Novi Sad to Belgrade, Serbia — 46.6 mi, 13.9 mph, 1670 ft
Today was the last biking day, and we were on the road before 9:00. I thought it was cool to see the road sign to our final destination, Beograd (Belgrade), in Cyrillic letters. It takes a little work to decipher them, but I, fortunately, remember some of my Greek letters from math and physics.
All in all, today was a great ride. There was a nice three-mile climb early on, so we got to work up a good sweat, but we also had a nice tailwind. I often prefer a few hills to help vary the pace and allow you to use different muscles. And, of course, you get some downhill reward afterward. Kylie and I just managed to hit 40 mph.
Lunch stop in Batajnica
Serbia is definitely a little rougher around the edges than we’ve seen so far. The infrastructure — roads, sidewalks, and buildings are in visible need of maintenance. This was clearly obvious as we came into the city. Many of the cement high rises were black with soot and age and the cement was literally crumbling on some of the buildings. There is also a huge graffiti problem, which really adds to the look of neglect — the entire place could use a fresh coat of paint.
We crossed the Danube one last time and made our way across the wide busy street in front of the bus station to the Belgrade City Hotel. I had specifically chosen a four-star hotel because we wanted a place with a bit higher level of service, in this case, so they would receive and store our bike suitcases before we arrived. That, of course, turned out not to be necessary.
Meg and I locked the bikes in the courtyard parking area behind the hotel while Dex and Kylie dragged the panniers up to our third-floor suite. It was a bit dark and drab but had two AC wall units and two TV. We were quickly sucked into a women’s indoor volleyball tournament, US vs. Brazil.
For dinner, we walked a mile up the hill to what turned out to be a much nicer part of town. Suddenly the buildings were clean and maintained and the narrow graffiti-covered roadways made way to a pleasant set of wide, bricked walking streets with outdoor restaurant seating. We found the Mexican food restaurant we were looking for and concluded our Hearts tournament (I either won or lost depending since I landed exactly on 100). As we left the restaurant (for ice cream across the street), Meg was giddy with excitement. The wind and dark clouds gave way to pelting drops of rain. Thunderstorms are awesome, even more so when we’re not on the bikes!
Off the bikes!
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