Day 43: Meeting the Amazing Disappearing Belgians!
Thursday August 8 - Day 43 - 49miles - Total 1712miles

So... we got up early... not exactly to catch the Belgians... but it worked! We met Toon and Lien as they were getting their Santos tandem bike ready to head out for the day. They speak English incredibly well and they are also heading to Istanbul! We asked them about their route and they said that they were going to the Black Sea and then crossing into Istanbul. Bruce started chatting to Toon about how we were going to take that route before but then you have to climb up to a really high mountain pass to cross the border... he then explained our route into Greece, which they had previously planned on doing as well... They were however heading in the same direction with the same destination for today! ... So, morning conversations about route planning done... we planned to meet for dinner in Turnu Magurele depending on where we stayed in the city... 

They were off and we were off to breakfast! Very good omelets at the Hotel Tata Si Fi and coffee of course to get us ready for the day. We left the hotel at about 8.30am to avoid the heat because we knew what today was going to be like... Another hot day with a slight headwind with bad pavement... 

We played leapfrog with a couple of locals on bicycles. These bikes are the old school fix gear, tin frame, one brake type bikes. We can pass them on the flat or downhill but on the uphill they chuckle and pass us going the same speed they have been going all day. One of the bicyclists decided to adopt us through her town and chat all the way from one end to the other... it didn't matter that we had no idea what she was saying but she waved dramatically anytime her friends on the street called out to her. She obviously took her escort roll seriously as she batted off cars that tried to pass us (now two abreast). Badass granny with Romanian babushka asked us for a cigarette right before her turn off down a little dirt road with watermelon carts lining the way... just wow...  

We saw an oxen cart with solid cart wheels driven by the couple that probably built it when Stalin was still alive. This place is like a time capsule but it will (and is) changing quickly and slowly at the same time. For example, donkey cart drivers with their wives on their cell phones... strange... 

As we were riding along we heard some peeps and yelps from the long grasses at the verge of the road... then two tiny kittens ran out of the long grass and and chased us until we stopped. Well, they actually chased Bruce who is a moving target for cute cuddly little things... They were all over our bikes in seconds... climbing through the wheels, hiding in the shade of our panniers, and looking up at us with the saddest little faces. We felt terrible for them out in the heat away from town... We had an empty bottle of water that we cut into a cup and gave them water and sugar which they drank quickly...  but we couldn't do anything else for them. We think they were abandoned or that their mother died. We really miss our kitties at home and hope they are doing okay!

After a quiet ride away from the kittens... we were sad and hungry so we stopped for lunch in Coriaba at a little shop that had tables in the shade.  Andrea went in to find some food and found a very helpful shop keeper who spoke no English at all and a very nice man who did speak a little so we got bread, feta cheese, and tomatoes with lemonade and chips. Score! Andrea has now figured out that not only is the cheese hidden under the counter but the bread is kept in the back of the local shops, not on display. This is why she could not find anything she had wanted for lunch earlier in the day. We had lunch at a table in the shade next to a small shop and cleaned up very well after ourselves... otherwise the very demanding granny shopkeeper would have beaten us like her lackey boys in the yard... 

Lots more hellos followed us throughout the day... as we passed through this very poor part of Romania. We passed lots of watermelons carts and vendors on the side of the road. Just before Turnu Magurele, we saw a bunch of boys and men swimming in the small river as we passed over on the bridge... they all cheered from the water and dove in again. We think this was bath time for the local workers since they had soap and wash cloths.

We got to Turnu Magurele and quickly found the Hotel Turris as well as a Penny Market! (we haven't seen one of those since Hungary!) The Hotel Turris is a classic Intourist hotel... tall cement building with grumpy receptionist who watched us like a hawk. When we put our bikes in the loading dock area behind the hotel... guess what we saw? A Santos Tandem!  We think we and the Belgian couple are the only ones here tonight. A bit pricey but hey... we have air-conditioning! 

We wandered around town a little - not too much to it except a communist war memorial and a fountain that shut off right as Andrea tried to take its picture... and some peacocks, doves, and chickens in some cages in the park...  Andrea bought a pretty dress from a local vendor and that was all. 

We were having a beer at the hotel terrace bar, when we saw the Belgians walk by...they joined us for a drink. They discussed their route today and have decided to follow the Brucie-velo Awesome Route to Istanbul... so they are going for the 11.30am ferry with us as well tomorrow... 

Intend on another early start tomorrow, so we can get the 11.30am ferry from Zimincea to Svishtov in Bulgaria!

Another country done and done!
The World is Ours!

Day 42: Headwinds into Bechet
Wednesday August 7 - Day 42 - 61miles - Total 1663miles


We tried to start early in Calafat. We went down for breakfast but there was no-one in the dining room. We had to go to reception to have them page the waitress so we could have breakfast. To be honest it wasn't really worth the wait, as it was weiners with eggs. Andrea got a semi-decent omelet. At the least the coffee was good. 

The tandem was already gone by the time we got downstairs, so we didn't get to meet whoever is piloting that sweet machine. We left the hotel and avoiding a pack of dogs to get to the grocery store. For the first time in two weeks Andrea couldn't get "Jogood" drinkable yogurt for our yogurt break, which made her very sad. We had to be content with a Romanian knock-off which wasn't nearly as good.

We headed slightly uphill out of town, past fountains and a pedestrian mall. We turned left to head out of town. Not that there was a sign to tell us to turn left and it looked like a pretty minor street, but it was the correct street. It was a good job that Bruce knew which street to take otherwise we would still be cycling around Calafat looking for the exit.

Once out of town, the road surface deteriorated just enough to be a hindrance. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't a surface that you could keep a decent momentum on. Combine that with the nice easterly headwind that had sprung up... and we were not making very good time... We haven't had an easterly this whole trip! It must have something to do with the river creating a microclimate as the Danube turns a corner at Calafat and flows pretty much east until nearly the Black Sea.

We passed through lots of villages on the road as we pedaled in the direction of Bechet (pronounced Be-ket). Some of them were bigger than others, but they all had a lot of similarities. There were benches outside of nearly every house. Most of them had some sort of shade, usually in the form of a tree that had been trained or trimmed appropriately (for the past 70 years) so it would provide shade for the most of the day. The people would stare at us from that delectable shade as we went by. It was essentially a repeat of yesterday's adventures with the local inhabitants with a few "Ciao! Ciao!s" thrown in ... just to confuse us... 

This area of Romania seems like it hasn't moved forward as much as some parts of the country. There are communal wells that are still relied upon for drinking water. People sweep their dirt yard free of leaves with homemade twig brooms. We even saw one old lady who looked exactly like an evil Disney witch, complete with scoliosis, pinched little face, and homemade broom! It is actually rather depressing cycling through some of these places.  

There are horse and carts everywhere. This is pretty much a staple of the rural villages here. There is horse shit all over the road and sometimes it is difficult trying to avoid the fresher deposits!

