VIENNA TO BELGRADE (Part 2)

DATE:  July 30

LOCATION:  Belgrade, Serbia

This post covers the trip from Budapest, Hungary through Croatia to Belgrade, Serbia.

WEATHER:  After the hot spell heading into Budapest the weather has been decidedly cool.  Temperatures have been in the 18-24 range.  We have also had several days of rain. 

These bronze shoes are a monument to holocaust victims.  The Chain Bridge and the Royal Palace are in the background. (Budapest)

A view of the Danube River, the Chain Bridge and the city of Budapest from the top of Galiert Hill.

This part of the world receives quite a bit of rain to go along with the high summer temperatures.  As a result, the grass is not that fried brown colour that we get in Ontario but remains a brilliant green.

ROADS AND TERRAIN:  We have abandoned our efforts to follow the cycle paths because of poor signage and because many of the paths are extremely rough.  We would never achieve the distance we have to make if we followed those paths.  Thus we have taken to cycling along roads.

Most of the roads south of Budapest were flat and fast.  Those conditions continued for the first part of Croatia but gradually the roads are becoming rougher and many have considerable traffic.

One of the flat and fast roads between Budapest and Belgrade.

After several days of flat roads we began to encounter hills as we approached the Serbian boarder with Croatia.  Heading out of Novi Sad (Serbia) we climbed 24 minutes up an 8% hill!

REPORT:

We have travelled through Hungary, eastern Croatia and now the northern part of Serbia, generally following the Danube River valley.  We took advantage of the cool weather and fast roads to put in a few extra kilometres, thinking an extra day may com in handy as we head through the Carpathian mountains next week.

We are self-catering most meals, meaning we stop at the end of the day, find a grocery store and buy food that we prepare.

This is a water tower in the town of Vukovar, Croatia, showing sigs of the fighting that took place in this area within the past 20 years.

Joe is excellent at reading maps.  Here he is discussing the best route through the Carpathian mountains with Duro and his son.  Duro is from Bucharest, Romania and has travelled many times along the route we will be going.  Duro is the friend of the owner of our wonderful hosts at the Garden Paark Hostel in Belgrade.

We continued our tradition of joining a hash whenever possible.  Here Joe and "Rabies" run through the palace gates on Castle Hill in Budapest during the weekly hash of the Budapest Hash House Harriers.

Street and other signs in Serbia are often written in the cyrillic alphabet, making navigation a bit more challenging.  This sign sazs  "Territory of the municipality of Indjia".

This part of Europe produces wonderful fruit and vegetables. 

NEXT:  On Saturday we head toward Romania.  With luck we will enter Romania on Sunday and make our way to Bucharest.  It is the longest continuous stretch of cycling days and takes us through the Carpathian mountains.  The next post should be from Bucharest in approximately 8-9 days.