were able to dry off over a warm lunch. A late afternoon cycle into Novi Sad ... such a cool city ... though we couldn’t fit in a rest day to explore we stayed in an apartment right on Liberty Square, this meant we were able to spend the evening wandering the old town
We planned a short last day in Serbia - 38 kms and mainly flat. To celebrate we indulged in a cafe breakfast and late start before setting off for Backa Palanka. Straight away the wind came up - unfortunately not a tail wind - and to make it worse according to the EuroVelo map it looked like most of the day would be a dreaded levee track. An hour in we stopped for coffee and made the decision to stay on the Eurovelo rather than take the road. As we headed off though still windy, the sight of road bike cyclists in lycra coming the other way warmed our hearts - obviously the map is out of date as we were treated to a new bitumen cycle way for most of the day!
Our last stop in Serbia was a guest house on farmland (with requisite manure aromas) a few kilometres before the border town. We are cycling in off season, so again we were the only guests … this time we were asked to lock the front main gate when we left!
Interactions with people are part of what makes cycle touring so special, dogs not so much. Before crossing the border we went to a supermarket to spend our last dinar - packing up our supplies two friendly women said hello and asked us where we were from. When we said Australia they were very excited. Turns out though Backa Palanka is their hometown they lived in Gympie, Queensland for 45 years - small world!
The border crossing into country #4 was easy ... we zoomed past the line of lorries and crossed the bridge over Danube for the last time. Welcome to Croatia...