Having said all of the above...  the people seem genuinely friendly and happy to see us. They do shout out to us and a lot of the kids come out onto the road to give us high fives as we cycle past. 90% of the time this is fine, but of course there is always the spoilsport. One middle-school aged boy gave Bruce a high five and then tried to duck behind and grab the bags on the rear of his bike. This unhinged our GPS transponder. We yelled at him, and so did his sister, mother, grandmother and various other matriarchs of the village (all sitting in the shade watching the event). We don't think he will be able to sit down for a week. 

We only had small problems with a few other kids during the day... hard high fives and a few "I speak English!!! " from shrill teenage girls. Andrea will have plenty of those to deal with again in a few weeks... :)

We actually travel faster than the carts (donkey, horse, or oxen driven). So we play leap frog with them. We pass them and wave hello and they smile and wave. Then they may hurry their beast of burden along to try and keep up with us or we may take a break in the shade, and they will pass us again and they wave and chuckle... this is funny only until the horse takes a "break" and we have to avoid the after effects...
 
We had lunch again in the shade today on one of those infamous benches under the canopy of a tree. We probably broke some more social norms but we really needed some coolness for the day. The refrigerator in the pannier worked well to keep the grapes and cheese cold so we could have them for lunch. 

The head wind continued all day so we had to power along the flat to keep going. It was a hard day. The sun flowers are all done and dead, left to dry in the 100 degree heat.... we really felt similar! You would think after 42days in the saddle that this wouldn't be an issue but we were flagging today. 

Right at the 50 mile mark there was a stupid 7% down and then back up again for no good reason, which is demoralizing, and there was just too much flat between them so that we couldn't keep any momentum from the downhill either....grrr

We finally made it to Bechet and stopped at one of the little Magazins (mini-markets) to ask where the hotel was. Turned out that it was about 200m away on the other side of the street! Yay! So we have a room for the night at the Hotel Tata Si Fi in Bechet, Romania. When we put our bikes in the back storage area, the tandem was there again! The Owner told us that they are Belgian....we look forward to meeting them!

We had dinner at the hotel and we both got stuffed cabbage rolls and polenta, washed down with some of the local beer. The Owner speaks good English and brought out his homemade firewater. In this part of Romania it is called Tswika (or something like that!). Not too bad! Burns just a little! Tastes very similar to Rakija in Serbia, but of course we don't tell them that! We also found out that "Cheers" is "Norok" in Romania.....good things to know!

The World is Ours!

Day 41: Always learning... Always moving... 
Tuesday August 6 - Day 41 - 62miles - Total 1602miles

After the issue we had with finding our bikes out on the front porch yesterday morning, last night we brought them up to our room. We used the skills we learned in Paris to be able to fit the bikes in tiny commie elevator by balancing them on their back tires one at a time. 

We brought them down the same way this morning, loaded up them up, and prepared for our excursion into the Romanian countryside... In preparation, we asked the receptionist (who had dealt with us all day yesterday) how to say the 4 key terms in Romanian. 

Hello: Salute (Buna...)
Goodbye: Larevedera
Please: Terrog
Thank you: Multzulmesc

Most of which came in handy today several times. We used "Mutlzumesc" in the little shop where we picked up our cold water for the bottles and for the "fridge" and we learned another word from the formerly gruff (but now softened by Andrea's attempt at Romanian) shop keeper "cuplicherri" which we think/hope means "you're welcome".

Quick note: Not sure if we have yet explained what the "fridge" is... Normally, when we get an extra bottle of water, we strap it on to the back of Andrea's bike under the sarong. It usually warms up pretty quickly under the hot sun, but we didn't really know what else to do. A few days ago, however, Stefan put a frozen bottle of water :::inside::: one of his panniers rather than putting it on the outside like us. The bottle was still partially frozen by the end of the day, after a long hard uphill in the sun! It was heaven to drink ice cold water rather than tea-hot water at the top of a hill. We have now redistributed the stuff in Andrea's back panniers to make room for at least one 1.5L cold water bottle. We are using our foam flip-flops as insulation.This set up is also good for keeping grapes and cheese (and chocolate) cool for lunch. We are always learning on the road. 

A few things we noticed yesterday but are more concrete once you see them two days in a row: 
If you make eye contact with a woman (at least this always happened to Andrea) you will get the ubiquitous bitchy Romanian stare. This is a disconcerting and unexpected aggressive behavior, especially after the smiles we got in Serbia. This ended up only being the case in the city, but it was very prevalent there. 

We have now started to come across beggars, who you can tell from a long way away. They will stand uncomfortably close to you by gelato stands and other shop windows waiting for you to get change and then ask for it. 

We have also started to see the many street dogs and cats around. They all seem to have their own territory like under a certain table, in one rest stop, or at a specific restaurant. They beg and chase but are rather scared of our loaded bikes. I can imagine that we look like a fairly large vehicle to them. 

We headed out of town on a fairly busy road but then cut off on the 56A. The 56A was still busier than we would have hoped, but less busy than before. We cycled to Hinova (which is just a speck on the map) which was just before the first of 3 ripples in the flatlands... There were street dogs at every lay-by sleeping in the shade of concrete slab tables. At this point, we have not seen ANY Eurovelo signage (the bike route that we know we are following... since this is the only road you can follow). No signage is a huge contrast to Serbia where they almost over signed the country.

We are getting stared at a lot... more than normal... but we will get back to staring later in the post... 

Today was a very hot day... VERY HOT DAY!!!! So we stopped whenever we saw a gas station ( which was not frequently but enough to keep us in the shade for a little bit). At the first gas station stop, Andrea braved the first entrance to use the facilities but when she came out there was a little old lady trying to use the cappuccino machine. She immediately started asking Andrea for help, since she is younger and looked like she belonged and would understand a frantic grandma with 2 lei and a need for caffeine... but when Andrea looked a bit scared and confused the grandma slowed down long enough for Andrea to say... "Sorry. I don't understand"... at which point the English speaking gas attendant chuckled behind the counter and came over to help the grandma and relieve Andrea of her responsibility to Granny V... 

We had a narrow shoulder on the road almost all day which we haven't had since Slovakia and the road surface was pretty new. We were making pretty good time so we stopped for lunch in the shade at noon on a little bench in front of a teal green wall in Recea. Now, realize that this was the first shade we had seen in about 10 miles... So we snagged that little wooden bench with both cheeks. But the little wooden bench was outside of a house... so we probably broke some type of Romanian etiquette by sitting there... which we realized when the old man of the house to the right came home on his ancient pedal driven moped and then came back out to check on us and just stood there for a while... then old lady on the left came out and did the same thing... then 2 little kids came out of the second house to the left and walked past us... then an older kid came by and checked us out...  last but not least Mama came out and walked past us as well... only the little kids made eye contact... smiled and ran away giggling... like little kids... While eating our pre made subs for lunch (and being the center of attention for an entire family compound) we got squawked at by a parrot sounding bird that we could not identify... All in all, it was a strange stop but effective in getting us hydrated and fed...

A little later on, we had our second gas station stop of the day, which got us some cold water and some shade.  We actually saw bags of ice... though we could not fit them on the bikes... sad... 

