Previous page
Back to the 2009 index page


Serbia


Here's a river which I haven't seen for a while: the Danube, or Dunav as it's called here. It forms ... The railway bridge across the Danube. Serbia has got off to a good start with these cycle route signs. The first thing I saw as I reached ... I didn't have to come far into Serbia to see horse-drawn carts. There were several in the first vill... This region seems a lot poorer than the region of Croatia which I have just left, which was why this... Odzaci. I followed this tractor for about 20 minutes. Since the wind is generally out of my control, I recko... A few years ago, I entered Romania in a very poor region with horse-drawn vehicles all over the plac... Tonight's hotel is extremely plush. I think this room might count as a suite. It took me while to wo... This hotel is called the Panorama, although the view is probably the least impressive thing about it... Downtown Novi Sad. I phoned the British embassy this morning and they told me to to to see the touri... Another view of Novi Sad. I wonder if that's meant to be called New Nork. The fortress at Novi Sad, seen across the Danube. An old part of the town. The old road from Novi Sad to Belgrade goes through this building. There are bike signs pointing to ... A view across the Danube's flood plane from a high spot. On the left is one of the signs for the Danube cycle route, which gnerally seems to go by its German... There are two tings which have surprised me about Serbia. One is how many signs are in English, espe... A pallet of water being taken down the road. This was the old school building in Beska. Shops in Beska. Each one has a bead curtain in the doorway with coloured beads forming a single word... An ice cream stop in Surduk. This junction was a bit confusing because the tarmac goes round the corner but the while line carrie... This is the second time I have crossed this motorway. The first time, it looked like it was closed a... Boats in Belgrade. I was able to use a cycle path through this park to pass New Belgrade. You can hire these pedal-driven contraptions. Little roller-coaster rides. The first of several bouncy castles along the cycle path. A view of the old part of Belgrade from the cycle path. You may have noticed that I've started keepi... That bottom name seems to have Planck's constant in it. Belgrade. Belgrade. On the left is the confluence of the Sava and the Danube. From the bridge across the Sava The Foreign Office say I shouldn't express an opinion about this while I'm here. A few pictures of the hotel now. This is the lobby and restaurant. The stairwell. The view from the stairs. Here's my room. This is the Design Hotel Mr President. "Design Hotel" just seems to mean i... The Serbian version of <i>Countdown</i> uses Cyrillic letters.<br><br>I haven't got a replacement fo... Belgrade at sunset. A traffic wardern. Another view from my window. These new trousers seem pretty good. They fit better than the old ones, which had become a little lo... Belgrade. Some official-looking building in Belrade. In any Serbian town, you're never far from an ice cream. Sorry it's a bit blurry but I wanted to get a picture of the domed St. Sava's Cathedral. The only wa... Still in Belgrade. I'm afraid I don't really know what anything is around here. An impressive post office. They seem keen on keeping the pavements clean in Belgrade. I saw a few cleaning machines from the ho... Belgrade. Belgrade. Nikole Pasica Square. I thought I would include this as an example of signs in Cyrillic Serbian and in English. Sometimes,... I'm nominating this as my picture of a Serbian flag. Twice today, I was passed by groups of cars ho... An example of a rubbish dump. You get a few of these scattered around the place. The Pancevacki Bridge. A Danube barge. The barge on the right is full of dirt which I assume it has dredged out of the river. It's pouring ... Today's route would pass a lot of marshy ponds like this. Somebody obviously thought this one was wo... I'm following the Danube cycle path again. There are no signs on today's section yet but I downloade... I didn't have the facility to print the description of the cycle route so I'm having to check it on ... The park in Pancevo seems to have been designed primarily to provide lots of space to sit down in th... It appears that there is going to be a carnival soon in Pancevo, possibly this weekend. