Cycling Baja, Hungary to Novi Sad, Serbia: Three Days, Three Countries
20 - 22 September 2019
Baja, Hungary to Suza, Croatia (20 September 2019, 89.5 km, 55.6 mi)
Our route today continued southward out of Baja, along the Danube River. The first challenge was getting back to the EuroVelo 6 route from Baja’s town square. There isn’t any bike access to the path from the south end of town. (Well, actually, there was a long flight of stairs down to the river, but we decided backtracking would be easier.) That meant we had to head north to the city beach, where there was a ramp down to the river. Luckily it didn’t take very long and it only added about a kilometer to the ride.
Pretty soon we were back on the levee, where we cycled along a quiet, narrow branch of the Danube that was popular with fishermen.
A serene setting for fishing. Near Baja, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Many touring cyclists don’t use kickstands. They just prop up their bikes against any wall or pole they can find, or they lay their bikes down on the ground when not in use. One reason is that most kickstands were not designed to support the weight of heavily-loaded bicycles. And if you buy a heavy-duty kickstand, it adds a lot of additional weight to the bike. We’ve both had a kickstand break while on this trip. But we’ve also come to really appreciate the convenience of having a tripod kickstand that allows you to park your bike upright, just about anywhere. Once you’ve gotten used to having a kickstand, it’s hard to go without one for very long.
When my first kickstand broke back in France, we replaced it with a heavy-duty kickstand designed for e-bikes. Unfortunately, it weighs 2.6 lbs. But it’s really solid, and I can park my bike anywhere. PedalingGuy has been riding on a lighter kickstand that he bought in the UK, but today that kickstand bit the dust. We hopped off our bikes to take a photo along the levee early in the day. And when PedalingGuy went to put down his kickstand, one of the legs just snapped off at one of the joints. That was the end of the kickstand. We hoped we could get another just down the road, when we reached the town of Mohács.
That’s the end of kickstand #2 for PedalingGuy. It just snapped when he went to put the legs down for a photo stop. Dunafalva, Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
We have seen a lot of Common Buzzards along the EuroVelo 6 route across Europe. But this one was especially cool because we caught sight of it just as it caught a mouse. Hungary. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Unfortunately, we had a navigation hiccup along the way. We over-shot the turn to the Mohács ferry. I started to worry when the mileage got to be around 37 km (the turn was supposed to be at 34 km). Sure enough, when we checked the map, we had missed the turn. So we found ourselves backtracking for the second time today - this time for about 3 km.
When we finally got to the ferry at a little after 11am, it was loading for an 11:10 departure. But we didn’t realize we had to buy our tickets at a booth on land rather than on the ferry, which is more common. When we tried to board, they asked for our ticket, but we didn’t have one. So we had to scurry back up the river bank, figure out which of the nearby buildings had the ticket booth, buy our tickets, and hustle back to the ferry before we could board. That took just enough time that we missed the ferry. It departed literally moments before we made it back to the dock.
Adding insult to injury, the ferry had only drifted a couple of feet offshore when it had to stop and wait for a cargo barge to pass. So the ferry sat there, barely a meter off of the dock, while we stood watching it from the shore. If we didn’t have bikes, we could have easily jumped across the gap. We wondered why the ferry captain didn’t just wait an extra minute for us to board. But he didn’t. So we hung out by the river for a half hour until the ferry returned.
We caught the next ferry across. On board we met a German couple who were cycling a loop from Germany, through Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and now returning via Hungary. They planned to catch a train home from Budapest. They told us that they particularly enjoyed cycling through Serbia, so we have something to look forward to.
In Mohács, the first thing we did was look for a bike shop. Amazingly, we found one open, and it was pretty close to where Google maps said it would be. That’s kind of a miracle. Google’s usefulness in small European towns has been pretty hit-or-miss. And, even better luck, they had a kickstand that fit PedalingGuy’s bike. It’s not quite as sturdy as the one that just broke, but it cost less than $10. So if it lasts long enough to get us to the Black Sea, that will be fantastic. PedalingGuy only had to go a few hours without a kickstand. Not too bad.