At this point, rolling through some very small and rural towns, we were really getting stared at... I mean BIG TIME! There seems to be a culture of sitting on the little bench outside your house and watching the world go by... and we were definitely the most interesting thing rolling by...  So we started saying "Hello" to all the Romanians on the street... this got us a variety of reactions, both verbal and nonverbal but mostly they were positive. We got "Drum Bun!", "Salute!", "Hola", "...unintelligible Romanian greeting...", Two hands in the air, One handed wave, whistles, shouts, group greetings, offers of services, offers of melons, grins, scowls, confused looks, and a few people just looked away... We said hello to everyone! The people sitting by the side of the road, other people on bicycles, even people in their horse/donkey carts. The people in the donkey carts were the best. 

Then we hit the second ripple in the land of the day, which wasn't too bad. We call these hills ripples because they bump out of the flat land all in the same orientation. You can see one coming a long way off and it just looks like a ripple in the land. After the second ripple, we started to find cold fountains on the side of the road! Our favorite! AWESOME! One of them had watermelons cooling in it and a lady (who was selling the watermelons) who laughed at us when we put our cold wet headbands back on and shrieked a little bit from the cold. I am glad we are so entertaining... :)

We thought we bypassed the 3rd ripple of the day, but skirted the bottom of it until the very last mile of the day... or so we thought... then we had to climb a very steep but very short hill to the top to Cetate... where we thought there was supposed to have a hotel/campsite called Angel Park. But when we got in to "town" there were no signs for any place to stay and we didn't fancy going back downhill to the port to find this theoretical place to stay, especially if we would then have to climb back up and out tomorrow. We asked at a local shop, but they said that there were no places to stay in town. There were places, however, in Calafat (14 miles away).  So we pressed on, hoping we would find something along the way in Maglavit (not 14 miles away). 

On the road, Andrea took picture of old man on bike with hay piled high on the back - he smiled for us and we pressed on. We reached Hurnia (between Cetate and Maglavit) and we took a break in the shade of a shop that was closed. We sat on the stoop and ate our hot grapes and party mix to boost our energy. It didn't seem like there was anything there. But then the old man with the bike full of hay showed up as we were taking our break. We offered him some of our snacks but he refused, not because he wasn't hungry but for the fact that he didn't have any teeth. He wanted another picture taken with Bruce and we "chatted" for a while. He pointed to the place across the street from our rest place a couple of times... it kind of looked like it could be a place to stay, so Andrea went over to ask. It was not a hotel, however, it turned out to be a cafe/bar with absolutely no signage to tell you that it was. We figured out that it was the open gate that showed it must be public accessible. The wonderful people inside and gave us free coffee, soda, and air conditioning and for about a half an hour, we watched Mr Bean on the TV. They would not let us pay. 

We thought that the owner had called an English speaker who was supposed to be coming to talk with us (since the only conversation we had with the owner and his wife were about paying for the drinks and that there are places to stay in Calafat), but the only person who came was a workman who downed his beer in 15 seconds and left... We also left at 5:30 (when no English speaker appeared) to head towards Calafat because that is where 2 sets of people have now said we would find accommodation so far... 

A few more miles down the road we stopped in Maglavit at a little corner shop/bar to get water and ask about accommodation. The lady who owned the shop was very nice and helpful and got all the surly men on her porch to help us as well. What we got out of the conversation was "there is no accommodation in the area until Calafat" and "you two are nuts for cycling to Istanbul in this heat on your honeymoon (luna de miele)". Of course this was all translated through body gestures, language similarities, smiles and laughter. Another reaction of note was when we asked about camping "kemping" in the area, this put a surlier look on the surliest of the surly men's faces.  He then told us in-no-uncertain-Romainian-terms that camping is a bad idea! Even though he said it in full Romanian without much gesturing, it didn't need much translation. There would be no camping tonight... Thank you surly man...

Now, with multiple independent sources confirming the existence of hotels in Calafat (and the nonexistence of accommodation anywhere else) we pushed on the last 10 miles into town. The reason we were so hesitant to go all the way into town was because it would take away the possibility to take a shortcut Bruce had found that cut 9miles off of tomorrow's total. At the turn off (right where the shortcut would have started and where we needed to turn onto the road to Calafat) the road surface degraded and the shoulder went away... Later workmen at the side of the road showed why, this road is now under construction to be widened and repaved. When we got into Calafat, we saw all new construction because of the big new bridge to Bulgaria (which we aren't taking). At this point, we not only got the widest shoulder of the day but then we even got a separated pedestrian way up over the fly over! Not a bad way to enter town! Unlike most places, it wasn't hard to find our way into town and right on the road in we found Hotel Amphitheater (Amfiteatru). They had a room with air conditioning, a big bathroom, and a pool! Best of all, it was RIGHT THERE! It was a little pricey but at this point it was almost 7:30pm and we were pretty beat from the heat and the length of our day. 

After showering and rinsing out our cycle clothes, we had dinner in town, found the local grocery store, and then fixed the chain on  Bruce's bike, which was really starting to sag. But that was a nice easy fix due to our very well made Thorn Nomad bikes with an eccentric bracket. 

We noticed a dark green Santos tandem bike where we put our bikes for the night. It also has the Rolhoff gearing. It was pretty sweet. We were also looking at Santos when we were choosing bikes for this trip. We haven't met the people who a pedaling this monster but maybe we will meet them tomorrow on the road.

Always learning... always moving... 
The World is Ours!

Day 40: No Rest for the Wicked
Monday August 5 - Day 40 - Rest day - Total 1540miles

We woke up cold! COLD! From the air-conditioning. It felt good! So we did our laundry, hung it up across the cold dry room and headed downstairs. Not wanting to miss out on a beautiful city, we planned on going out for the day. When we went downstairs to reception, we checked on our bikes and they weren't there! WTF! Little did we know, that our bikes were moved outside without our permission by the workmen working on the hotel from 8am to 7pm...they were outside leaning on a column outside the main door where the receptionist said she could keep an eye on them.Then we tried to book our room for second night and were told "NO." What!? Our room was already booked for this evening and there were no air-conditioned rooms left in the hotel. We had to take a different room... no air conditioning... and we had to move all of our stuff from floor to floor including our wet laundry... grrr... But at least it was better than trying to change hotels in the middle of the day... so we wasted an hour but still had a place to stay for 27euro......but no air-conditioning when it is 38C/100F....

After the unexpected change of rooms, we went out to look for food, post cards, bike tubes, sunglasses, and stamps. While looking for food in the grocery store a lady walked up to us and started speaking in French like she knew us... eventually we figured out that she was the mother of the French family (although she did not look like herself since she was nicely dressed with hair and makeup done... and on a bike we never look like that)... we kind of insulted her by not recognizing her... but the family arrived and told us that they had given up and were taking the train to Bucharest and then on to the delta to spend a week of relaxation at the Black Sea. We said "Bon Voyage" as they checked out and we headed back to our shopping quest... We got the sunglasses at the grocery store. Then we found the postcards, no problem. We had to try three different doors before finding the correct part of the post office that sold stamps. The first was the bank part of the post office; the second was the parcel area (we think) and then we were told to go upstairs, where we did find the correct door! The lady was very helpful and gave us all the stamps and made sure we put them in the correct area of the postcard. The stamps were peel and stick and had to be wetted to stick, but the airmail stickers were peel and stick.....usually it is the other way around....

