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Cheers John You will love it in the Balkans Wayne Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk while having a cold beer |
Bent bars can be fixed mate , at least you're not broke !!!
Got to agree about local hospitality..................seems to me when traveling solo people want to talk / buy you a coffee :thumbup1: and i'm sure it nawt to do with my good looks :clap: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/...20101218100433 |
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Wayne |
Day 36 Balkans Trip
Day 36 Balkans Trip
My route today was a bit further than planned, Jagodina to Belgrade Day 36 Jagodina to Belgrade |
What a day it turned out to be. Different but great. Yesterday I said that I wasn’t gelling with Serbia like the other countries I have been to. Well today I gelled….quite literally
I was on the road for about 0815hrs and had plotted the route on basecamp to go to the Resava Caves and then on to Smederevo to look at the fortress. https://i.imgur.com/ecVgWXYl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NRGufYSl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/BQN7FQGl.jpg |
On the way to the caves I stopped at the Ravanica Monastery, N43.97267 E21.49698. Very nice it was too. I did not go inside the building as it sounded like they were at prayers.
But it was worth a look. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravanica https://i.imgur.com/O9RTTXWl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2pVJw4Cl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/FPiQZt0l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iqg757Fl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/aIpMWwcl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/vkcSZwgl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/5UrBPbbl.jpg |
The road to the caves was great until about 2 mile from them. It when went to a track which was quite rideable, then it went to rocks, which was still ok if taken slowly with the weight I was carrying. Then it went to a very steep incline with boulders jutting out of the ground (If you look at the Google Earth Elevation you will see how quick it dropped 350 meters). If I had been on my old CRF250X then no problems but with the fully loaded XT, not fun haha. managed to do most of it ok but I locked the back brake and lost it over a boulder. No photo as I said in my Tapatalk entry above as the bike was sliding away from me. Managed to lift the bike up and thankfully it was still in gear. I stopped at the caves and the bars were out….more later
The Caves, the guy there spoke no English at all and my Serb-Croat is very limited so in the end I didn’t go in. They are very long and I didn’t have time to go around it all anyway but it would have been nice to pop my head in Resavska Pećina cave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resava_Cave https://i.imgur.com/wEQLdxwl.jpg The Cave Entrance https://i.imgur.com/IQLB9NDl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lxLWNsgl.jpg |
Once I left the Caves I took a slow ride no where…I was trying to find somewhere to get the bike looked at. I stopped at Despotovac and had a coffee. I gave the bike a closer inspection. To me it looked like the bolts that go through to fasten the bar clamps to the head were bent. Nothing doing in Despotovac, or so I thought, on the outskirts I rode past a car place with a bike outside it. A quick turn around and I went back. Very helpful. He wasn’t a bike mechanic but knew one, an hour later this bloke turned up and I followed him to his work shop which was a bout 300 meters further down the road. He took the bolts out and one of them was bent, he took it inside the workshop, brought it out straight and it was fitted back on the bike. All sorted. He wouldn’t take any money but I gave him enough to get himself and his guys some Pivo
https://i.imgur.com/AuGjiLil.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Yl352nNl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/DngY8R1l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lMxJCodl.jpg The Mechanics Back on the road to Smederevo to see the Fortress. |
On my way through Velika Plana I saw a bikers cafe. So it would have been rude not to stop for yet another coffee. I got talking to a biker sat outside and he kindly paid for my brew.
I met some great people today. https://i.imgur.com/DNEU9XZl.jpg Just before I got to Velika Plana I crossed a bridge which was single lane traffic only and was shared with the trains. Thats a first for me https://i.imgur.com/rlZ68BRl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/UzOMlhdl.jpg |
The road was great and I got there in no time at all.
I went straight to the Fortress. It had seen better days but was still good to see. It had a commanding view over the River Danube. The inside is now a park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smederevo_Fortress https://i.imgur.com/TvjQWiOl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/CjFEjaal.jpg https://i.imgur.com/rUvincel.jpg https://i.imgur.com/cEWXe19l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/7KWHBFsl.jpg One of the cannon ports https://i.imgur.com/EbGGL20l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WTDCko4l.jpg A good view of the Danube from the fortress https://i.imgur.com/PkzOCuKl.jpg I then went into the town centre, had a brew and contemplated what I was doing next. There was a nice church in the Town Square https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smederevo https://i.imgur.com/MYYfy7Il.jpg https://i.imgur.com/4J0qMjNl.jpg Some other stuff in the Town Square https://i.imgur.com/21WyVq7l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/QQHrnqAl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/mmhzRaQl.jpg |
I rode around for a bit but could not find a room so I decided to head towards Belgrade where I have an Airbnb book for tomorrow night. Nothing available on route so I ended up in Belgrade. Never mind it will be a short ride tomorrow.
The night sky on the way to Belgrade https://i.imgur.com/SjyQcIgl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/v3bgVF1l.jpg I have tomorrow and the day after in Belgrade then I will be continuing to push North Wayne |
Day 37 Balkans Trip
Day 37 Balkans Trip
Local in Belgrade Set off from the hotel at about 0900hrs. Day 37 Belgrade |
I went to do a recce of where I was going to be staying for the next two nights. Once I had found it I went deeper in to the city centre.
Had a good ride around and found a nice square filled with cafe bars. Sat and had a coffee whilst I waited to hear that my Airbnb place was ready. Not a bad place to stay. The price is good, two nights for a price cheaper than my hotel last night. Some of the Architecture is nice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrade https://i.imgur.com/h6ibHfNl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/lSzgkwfl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/u9RIs20l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/kiWW8KRl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/SnebSjCl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZyrPlWAl.jpg The apartment https://i.imgur.com/dIqLONDl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/DCDNnrWl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/mBw7nisl.jpg Tomorrow I am going into the city for a walkabout and hopefully go and have a look at the Fortress Wayne |
Day 38 Balkans Trip
Day 38 Balkans Trip
Had a good few hours out today and walked about 4 miles. I got the bus in to the city centre and went and had a look around Belgrade Fortress, it’s very big, there is a lot to see and the inner of the Fortress is a park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrade_Fortress https://i.imgur.com/YilGDJol.jpg https://i.imgur.com/vgCHcIsl.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/ZjgJdiEl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gWfLRVYl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gtCHdjbl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/FTRke3Yl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/jpi6sDxl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/5QqPi9sl.jpg |
From there I went back in to the main shopping area for a look around and then instead of getting the bus back I walked back to where I am staying. I had a few Coffee and Slivo stops on the route.
https://i.imgur.com/4VN8YqWl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/3oN5jVBl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/IKnTaMnl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/c3UNR0Il.jpg https://i.imgur.com/qgzBecYl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/pNUNZjUl.jpg Tomorrow I am going further north and into Hungary Wayne |
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