From there we headed south to the Croatian border. I was a bit obsessed with the fact that we had to get an exit stamp when leaving Hungary, to prove we had only been in the Schengen Visa Zone for 65 days. Without that exit stamp, we could potentially have trouble if we wanted to enter another Schengen visa country in the next 115 days. So we were very focused on getting our stamp at that border crossing.
But where, exactly was the border? We were going to cross at a relatively out-of-the-way checkpoint, and we were concerned that it might be so informal that we wouldn’t get our stamp. First, we passed some police by the side of the road who were stopping vehicles headed the other way, into Hungary. Was that the border? A short distance past them, we stopped to check our map. No, it was still ahead. Whew.
Then we passed a place where trucks crossing the border had to queue up, but cars and bikes went past without a check. Was that the border? There was a gas station across the street, so we went over there thinking it might have a checkpoint. PedalingGuy went inside and asked about the border. Nope, this wasn’t it. The border was still about a kilometer away. Okay, we should probably not worry so much.
When we finally reached the border, the Hungarian immigration agent was amused that we were from the USA. He apparently doesn’t see many American’s at this crossing, and the fact that we were on bikes was also unusual. He was particularly informal for a border crossing agent - joking with PedalingGuy about America - and seemed to enjoy talking with us. We got our exit stamp from Hungary, and an entry stamp for Croatia. Yea! There was even a “Welcome to Croatia” sign. All’s well.
Welcome to Croatia! Croatia turned out to be one of the most welcoming countries we passed through. The main border, and every little town, had big signs welcoming travelers - sometimes in as many as six languages. Draz, Croatia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Since we are now outside of the Euro Zone, we have to deal with the hassle of every country having it’s own currency. But it can be nearly impossible to exchange money between local currencies in Eastern Europe - only euros or US dollars transfer easily across borders. Yet most countries in Eastern Europe are predominantly cash based, with many businesses unable to accept credit cards (especially in the smaller towns). That had us counting our money to try and use up everything we had before leaving a county, and then trying to immediately find an ATM to get cash in the local currency upon entering a new country.
The part of Croatia we entered after crossing the border was sparsely populated. We passed a few tiny towns, but none of them had ATMs. Not so good. We had absolutely no cash (having used our last Hungarian forints to pay for the ferry), and we were worried that the campground where we wanted to stay would not take credit cards. When we reached the town of Batina, not far from Suza, we stopped at a mini-mart to ask about an ATM. The cashier laughed at our hope there would be a ATM nearby, and told us the first one would be found about 15 km down the road, well past Suza. We could only hope that the campground took credit.
When we got to the campground, there wasn’t anyone there. We called a phone number posted at the entrance, and spoke with someone who assured us we could pay with a credit card. We were very relieved.
Right after that, three German cyclists rode up. They have been cycling along the Danube since the beginning of August. When they reach Belgrade in a couple of days, they will be heading back home. The number of touring cyclists out on the road has been steadily dwindling, and the few bikers that are left (besides us) all seem to have come from Germany.
The campground is tiny. Our tent, plus the three others, take up most of the available spots. Once again we were surprised that most of the trees in the campground were fruit trees, and the ground was littered with small plums. Some were dried out, but most of them were still moist and squishy. We spent about 20 minutes clearing an area the size of our tent footprint, tossing little, smashed plums into a corner away from all the tents. It was a laborious process, but when we were done, we had a nice, tidy spot for our tent.
The bathroom at the campground was great. The shower didn’t leak all over the floor, which is a surprisingly rare feature. And the building was even heated. What a luxury. In addition, they had a little kitchen area, with a sink and hot plate. We used it to cook up some rice with a packet of Mexican seasoning and tuna. That, with a banana for dessert, was all we needed. A pesky kitten that seemed to make its living by begging for scraps in the picnic area kept us busy, chasing him away from our stuff all evening.