We had lunch at a small cafe which turned out to be exactly like a "Brothers" restaurant from the Boston area, except everything was sold by weight from behind the counter. It makes the ordering process a little inefficient but the food was good. There were stray kittens with their mama hanging out at the patio tables waiting for dropped morsels. The mama was pregnant again, so there will be even more little kitten mouths to feed.

We wrote postcards while in the shade and sent them off on their journey overseas and then we headed out again to find spare tubes. We found the bike shop and they had the correct size of tube but with the wrong valve. The second bike shop had the right valve but wrong size. The third bike shop we were directed to was a toy store that sold a couple of bikes but no parts. Around the corner was a car parts shop, so we asked there if there was anywhere else in town that would sell bike tubes. There was an English speaker in the shop call Lucci who had lived in Seattle for a long time. He directed us to the local flea market where one of the vendors has bike parts. We trekked over there, but unfortunately they didn't have the right size or the right valve......total fail on finding spare tubes in Romania...

To add insult to injury, the sunglasses that Bruce just bought at the Carrefour supermarket earlier in the day broke. The nose connector just completely sheared and left Bruce with two halves of sunglasses! He bought an interim pair at the flea market and we headed back to the Carrefour to complain. Surprisingly, they took back the sunglasses right away and gave us a cash refund, even though we had paid by visa

We went back to hotel to get internet and research what lay ahead for us. Internet was only available in the lobby of the hotel, although they advertise that it is available in the rooms. One of the managers got into an argument with another visitor in Romanian about this. There were very comfy chairs in the lobby area to sit in while using the internet, although you had to watch as the upholstery nails were coming through the padded armrests and we almost impaled our arms a couple of times....

We went out for a walk to find a place for dinner. We asked at the hotel, but they would only say to eat at the hotel restaurant which we really didn't fancy doing. We watched the rotating fountain again and walked around but couldn't really find a good place. We ate at one of the restaurants on the main drag just beside the rotating fountain. The room was still really hot due to the heat of the day and we couldn't really open the windows because of all the bugs (no screens). We were both a little grumpy by then and just went to bed, but it took a while because of the heat.

Onwards into Romania tomorrow!

The World is Ours!

Day 39: After the Fish
Sunday August 4 - Day 39 - 44miles - Total 1540miles

We woke up early-ish and breakfast was served in the kitchen at 8am sharp by Granny IV! The omelets were pretty tasty but the coffee was very strange. It was watery and milky...it looked like a bad instant coffee was made with watery hot milk. We tasted it and it wasn't any better than it looked. Rebecca and Stefan definitely made the right choice when they opted for the juice.

After packing the bikes up, we paid up and got the passports back (one of the few times they have been kept overnight.....very disconcerting). We cycled back the kilometre into Donji Milanovac and went to the market to get supplies for the day. Over the next half hour, all the other touring cyclists that we had met over the last few days showed up at the market to get supplies for their journeys. The French couple with the trailer had made friends with the American sailing boat crew so they were going to get a trip down river for a while today. The French family (parents & 5 children) as well as the German couple we had met up at the expensive hotel were all there. Even Ovidiu turned up as well to bid us farewell! Since we hadn't gotten real coffee this morning, Bruce bought coffees while Andrea did the grocery shopping. 

We headed off! The road we were on, joined back up with the main road just out of town. The only problem was that they had put in new curbing recently, but now there was a gravel bank and new curbs separating us from the road. It was pretty easily maneuvered but why would you do that when you know that this intersection is a main cycle route? There is even one of the awesome Serbian Eurovelo 6 signs right at the intersection...

The main road had a good surface and we followed an inlet of the Danube until we crossed it on a causeway and worked our way back to following the main river. We crossed the 1500mile mark at this point which is pretty awesome! 

Once back following the Danube we went through a few more tunnels and we were at the Iron Gates proper, which is the narrowest part of the Danube (at least in its lower reaches) as it goes through a series of gorges. It is just beautiful scenery, although the road climbs pretty harshly on the Serbian side which gave us great views but did take the wind out of our sails a bit. The road on the Romanian side seemed a lot flatter...(at least at this point). There were some viewpoints along the road where you could see a massive face had been carved into the rock. There was also meant to be a tablet on the wall dedicating the original Roman road along here, but we couldn't see it....maybe you have to be down at river level to see it. The tablet had been relocated higher after they built the dam, which flooded the original Roman road.

There was a long downhill after the long uphill but we finally made it to Tekija, where we had lunch under the shade of a large tree. We went swimming in the Danube after lunch to cool down a bit before the last few kilometres of our trip in Serbia together as the Fearsome Foursome.

Before we reached the dam (which is the border crossing between Serbia & Romania), we met a German touring cyclist, named Muritz, on the side of the road by himself. He was having troubles with a flat tire... and then 2 flat tires...  so we stopped to give him as much assistance as possible. He didn't have the correct wrench to remove his rear wheel. Neither did any of us, so we helped him patch his tube in situ without removing the rear wheel. We also gave him cool water (from the fridge) and a Clif Bar as he was out of water and looked like he needed some TLC. We think he had been wild camping mostly to save money, but he had bug bites everywhere. Hopefully he will recover OK, and continue his trip as he was heading for Sofia, Bulgaria.

At the dam, we said goodbye to Rebecca & Stefan. They were continuing in Serbia and then directly to Bulgaria. We are sure we will see them again soon and they have been wonderful travel companions for the past week or so.

We were slightly disappointed at the Serbia border station as we didn't get bumped ahead in line nor did we get an exit stamp! But as we finally got through the hot border station, we were cheered up as the French family had already been through and cheered us into the Duty Free shop! It was very touching! The Duty free shop was more like a corner mini-market that was badly stocked than a Duty Free shop. It did have some dodgy looking vodka on display along with some cartons of cigarettes, but there was just a surly man working there watching "How I met Your Mother" with subtitles. We bought some cold water and chocolate with some of our remaining Serbian dinars.

We cycled across the dam and into Romania! We were now back in the European Union and we also changed time zones as we were an hour ahead of Serbia. We quickly got stamped into Romania and changed our remaining Serbian dinars into Romanian Lei. You never get the best exchange rates right at the border station, but it wasn't awful and it would tide us over until we got to an ATM.

We turned out onto main road and quickly cycled the 13km in Drobeta Turnu Severin. The road was pretty busy, but we continued into the city center and all the traffic went around the bypass which was nice. We passed another water park, which looked tempting in the heat, but not so temping with the missive amount of people crammed into the relatively small space. We cycled into the city center and found the Hotel Continental.... And guess what? We had a reservation waiting for us! Score! Thank you Ovidiu! We bought the bikes inside and unpacked and did laundry in the air conditioning which felt fabulous! After showering and cleaning up we started walking around the town. There was an awesome rotating fountain in the main square outside the theatre and the post office, which seemed to be the local gathering place to cool down in the evening once the day's heat starts to dissipate.

