After a good meal with a lot of meat and a good night of sleep, I got up at this rather cloudy day. I did not rain yet, apparently I drove away from it.
After breakfast out of my bag (pension here means just a bed), I took wolter and went south. It turned out I got very lucky with the wind the first 70 km of the day were like flying. For a change the sound of wolters tires was a lot louder than the wind in my ears. With an average speed 26+ km/h I impressed myself. And so I rode one the main road through a couple of Serbian villages. In the distance the air looked foggy, only it was smoke. The farmers all around burnt the remains of the harvested fields and the wind nourished the fire well and drove it over the fields. It was a weird atmosphere with the smoke and this smell of bonfire in the nose all the time. Memories called be this familiar sent of burned wood and the uncommon, slightly disturbing visuals collided.
Half way through this 70km in a small village, while making what was intended to be a small break for drinking and reloading some sugars, Dobrivoj crossed my path, asked where I'm from, and started a conversation the Basel football club , meeting Real Madrid switching from english to french while searching for words. He pointed out a small bar where we should meet for a coffee after he, took care of some quick busyness. A couple of minutes later he joined me there. He told me that he was a interpreter for the UN during the war. The conversation was popping between football, to the conflicts during the 90ies to family and back... And forth. In between there was a summary of the history of (ex) Jugoslavia. After and hour org so, a couple of cigarettes and too much coffee we went about our own busyness and ways again. Quite a character Mr. Dobryvoj (meaning "good man"). I was glad having met him.
In Backa Palanka, after this 70km, there was a running competition for kids, probably 1st to 9th grade. These kids running through town and cheering friends and parents, plus the sun comming out, gave my smoky impressions a new spin. It was fun to watch. Some gave it all, the older teenagers were walking while beeing as cool as possible. Hehe...
The last 40 km I went rode along closely the Duna again. The track one the dike was divers with it surfaces and some parts were a bit bumpy, perfect to complete the day. The effort was about the same but I'm convicted, that it was essentially the wind that made me go 6ter km/h slower. Wolter and me are by now very accomplished dealing with rougher terrain, actually we like it. on the other side the Duna I could see what we will soon face: hills and mountains... Couldn't make out any snow... Perfect.
While riding through the suburbs of Novi Sad, there where a couple of cows on the promenade. The had a short leash between the front legs, forcing them to make small steps. In Poland they had some kind of anchor they'd ram in the soil to chain the cows to it. Where I grew up, they use electric fences to stop the animals from running away. Interesting...
The city turned out to, be bigger that I pictured it. I quickly found myself a hostel and by the time I went out looking for something to eat, well... there. was the rain...
Finding a bar was not so easy. Most of the bars where sport bars where you can place bets. Not really my genre. Then I found this bar full of books. Nice. No wireless internet though. I will have to shoot this post through the ether yet somwhere else.
After breakfast out of my bag (pension here means just a bed), I took wolter and went south. It turned out I got very lucky with the wind the first 70 km of the day were like flying. For a change the sound of wolters tires was a lot louder than the wind in my ears. With an average speed 26+ km/h I impressed myself. And so I rode one the main road through a couple of Serbian villages. In the distance the air looked foggy, only it was smoke. The farmers all around burnt the remains of the harvested fields and the wind nourished the fire well and drove it over the fields. It was a weird atmosphere with the smoke and this smell of bonfire in the nose all the time. Memories called be this familiar sent of burned wood and the uncommon, slightly disturbing visuals collided.
Half way through this 70km in a small village, while making what was intended to be a small break for drinking and reloading some sugars, Dobrivoj crossed my path, asked where I'm from, and started a conversation the Basel football club , meeting Real Madrid switching from english to french while searching for words. He pointed out a small bar where we should meet for a coffee after he, took care of some quick busyness. A couple of minutes later he joined me there. He told me that he was a interpreter for the UN during the war. The conversation was popping between football, to the conflicts during the 90ies to family and back... And forth. In between there was a summary of the history of (ex) Jugoslavia. After and hour org so, a couple of cigarettes and too much coffee we went about our own busyness and ways again. Quite a character Mr. Dobryvoj (meaning "good man"). I was glad having met him.
In Backa Palanka, after this 70km, there was a running competition for kids, probably 1st to 9th grade. These kids running through town and cheering friends and parents, plus the sun comming out, gave my smoky impressions a new spin. It was fun to watch. Some gave it all, the older teenagers were walking while beeing as cool as possible. Hehe...
The last 40 km I went rode along closely the Duna again. The track one the dike was divers with it surfaces and some parts were a bit bumpy, perfect to complete the day. The effort was about the same but I'm convicted, that it was essentially the wind that made me go 6ter km/h slower. Wolter and me are by now very accomplished dealing with rougher terrain, actually we like it. on the other side the Duna I could see what we will soon face: hills and mountains... Couldn't make out any snow... Perfect.
While riding through the suburbs of Novi Sad, there where a couple of cows on the promenade. The had a short leash between the front legs, forcing them to make small steps. In Poland they had some kind of anchor they'd ram in the soil to chain the cows to it. Where I grew up, they use electric fences to stop the animals from running away. Interesting...
The city turned out to, be bigger that I pictured it. I quickly found myself a hostel and by the time I went out looking for something to eat, well... there. was the rain...
Finding a bar was not so easy. Most of the bars where sport bars where you can place bets. Not really my genre. Then I found this bar full of books. Nice. No wireless internet though. I will have to shoot this post through the ether yet somwhere else.