Mexican rice and tuna for dinner. The perfect end to a great day of cycling. Suza, Croatia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
After dark, a Tawny Owl was calling in the playground right next door. There was also another, stranger sound - like a very unhappy animal. Maybe there were young owls begging or calling for their parents. We’re not sure what it was. But it was a little bit eerie, wailing in the dark.
Suza to Vukovar (21 September 2019, 75.2 km, 46.7 mi)
We were up with the sun, and ready to shove off. But we hadn’t paid for our campsite yet. The manager had stopped by the campground the evening before. But at that time we were in the shower. So we never connected with him.
I called the manager at the phone number that was posted on the campground gate, and it turned out that he’s also the proprietor of a restaurant that’s just up the road from the campground. Luckily he was already there. We biked 50 m up the road, and paid for our stay via credit card at the restaurant. It all worked out great.
Sadly, our quiet back-roads from yesterday became just a memory. The ride today was almost all on roads that were shared with cars, with little or no shoulder. There were only a couple of brief sections were we were on a bike/pedestrian path next to the road. The vehicle traffic was often moving very fast, and was fairly heavy. We’ve found that driving cultures vary a lot. Sometimes people will all slow down and only pass when it’s safe. Other times, drivers just plow ahead, passing at high speeds hoping for the best, even when there’s oncoming traffic. Croatians along the Danube fall into the latter category. We had a couple of big busses and fast moving cars come uncomfortably close to us today. We were always glad when the road entered towns, where the traffic speeds were slower.
Once again, we had our breakfast sitting on our camp chairs, outside of a small grocery store where we bought a few items to eat. There just aren’t any benches or parks near the stores.
Having breakfast in our camp chairs on the quiet side of the supermarket. For a while now, we haven’t had any luck finding benches or picnic tables near the stores. Knezevi Vinogradi, Croatia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
We had some fun with art along the route today. It turns out that the town of Bilje, Croatia, has a strong tradition of building straw sculptures. And they even host a Straw Art Festival each August. In nearby Lug, we stopped to admire a straw sculpture of an over-sized heron. Later in the day we just had to stop and pose for photos with a very big, colorful rooster on the lawn in front of a restaurant. You never know what you’ll see along the side of the road!
In the village of Bilje, where they hold the straw sculpture festival, we stopped for an ice cream break. And we were very pleased that right next door to the shop where we bought the ice cream, was a church with a small park and benches out front. Nice. We relaxed for a little while on one of the benches, enjoying the chance to sit for a change while on our rest break.
Benches by the church in Bilje, Croatia provided a welcome chance to sit and rest. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Did I mention that Croatian counties and towns are particularly friendly? Even small villages had signs welcoming travelers in multiple languages. Erdut, Croatia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
During the civil wars that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia, fighting was especially intense along the Danube River, including some of the areas that we rode through today. Much of the damage has been repaired, but there were occasional signs of the conflict visible along the way. We passed a couple of abandoned gas stations on the highway that were pock-marked with bullet holes. In the city of Osijek, we rode by several buildings that had bullet and mortar holes in them, still waiting to be repaired. And as we approached the city of Vukovar, where we spent the night, we passed a particularly poignant brick tower that was still standing, but battered by mortar from the war. We wondered what the tower had been used for before it was destroyed.
Vukovar represents both the progress made in reconstruction so far, and its limitations. The city was nearly destroyed in the fighting. Now, 25 years after the end of the war, most of the buildings have been repaired. And they have rebuilt a lively commercial area along the city’s waterfront, with lots of shops, restaurants and a movie theater. Yet the city is still recovering. We noticed that there were still a few bullet holes visible in the facade of our hotel. And in many ways the Croatian and Serbian residents live separate lives.