Now that we were out of Serbia the cell phone started working again so we both talked to our parents and then we went to dinner. We decided to have a quick and easy pizza dinner, and we had fresh lemonade which was very refreshing! We had the option of having mayonnaise or ketchup drizzled over the top of our pizza, but we politely declined either.......

We decided to take a rest day tomorrow to recharge our batteries. 

The World is Ours!

Day 38: Chasing the Yugo
Saturday August 3 - Day 38 - 43miles - Total 1496miles 

So we woke up in Vinci...the town with the bike shop... but we didn't know that it was supposed to have a bike shop until we were in Golubac.... which was also supposed to have a bike shop but didn't...  So we didn't know if it existed... or if it didn't exist at all... still not sure about that... any way we didn't get our tubes... 

Anyway... we headed out of town, the Fearsome Foursome that we are! When we went to the little shop on the corner to resupply with the guy (whom we bought cheese from earlier) had heard of Thorn Bicycles before and was very curious... but in a good way. He jokes that Andy Murray deserved to win at least once, even if Djokovic (who is Serbian) had to lose because of it. 

We were also looking for a post office and were successful. After asking a few people in Golubac where things were, we learned that the whole town is "near the Hotel" which is kind of true... even if there was no bike shop but we did get the post office so one out of two ain't bad. 

As we cycled along the Danube we saw a very cool fortress which was now at and below river level because the river was damed in the 70s and had risen 50 feet since then. The road we were following actually traveled through some of the gates of the fortress which was awesome to see... and cycle through.

As we were cycling through the fortress, and taking pictures of each other, we noticed a video team working under one of the arches. We passed them quickly trying to get out of their shot. But then the video guy from the fortress drove by us with a video camera hanging out the passenger window... twice... This was a little weird since we didn't know that we were being video taped or for what reason. However, when Stefan took a pit stop down the way, the video guy appeared and introduced himself as Ovidiu, the Touristic videographer for the local area. He then asked our permission to be in his tourism video about touring cyclists on the Danube. He asked if one of us would wear a helmet cam to video from the perspective of the cyclist. Bruce being the tallest, on the biggest bike, and since he generally cycles last, offered to wear the helmet cam. This ended up not working because the cam would not fit/turn on. That plan aborted, we were filmed another time and were supposed to meet Ovidiu in about an hour at the Lempenski Vir Museum on the river about 25km along the way.

On our way to the Museum, we passed through the first of 21 tunnels on the this road along the Danube - none of which are lit.The first of which is about 300meters long. We turned on our rear lights and Bruce had the strongest headlight so he went first. It was a little unnerving at first being totally in the dark, but we survived!

We found the turn off to the museum and of course it was a massive downhill from the main road, so we all knew that this meant that there would be an equally massive uphill on the other side to re-join the main road. We were all hungry so we went to the restaurant and had very good catfish and other Serbian dishes, washed down with plenty of water. There were cats hanging out in the restaurant who   would wait for dropped pieces of catfish and other treats. They were very cute and persistent.

Ovidiu joined us at the restaurant after lunch and told us that there was a festival going on in Donji Milanovac, which involved a Fish soup cook off, and thus the town was very busy this weekend, but because of his connections he could get us a room at the big hotel in town (the old Intourist hotel) for 20 euros per room. We chatted amongst ourselves and we decided to stick with going with private rooms accommodation since we had had good luck with it the night before.

After lunch we did have to climb back up to the main road. Stefan and Rebecca took the posted bike route, which followed the old road, while Bruce and Andrea re-joined the main road again. We didn't fancy having to do the switchbacks that the old road performed at this point!

However we didn't get away totally, as through the next tunnel the main road started to rise rather dramatically. It was a pretty big climb up. There was a family of cyclists that passed us as we took a break in the shade about half way up the hill. We cheered them on as they ground there way up the hill. We finally reached the summit and waited for Rebecca & Stefan as they had to climb the same hill after they had finished with the switchbacks.....

We reached Donji Milanovac about 8 miles later and rested under the trees next to the river in the shade to cool down. Stefan went off to try and find the bike shop in town (there was meant to be one according to his map). Rebecca went to find us accommodation for the night. Andrea went to get supplies, while Bruce watched all the bikes. 

Rebecca had no luck - she did find another fixer who acted as a point person for private rooms, but all the rooms were full! Except for one room for 4 people, 3km outside of the city... but there was a fish soup festival that we just could not miss and it was still 10euros per person.  Then Stefan came back. He did find the auto mechanic who also does bike repair but he didn't have any of the correct tubes. He had a bit of a hard time finding the place until somebody showed him the exact house that the repair shop was in!

Since we could not find accommodation on our own, we tried to call Ovidiu to help us get a room.  He gave us the numbers of 2 other tourist people Vladimir and Vesna (fixers 3 and 4) and we were supposed to call them. Problem was, that we called on Stefan's phone which does not have a roaming plan, so the 2 minute call ended up costing about 7 Euro! And Bruce and Andrea's phone does not have service in Serbia!

Not wanting to use the phone again, Bruce and Andrea went to get an internet connection at one of the local cafes and try and find accommodation that way. We made a reservation at the hotel in town, but we got a message in Serbian (which the waiter translated for us) saying "Your reservation is successful" No more information like cost or anything else. The only thing dissuading us from the hotel was that it was up a massive 12% hill for about 500m - none of us really wanted to do that after the day had already finished. But we needed/wanted a place to stay... so up we went!

But after catching our breath and walking into reception, they hadn't heard of our reservation and reservations were not 20Euro (or the equivalent in dinar)... a room at the hotel is 6500 dinar or about 55 euros! This didn't work for any of our budgets... so Andrea asked the reception desk to discuss with her manager, since we were part of the tourism video crew... and the crew got a good rate so... so should we as part of the cast! It turns out that this plan worked to a point (she called her manager and was willing to lower the price a bit) but it did not get us a room at 20Euros...

At this point, we were all planning on wild camping in the hotel's back yard until the soccer team went in and the Karate team came out in all their belt color glory! We were not going to get away with sneaking up our tent near the playing fields if the kids were practicing there. 

So we discussed our options and then used the hotel wifi to Skype with Ovidiu to find a room or two. He said he would text Stefan's phone in 20 min, which he did, saying "I need more time and free Continental room" and then he showed up at the hotel with ideas.

In the end, he got us accommodation at a local guest house for less than 10 Euro each which is beautiful and the lady was incredibly nice! We met Vladimir (one of the tourism people who we had tried to call earlier) and he introduced us to our host for the night. Only a tiny issue was that her place was 1km out of town (the way we came in). So had to follow her beat up red Yugo from the center of town! Follow the YUGO!!!

Bruce had given Andrea a Cappuccino at the cafe earlier so "follow the Yugo" went to her head and when the Yugo went 15mph uphill Andrea sped after it and lost all of her travel buddies... sorry... she turned around at the end, when they reached the guest house, and noticed no one was there! She had to go back up the hill to find them.

