When it’s hot, go underground
We have a short break in Novi Sad feeling very welcomed by our Airbnb host Vešna. I’ve read that we must register at a local police station when we first enter Serbia. We dutifully go to the police station and they seem quite surprised to see us and hear our request/more. After some fluffing around we get ourselves registered. Vešna seems a little surprised; she’s never heard of such a requirement.
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1000km … Can you even ride that far?
I get up early and wander by the river. The sunrise here is just so beautiful. I love the peaceful mornings and watching the world wake up. …
Hot, hot, hot with a roller coaster to get home to Ilok
When staying somewhere interesting I like to get up early and take a walk on my own. It’s my peaceful me time. This morning I leave Neil behind still sleeping and I walk the streets of New Town Osijek as the city wakes up and the people go about their business. It’s a comfortable place. I like it …
Hello Croatia, are you surprised to see us?
The beauty of travelling with only an end point, a vague plan and plenty of time up your sleeve is spontaneity.
The EV6 splits here at Mohács. You can take the ferry back across the river, and head into Serbia, where the route hugs the river all the way around to Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city. Or, you can take temporary leave of the Duna and head south to Udvar, cross into Croatia and go on to Osijek, Croatia’s fourth-largest city, then travel back to the Duna, passing through Vukova on the way to Ilok, where you cross the river to Serbia and join the Serbian arm of the route into Novi Sad.
We have dithered a lot about which route to take. Until last night, we had planned to go the Serbian route. But we changed our minds, because we can. To Croatia we will go!
There is a tiny, irrational part of me that is a little scared of Serbia. …
Eastern Europe is in the grip of a heatwave. We are hot and tired. We call a rest day in Mohács and spend our time trying to stay cool, with a swim at the local pool, a play on a water slide and an evening cruise along the Duna.
Hello air conditioning!
The Hungarian love affair with egg continues at breakfast, with the choice only being, “Which omelette do you want?” Nothing else on the menu. I choose an omelette with plenty of tomato to drown out the egg taste. When cycling, you just cannot skip breakfast.
We leave Hajós and take the road to Baja, rather than retracing our steps back to EV6. We will pick the route back up in Baja. We travel a lovely undulating road, through farmlands and vineyards. A few kilometres from the outskirts of Baja we are hot and hoping for respite, when we happen upon a winery at the side of the road. It looks like what we would recognise as a cellar door, so we pull in to see what we can see. …
Hunting down fine wine
Back in Australia, Neil and I own a small block in central Victoria where we grow grapes and make small amounts of wine. It’s a hobby, as is the drinking of our own and other people’s wine. When we travel we like to visit wine regions, so it is with delight that we read about a detour from EV6 that will take us to Hajós, a wine village. Immediately we both have visions of rolling into a village with wine cellars and restaurants and tastings and all the trappings of the wine tourist industry as we know it.
The EV6 guidebook tempts: “This excursion is an absolute must for anyone who enjoys fine wine. Just about everything about the unique village of Hajós is dedicated to making, selling and enjoying wine. Plan a short stay in Hajós Pincék, where there are certain to be several wine cellars waiting to serve you their best.”
We set out into the gathering heat with anticipation …
Bumping along a Duna dike
This morning as we eat breakfast and pack we meet a German couple who are also cycling in the same direction. As happens, we run into them several times during the day, and each time speak and learn more about them.
They head off before us. It always seems to take us an inordinate amount of time to stuff our few things into the panniers and get ready. We finally leave town, crossing a bridge and following the river quite closely for around 15km. The bike route then veers away from the river and we have a choice: …
Doing the Duna
We don’t leave Budapest until around 1pm today. We are only travelling about 45km to Ráckeve but given that it has been so hot since we left the mountains in Slovakia, it is not a really wise move, as we are leaving at peak heat.
I’ve read accounts of how hair-raising it is to ride in Budapest. …
Rest, relax, refuel, revitalise, recover
At last it is time to relax in what must be the best apartment, with the best view in town. We are on the Pest side of the river. Did you know that the Duna was actually the dividing line between the two cities of Buda and Pest, which were joined by bridges to become Budapest in 1873? The Parliament building is on the Pest side; the Fisherman’s Bastion, Buda Castle and Matthias Church are on the Buda side. We can sit on our Pest-side balcony overlooking the river and admire the beautiful buildings on the Buda side.
During our time in the city – which we extend by a day because our apartment is so lovely, there is so much to do in this city and because our poor bodies are crying out for a break – we eat, we walk, we soak and ‘enjoy’ a massage, we sightsee and we just enjoy the view from our apartment balcony.