We enjoyed strolling around the streets of Vukovar’s waterfront, and wish the city well as it continues to chart a new future.
Feeling the love for Vukovar, Croatia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Vukovar, Croatia to Novi Sad, Serbia (22 September 2019, 86.5 km, 53.8 mi)
Departing Vukovar, we passed an unusual and thought-provoking sight. A gigantic water tower that was damaged during the Yugoslavian civil wars has been left standing as a monument to Vukovar’s resistance to a siege by the Serbian army. The siege lasted for three months, during which the water tower was hit by more than 600 mortar shells, but didn’t fall. Croatians didn’t want to see it demolished after it had withstood all that firepower. So it is now being restored as a war memorial.
A water tower becomes a war monument. The tower withstood bombardment from more than 600 mortar shells during the siege of Vukovar. Croatia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
Over the first two kilometers on our ride out of Vukovar, we climbed up onto a plateau that rose from 30-60 m above the Danube River. But the plateau was not all level. A series of rivers cut through the plateau on their way to the Danube. As we crossed each of the tributaries, we soared down quick descents then shifted into our lowest gears for the slow, steep ascents on the far side.
And we can’t forget to mention the apples. Acres and acres of apples. Although we’ve passed through some other apple-producing regions, especially in Austria, they were not nearly as extensive as the orchards in this part of Croatia. There were endless rows of apple trees up on the plateau. And they were laden with plump, red and green apples. Harvesting has begun, so there were also lots of dumpster-sized crates filled to the brim with fresh apples. It was very impressive.
We passed a few more straw sculptures today, including this wooly mammoth. It was joined by a straw wooly rhino and a straw cave hyaena on a lawn in Ilok, Croatia. The statues commemorate the recent discovery of fossils of these creatures in the village. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
At 39 km we crossed the Danube, leaving Croatia behind and entering Serbia. The Croatian border agent didn’t ask us any questions at all. The Serbian officer just asked where we had come from, and where we were headed. It was wonderfully quick, and easy. With our arrival in Serbia, we’ve now visited 11 countries since February.
It just keeps getting bigger and bigger. The Danube River crossing between Ilok, Croatia and Backa Palanka, Serbia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
11 countries since February! Backa Palanka, Serbia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
We stopped for lunch at a gas station outside of Backa Palanka. Our first impression is that Serbian groceries are not, unfortunately, going to be much more inspiring than the Croatian ones were. No chocolate milk. Too bad.
But wait, there was one big plus. The gas station had a picnic area outside where we could sit and enjoy our meal with a table and chairs. That’s something we’ve missed for quite a while. We settled in at one of the tables, looking forward to a relaxing lunch. Just us… and a small hoard of yellow-jackets. They were very intrigued by our peanut butter and jelly. We tried to entice them away from us by leaving an open jar of jelly on a different table, but they didn’t really go for it. They seemed to find my yellow biking jersey particularly appealing. I spent half of my lunch wandering around away from the tables, trying to escape the pesky bees.
After 54 km on busy roads with fast-moving traffic, the route thankfully went back onto the levee bordering the Danube. Although much of the levee was also paved, the car traffic was very light. And as we got close to Novi Sad, Serbia, it became a pedestrian-only path. It was wonderful to be off the busy roads, and we really started to appreciate the levees.
After a long day of biking, we finally arrived in Novi Sad in the early evening. We stayed in a hotel close to the city center that was a really good value. The room was very spacious, and the internet was better than we’ve had in a while.
Our bikes got to stay in the secure, underground garage. It was accessed via a car elevator - always an entertaining ride. Novi Sad, Serbia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
As the sun was setting, we went out to walk around the central part of the city. Novi Sad has a very lively old town. It was a pleasantly warm evening, and there were lots of people out walking around. The city had a healthy, vibrant feel to it.
The Bishop’s Palace glows warmly in the evening light. Novi Sad, Serbia. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.