Once in our rooms, our bikes unpacked, we all had showers... got dressed and went back to the fish festival in the dark on unloaded bikes! We met an American Team who got a place to make fish soup along side the other local Serbian teams. Shane, Joe, and Clemen from Brooklyn sailed up on a boat on the Danube and heard there was a fish stew cook off and decided to compete!

The fires burned under big stew pots held up on a tripod stands. The stews were ready for judging at about 9:30 and we got to try some of the many varieties of local catfish stew. We listened to music, drank beer, had a great time and then rode back to our rooms in the even darker night. We had one more beer as a toast to our last night as the Fearsome Foursome!

This blog has been written with the input of all involved in today's shenanigans ...
Note: had to translate "shenanigans" on Stefan's e-translator. 
Second note: Bruce is going to miss his map buddy...

The World is Ours!

Day 37: Ferry to Ram
Friday August 2 - Day 37 - 34miles - Total 1453miles

We had agreed on an early start so we were all up and ready by 8am. Dragan eventually showed up and made us an excellent breakfast - cheese, eggs, whole tomato and bread... a perfect way to start the morning. Frustratingly, Bruce misplaced his second pair of sunglasses on the trip, which leaves him no sunglasses at all. He thought he might have left them at the place with the naked ladies on the wall, but they said they hadn't seen them...  But nicely, Dragan actually gave him a free pair of cheap Chinese ones that were left in the back room of his place. So at least his eyes are protected from bugs, if not from UV radiation. Thank you Dragan!

We went back up the tiny road, past the place with the naked ladies, onto the levee, and back into Dubovac. We were headed for Stara Palanka where we would catch a ferry to the other side of the Danube to stay in Serbia for another day. We made good time as the wind from yesterday afternoon was gone. The last three miles were on a levee that was dirt and a bit rough in places. Cows were out to pasture on the levee... We even had one pose for a picture or two. She was very pretty. 

We reached the ferry at 10:50am but the ferry only runs at 7am, 10am and 1pm (and other afternoon hours that didn't matter to us). So we had to wait 2 hours for the 1pm ferry. Luckily there was a restaurant right at the ferry terminal (terminal is a strong word for a dirt ramp ending in a livid green slime covering the canal at this point). Unluckily, we didn't have much money left. So we had a water and coke whilst waiting and we all wrote postcards to people back home. 

When the ferry arrived about 10 minutes before 1pm, we asked for the check. The small cost of our water and soda wasn't enough obviously for the staff, so we were charged a sitting fee of a euro each!!! The bill came out to 5 Euro! Lesson: Do Not sit at the Restaurant Danube in Stara Palanka without having some cash on you! I just hate being taken advantage of for being a tourist. 

The longer-than-expected ferry trip took us out into the Danube and over to Ram, which had a cool castle on the hill. We ended up paying a higher price for the ferry than the touring cyclist next to us who spoke Serbian. This is definitely a more touristy area  and we are noticing that they will take advantage of tourists... which is sad... but something you have to deal with sometimes. 

There was a steep uphill that practically started at the ferry out of town which was a swift kick in the pants after sitting for 2 hours in the shade and then standing for 20 minutes in the sun on the ferry. After the hill the asphalt surface of the road went to hell! Totally rutted and narrow. Not to mention we were now cycling in the hottest part of the day since we had to wait on the ferry. 

Then we had a downhill onto the causeway to Silbersee. Andrea lost her flipflops for a bit as they had come undone from the back of her bike and almost took out the Yugo that was following her... with the shape that Yugo was in ... I think the flip flops might have won.

Little did we know that a festival was going on Velika Gradiste this weekend - so all ( I mean ALL) the rooms were taken at the Silbersee, where we had planned to stop for the night. So we found the local tourist office and asked for some help. The tourist lady was very helpful and tried to get us rooms. There was one that she found, but it was a room for 4 people, decked out in red satin, up a narrow twisted stairwell, in an non-airconditioned attic... for 10Euros EACH! Let's just say, we thanked everyone who helped us and headed down the road to find a place for the night away from the biggest festival Serbia has seen in the past century. 

We cycled onto Vinci (about 10km down the way) so still a lot of rooms were taken, but we managed to find the local fixer who found us a couple of rooms. In this part of the world, you find the guy who knows everybody and he calls each guest house and private residence that has rooms, to see if they can take you. This guy did his magic and managed to get us a nice pair of rooms for 10Euro per person with a kitchen, a porch, and a hammock. No breakfast and no internet though.  The place looks a lot like Pinewoods with cabins and a lot of tall spindly pine trees. 
 
Andrea and Stefan walked to the shop and got provisions for the night's dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. Rebecca hung their hammock out on the front porch. We had a dinner of ripe tomatoes, old (but still good) bread, and local feta cheese.  The feta cheese took some finagling though... it was actually hidden under the counter at the shop, and we only got access to it after a very nice Serbian/Austrian guy translated what we wanted to the shop owner. The shop owner then took out a big bucket from under the counter and a big knife from the cutting board and carved us a piece of this incredibly salty feta cheese. It was good! 

We all sat up and chatted until about 10pm. 
Have to be out by 9am.          
What a strange world... and it is ours!

The World is Ours!

Day 36: First flat tire and then another
Thursday August 1 - Day 36 - 53miles - Total 1419miles

Woke up after a Rakija filled night, to then stumble down 5 flights of stairs (with a pigeon roosting on floor 4). We bought some food for breakfast and lunch at a little bakery storefront right by the hostel. Stefan and Rebecca went first and bought what they were told were "Jam" filled pastries, but in fact they were actually "Ham" filled pastries.....oops... love those "j"s and "h"s in Slavic English. :)

Back up stairs, we finished packing, stuffed the elevator full again (hoping it wouldn't break or break down under the strain of the stuff of 4 touring cyclists) the guys carried the bikes down the 5 flights of stairs, and we all packed up the bikes in a narrow corridor next to the sneaker store. 
We detoured our route through town slightly so that we could hit up the Post office for stamps to send the postcards we wrote earlier... This is a very large intimidating building, but it turns out that none of the 47 desks could help us...we had to buy stamps in the lobby gift shop... Too strange...

Some Urban cycling skills were in use over the next 20 minutes or so as we screeched downhill through the city and headed out of town. We looped up onto Pancevacki Most (our bridge out of town) which was supposed to have a side walk... which it did... but it only started midway across the 3 lane highway bridge with a 10 inch curb to get up on it... which isn't possible without stopping and lifting your bike up... which we WERE NOT going to do since traffic was whizzing past up at about 60mph (about 95 km/h). Holy shit moment completed, we then had to make a decision whether or not to take a 6 lane highway or a dirt levee for the next 5 miles... We weighed the pros and cons of each and chose the dirt over crazy Serbian city traffic and headed off.  The 5 mile dirt levee started off as a paved little street but then we had to cross green slime ditch with only 2 planks to the other side. Mind you, this was sign-posted by Eurovelo! The rest of the way was bumpy... as dirt tracks tend to be.... but the scenery was nice and we even passed a babushka herding her goats.

