Day 33: Into Novi Sad
Monday July 29 – Day 33 - 37miles – Total 1313miles
After the success of starting early yesterday, we did it again and agreed to be ready to go at 8am. We succeeded again and even had visited the shop by then! We rolled out of Cujo’s courtyard and through the rough streets of Odzaci before hitting the open road.
We made good time in our convoy of four cyclists. We stopped briefly in the town of Ratkovo to get cold drinks as well as getting some caffeine into Andrea. Bruce hung outside with the bicycles and the local drunkard. He was halfway through a bottle of beer when we got there. He rapidly finished this bottle, went inside and returned it, and came back with another full one, which he expertly opened on the side of the metal telegraph pole which was conveniently located just outside. Now remember that is was just after 9am in the morning… we had tried to buy glass bottles of beer in Serbia but had been told that we couldn’t as we didn’t have any empties to return first. This creates an obvious question – which comes first? The full bottle or the empty bottle? How do you buy your first bottle of beer in Serbia? Rather than battle obstinate Serbian cashiers, we have just been buying beer in aluminum cans, but they cost about 40% more for the same volume than the returnable glass bottles… grrr…
We were already half way to Novi Sad by 10am, as we passed through the towns of Parage and Silbas. The heat rose throughout the morning as the sun baked us from a cloudless sky. It was the hottest day yet……
We passed lots of melon stalls and the going rate seems to be 20 dinars per kilo, which is about 0.25USD per kilo. Pretty good price, but Andrea objected to carrying a watermelon on the back of her bike…..
We reached Backi Petrovac and saw signs for “Petroland”, which although it sounds like a theme park run by BP and ExxonMobil, was actually a waterpark with flumes and slides. It was very tempting to stop and play in the waterpark, but we decided to push on to Novi Sad since it was within striking distance now.
The traffic became a little heavier now on Route 102, which was the road we were on. It was one lane each way, with no shoulder. The drivers in Serbia are pretty fast and overtake each other all the time. The good part is that they are used to very slow moving vehicles as there are lots of ancient mopeds, tractors and Yugos on the road. Thus they know how to overtake, although a couple did come a tad closer than we would have liked.
We made one last stop in Rumenka for cold water. The road was pretty busy now, but miraculously a bike path appeared just before the new ring road around Novi Sad, as we entered the city limits.
We followed the bike path into the city and then Stefan took over navigation to the youth hostel that they had booked last night for all of us. The outskirts of Novi Sad are full of commie blocks but he flawlessly wound his way through the streets to our hostel Bodara.
We arrived just after noon, having completed 37 miles in a record time for us. We tried to beat the heat and we mostly succeeded although it was really grueling anyway! The lovely lady who runs the hostel checked us in even though we were early and gave us maps of the city and marked on each map where to eat and where to go…..and this place has air-conditioning!
We showered up and then went to the supermarket which was only a 5 minute walk from the hostel. We bought stuff for lunch and then headed back to the coolness of the hostel. The store security guard was very unsubtle at the supermarket though, as he ducked behind endcaps and peeked around them at us. I gave him a loud “Goodbye” in Serbian as we left and he replied in English “Just doing my job”…
We ate lunch pretty quickly and then all retired for an afternoon nap in our cool rooms until the sun went down…..too hot to go out again!
We have been surprised in Serbia that most shops are open 24hours a day and they all seem to take credit cards and are air conditioned. We thought that this would be a less developed country, but seems to somehow be further ahead in consumer culture than its neighbors.
After our nap and the sun had gone down we wandered the 10minutes into the center of Novi Sad. Once you clear the commie blocks the original architecture is still stunning. We were told that this was the furthest south Hapsburg city on the Danube and we can believe it. There were gorgeous churches and an impressive City Hall in the main square. All of the small streets are filled with pubs, restaurants and sidewalk cafes with umbrellas and terraces.
We found our recommended restaurant called Astal Saren and enjoyed a traditional Serbian dinner, including a spicy salad, baked beans dish and more meat of various sorts. All washed down with the local brew called Lav. Very bad choice of name, but such is life.
The waiter was having fun with us and gave us a round of the local firewater called Rakja on the house. He then insisted on another round including him…..the stuff wasn’t as bad as it could have been! We meandered our way back to the hostel and slept very well! Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow on our rest day!
The World is Ours!