We went onto roads into Pancevo and passed some seriously ugly petrochemical factories on the outskirts of town. We stopped for a snack in Omoljica but when we moved on, Andrea's bike didn't feel right. We figured out why quickly, since she had a flat tire! It was caused by a small but pointy little wooden thorn. We pulled over in Banatski Brestovac to fix it and Bruce and Stefan put the bike back together in no time. First flat of the trip.... but not too difficult to fix even though it was the back tire since we don't have a bunch of moving parts due to our Rolhoff gearing. Woo hoo!

We pressed on as the day got hotter. There were stray dogs everywhere...including as roadkill which was very sad! The flat countryside had less than exciting scenery so we pushed onto Kovin, where we thought there might be a place to pick up some supplies... We stopped at a shop to pick up stuff for dinner and tomorrow. Waiting outside, we saw our first two legit donkey carts!!! We are getting closer to Romania!!!

Stefan and Rebecca noticed that Stefan's back tire was getting low, which ended up being a slow flat caused by yet another thorn. Damn! Stefan's flat ended up being a much harder to fix due to modifications to his mountain bike to fit a back rack. Then we noticed that he had the wrong valve on replacement tube. Bruce gave him one of ours, which is the same size. Thankfully we had two replacement tubes. To complicate matters, Stefan's pump had a nasty habit of unscrewing the whole valve body rather than just the pump connector when the tire was inflated. Thus he had to pump up the wheel three times....poor chap! We all had lunch in the shade and patched spare tubes as we worked on his bike. 

The man whose house we were next to finally came out and chatted. He was very nice and even bought us out a chair, although we were just leaving by then. He gave us directions to the bike store in town so we could buy more tubes. Unfortunately when we got there, they only had the right size but with the wrong valve type.....damn!

We headed out of Kovin and started hitting different scenery. We climbed in altitude a bit (not very much but compared to the flatlands it felt a lot!) We got into some rolling grasslands and different crops. Since we had spent more time on bike repairs it was getting later in the day and we started getting a headwind, which made the last few miles of the day harder than they needed to be. We went through Gaj and then really hit some headwinds on the slight incline out of town. Headwinds and hills don't mix....especially later in the day when you have cycled nearly 50 miles already and had 2 flats... 

Fortunately for us, the road turned the corner so the wind changed to a crosswind and it also went downhill into Dubovac. Yay! We saw some recumbent cyclists heading up the hill out of town.They were loaded up, so we don't know where they were heading to that late in the afternoon.
There was meant to be accommodation in town down by the levee that Eurovelo 6 uses. We cycled down there and found the place. It was run by a guy who lived in Austria for 40 years, so Stefan and Rebecca chatted away to him. The place was a bit strange though, as the majority of the decor seemed to be particleboard wainscoting with naked centerfold pictures above. It was also very expensive for the area. They wanted 15Euro each for one night, when we have been getting 5-10euro. 30Euro/room with naked lady pictures on the wall!?! I don't think so!  There was a sign for another place 1km further down the sandbar. We headed down there to check things out (leaving Stefan & Rebecca in case it turned out to be a wasted trip). The ride was beautiful although the road was very bumpy gravel/dirt. We had excellent views of the Danube on one side with houses on the other. After almost exactly one kilometer we were met by Dragan. He runs a basic guest house there at the end of the spit. Andrea checked it out and after agreeing on 10Euro each, we went and fetched Stefan & Rebecca. Once unpacked, we went swimming off the dock in the Danube as the sun set - very refreshing! When we got back, Dragan offered us his "Natural Shower" which was a black rain water barrel with a shower head on it. It was divine and made the bathroom situation much easier later on that night. We made dinner of pasta and zucchini outside on the camp stove... but it got VERY buggy, so we ended up eating our dinner inside, sitting on the stairs as there were only 2 chairs in the house and we are four people. We washed it all down with some local wine that Dragan provided. 

Off to bed on 3 mattresses each! What a day... 

The World is Ours!

Day 35: Bruce's Birthday into Belgrade
Wednesday July 31 - Day 35 -  53miles - Total 1366miles   

We were all packed up early and had muesli and yogurt for breakfast. Bruce had the last remaining piece of chocolate cake from the night before. The hostesses said farewell to us in the courtyard before we opened the gate and cycled out into the streets of Novi Sad by 8.30am.

Stefan led the way through town, as he and Rebecca had gone that way to the fortress yesterday. There are some separated bike lanes in Novi Sad, but they do tend to end abruptly and also have curbs on them. Still, it is a lot better than most cities in the USA!

As we went over the Danube bridge out of town, a street dog started following us, but not in a menacing way. It almost seemed to be protecting us, as it barked at and chased the cars that were passing us. It did follow us quite a way though and it did get close to a number of cars. Hopefully our escort from Novi Sad will be OK.

The official Eurovelo 6 Route takes you out of Novi Sad by the main road to Sremski Karlovci and then up a steep hill on the main road, which has been complained about by other touring cyclists, not just for the steepness, but also the traffic volume and the lack of any place to pull off. None of us fancied cycling this hill, so we detoured around it on a track that we hoped would work! Initially the detour was excellent as it was an asphalt road leading into an industrial zone. However the road turned into a gravel track past the industrial area, although it did stay relatively flat as it paralleled the railway line. However the track disintegrated further as it started climbing. Big mud puddles in it from the rainstorms of the prior night further deteriorated the path. Stefan and Rebecca handled this section really well as they have big gnarly tires on their mountain bikes. We "only" had 1.6" tires so the trail was a little tougher for us! We finally made it through and the trail started improving a bit as it went by a National Park. We were all invited for a beer at 10am by a guy in a Yugo. We politely declined and made it back onto route at the village of Cortanovci. The detour was only 8kms or so, but it seemed a lot longer! We probably climbed the same altitude in total as if we had been on the road, but at least we didn't have to deal with the traffic.

We cycled to the village of Beska and got some snacks at the small shop there. We did some quick route planning of our various options. We could follow the Eurovelo route which is unnecessarily long; follow the main road which might be trafficky but which is a lot shorter; or there appeared to be a compromise option through the village of Novi Karlovci. The three French people from the campsite in Baja Hungary pulled up at this point, so Bruce chatted to them a little.

We tried to take the compromise option and cycled out of Beska, but the road on the map didn't actually exist and was actually just a mud tractor trail.....we reconsidered quickly and decided to follow the main road, especially since the Eurovelo route re-joins the main road after following the Danube closely. We cycled out of Beska (again) and made our way to the main road, Route 22-1.

It was pretty trafficky, but was wider and it had a great surface, so combined with the tailwind and slight downhill, we fairly rocketed into India....yes, the next town was called India (Indija - but the j is pronounced as a y). 

The Eurovelo route rejoined us as we had lunch in Batajnica. We had a chicken sandwich from a small food vendor, but these things were huge! We had no idea when we ordered them. We even struggled to finish them and the fries that were ordered.