Monday July 29 – Day 33 - 37miles – Total 1313miles
After the success of starting early yesterday, we did it again and agreed to be ready to go at 8am. We succeeded again and even had visited the shop by then! We rolled out of Cujo’s courtyard and through the rough streets of Odzaci before hitting the open road.
We made good time in our convoy of four cyclists. We stopped briefly in the town of Ratkovo to get cold drinks as well as getting some caffeine into Andrea. Bruce hung outside with the bicycles and the local drunkard. He was halfway through a bottle of beer when we got there. He rapidly finished this bottle, went inside and returned it, and came back with another full one, which he expertly opened on the side of the metal telegraph pole which was conveniently located just outside. Now remember that is was just after 9am in the morning… we had tried to buy glass bottles of beer in Serbia but had been told that we couldn’t as we didn’t have any empties to return first. This creates an obvious question – which comes first? The full bottle or the empty bottle? How do you buy your first bottle of beer in Serbia? Rather than battle obstinate Serbian cashiers, we have just been buying beer in aluminum cans, but they cost about 40% more for the same volume than the returnable glass bottles… grrr…
We were already half way to Novi Sad by 10am, as we passed through the towns of Parage and Silbas. The heat rose throughout the morning as the sun baked us from a cloudless sky. It was the hottest day yet……
We passed lots of melon stalls and the going rate seems to be 20 dinars per kilo, which is about 0.25USD per kilo. Pretty good price, but Andrea objected to carrying a watermelon on the back of her bike…..
We reached Backi Petrovac and saw signs for “Petroland”, which although it sounds like a theme park run by BP and ExxonMobil, was actually a waterpark with flumes and slides. It was very tempting to stop and play in the waterpark, but we decided to push on to Novi Sad since it was within striking distance now.
The traffic became a little heavier now on Route 102, which was the road we were on. It was one lane each way, with no shoulder. The drivers in Serbia are pretty fast and overtake each other all the time. The good part is that they are used to very slow moving vehicles as there are lots of ancient mopeds, tractors and Yugos on the road. Thus they know how to overtake, although a couple did come a tad closer than we would have liked.
We made one last stop in Rumenka for cold water. The road was pretty busy now, but miraculously a bike path appeared just before the new ring road around Novi Sad, as we entered the city limits.
We followed the bike path into the city and then Stefan took over navigation to the youth hostel that they had booked last night for all of us. The outskirts of Novi Sad are full of commie blocks but he flawlessly wound his way through the streets to our hostel Bodara.
We arrived just after noon, having completed 37 miles in a record time for us. We tried to beat the heat and we mostly succeeded although it was really grueling anyway! The lovely lady who runs the hostel checked us in even though we were early and gave us maps of the city and marked on each map where to eat and where to go…..and this place has air-conditioning!
We showered up and then went to the supermarket which was only a 5 minute walk from the hostel. We bought stuff for lunch and then headed back to the coolness of the hostel. The store security guard was very unsubtle at the supermarket though, as he ducked behind endcaps and peeked around them at us. I gave him a loud “Goodbye” in Serbian as we left and he replied in English “Just doing my job”…
We ate lunch pretty quickly and then all retired for an afternoon nap in our cool rooms until the sun went down…..too hot to go out again!
We have been surprised in Serbia that most shops are open 24hours a day and they all seem to take credit cards and are air conditioned. We thought that this would be a less developed country, but seems to somehow be further ahead in consumer culture than its neighbors.
After our nap and the sun had gone down we wandered the 10minutes into the center of Novi Sad. Once you clear the commie blocks the original architecture is still stunning. We were told that this was the furthest south Hapsburg city on the Danube and we can believe it. There were gorgeous churches and an impressive City Hall in the main square. All of the small streets are filled with pubs, restaurants and sidewalk cafes with umbrellas and terraces.
We found our recommended restaurant called Astal Saren and enjoyed a traditional Serbian dinner, including a spicy salad, baked beans dish and more meat of various sorts. All washed down with the local brew called Lav. Very bad choice of name, but such is life.
The waiter was having fun with us and gave us a round of the local firewater called Rakja on the house. He then insisted on another round including him…..the stuff wasn’t as bad as it could have been! We meandered our way back to the hostel and slept very well! Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow on our rest day!
The World is Ours!
Okay... so it wasn't quite 131 degrees F but it felt like it...
Sweating in Neon... in Rumenska, Serbia
Rebecca, Stefan, Andrea, and Bruce having dinner at Astal Saren in Novi Sad
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