We cycled past a military base and took Andrea's photo next to the Mig jet on display. We finally got off the main road, but the route that the Eurovelo takes you on is down some awful cobblestone streets. Now, these weren't even the nice small cobble stones that you can speed over only chipping a few teeth along the way, no... these are the big uneven cobblestones, so when there are gaps in the mortar between them, or a whole stone or two missing, these can be really dangerous for cyclists, as they will eat your front wheel.

Anyhow, we got back to the banks of the Danube and followed the very nice path through a park for the last 3 or so miles into Belgrade. The bridge to cross the Sava river is a busy one and luckily there is a sidewalk. We semi-successfully navigated to the hostel after looking lost. We saw the shoe store that serves as the shared entrance to the "Groovy Nights Hostel", but the problem was that it was across a four lane busy road. This part of Belgrade reminded us of Government Center in Boston - some old buildings remain, but the majority had been bulldozed and a big road driven through the middle. In fact Belgrade so far, hasn't made much of an impression on us. It is actually pretty darn ugly. 

We waited outside of a pawnshop, across the road, while Stefan checked out the hostel. There was an underpass, but it only had stairs so it was going to be tricky getting our bikes across. Stefan finally came back (Rebecca thought that we was already showering!) and it turned out that he had got stuck in the elevator....he was also accompanied by the hostel manager....who we nicknamed Moshi. His actual name was Alexander. He helped us with the bikes through the underpass and he single-handedly lifted Andrea's loaded touring bike up 25 steps in flip-flops!

We unpacked all bikes in the narrow foyer and put everything in the elevator with Andrea and then more with Rebecca...hoping that they wouldn't get stuck either. Stefan and Moshi carried the bikes up the stairs. Bruce tried to help but they wouldn't let him as it was his birthday! 

The hostel was pretty new and actually very nice. There were a lack of showers, as there were only two for the whole hostel (maybe 20 people if it was full) but it wasn't too busy when we got there, so we all showered up and then went walking around Belgrade. We were hoping that something would change our initial impression, but even the main pedestrianized street and Republic Square were both pretty ugly. There were some pretty buildings, but there were rundown. The communists really did a number on this city. We were really happy that we took our rest day in Novi Sad and not in Belgrade.

We had dinner at a pizza place on the pedestrianized street, and it was really good. We ordered risotto and savory crepes and both were delicious. We wandered around a little more to the fortress area and we got some gelato for dessert. Customer service hasn't gotten any better as the girl serving flirted and chatted with the waiters in her restaurant while she had a line of 10 people all wanting gelato....still the gelato was very tasty!

We returned to the hostel, intending on an early night, but the hostel managers were still around and they brought out their homemade Rakija, which they are very proud of. This is the homemade firewater made from plums. We had a glass or two to be polite and it actually wasn't too bad! 

Off to bed!

The World is Ours!

Day 34: Novi Sad and Chocolate Cake
Tuesday July 30 - Day 34 - Rest Day - Total 1313miles

A thunderstorm last night woke us up at 5am. There was some serious thunder and lightning out there, which was very fun to watch and then go back to sleep afterwards... because it is our Rest Day! We slept in late (after the 5am wake up). We woke up to a much cooler day than we have had in a LONG time. But we have to say that it is weird when 85F feels cool... though there was a breeze. We had breakfast in the main hostel kitchen, when another guest and his 14m.o. son came out for breakfast as well. So we had breakfast with Nick and Adam. Nick is actually from New Hampshire and was born in Massachusetts! He has lived in the Czech Republic for the past 10 years and works as a translator. His son Adam was a toe-headed bubbly little boy who made Bruce for the softy he is. Adam was up on Bruce's lap in no time, eating his breakfast and then feeding Bruce the pieces of plum Bruce was trying to feed him. The little boy looked just like Bruce which was funny because even Adam's mother (Nick's wife) commented on it. It was a good morning full of laughs and giggles. 

After breakfast, Stefan and Rebecca went out to go sightseeing in Novi Sad while we stayed in the cool shade and wrote blogs for most of the morning. We wanted to rest our legs and our brains today, so we decided to take it easy and relax. Unfortunately the internet connection at the hostel was on the slow side so it was difficult to upload photos. We went out into town in search of a better wifi signal and whilst walking to the McDonalds came across a local pizza place with free wifi. We stopped there and had a fabulous pizza with a sesame seed crust. We also ordered a Caesar salad, but this came with chicken and bacon and ranch dressing....which Bruce loved!

We posted a couple of blogs and headed back to the hostel. Bruce was complaining that his hair was getting too long, so Andrea trimmed a little bit all around, which was a little disconcerting for Bruce, but it worked out well all round!

As we were writing the next round of blogs the daughter of the hostel owner appeared at the top of the stairs and says she hears that there is a birthday and her mother wants to make a cake!! Do you want fruit or chocolate? Bruce chose chocolate.


When Stefan and Rebecca got "home" we had the watermelon we had bought the day before. After washing our hands and faces from the incredibly drippy watermelon, we planned for tomorrow and booked another hostel for tomorrow night in Belgrade (Bruce's Birthday). 

We had planned to go out for dinner to a fish restaurant that the hostel owner had recommended but no one was particularly hungry (after the water melon) so we hit the grocery store again and stayed in and noshed on bread, feta cheese and tomato (no cucumber). We bought some Macedonian white wine, which wasn't too bad! And took the freshly baked Serbian Chocolate cake out of the fridge to be ready for dessert. 

During dinner, we taught Austrians some good scottish/british words (Numpty, foosty, whilst, yonder) and the austrians keep trying to teach Bruce how to pronounce German words (Brot - bread, knoublauch - garlic, and fumf - five). 

While we were eating and trying to mess with each other's learning of a foreign language a Polish couple arrived (with another baby) on their way back from a Macedonia/Albania trip. We didn't think they would be very talkative (little did we know)... so we continued playing verbal gymnastics. When we opened the beer, we offered some to the Polish couple that just sat down at the common kitchen table. This opened up the flood gates of a very talkative Polish woman, Ivona, who was also a German teacher and learning English as a hobby. She went on and on about anything and everything switching back and forth from English to German, so excited to use her languages and to chat with new people.

Bruce felt really cool when he got to use all of his Polish lines like the one about conjugating the Polish words for juice with voldka, (The zabruwka and apple juice story). He also got to use his story about touring through Europe in a Polish Fiat 500, at which point Stefan called Bruce a Crazy Bastard. Now, getting called a crazy bastard by and Austrian is like being called a numpty by a Scotsman... so it was just perfect. As Bruce says, "He was just jealous. :::wink:::"

We finished dinner, beer, water melon, and Bruce's Chocolate Birthday cake (which was delicious!)
at just about midnight on his Birthday. We all sang Happy birthday in 3 languages at midnight to my husband, each got 3 kisses each from Ivona, and headed off to bed thoroughly rested and exhausted at the same time. 

An early start is going to be hard tomorrow. 
Happy Birthday Bruce!
The World is Ours!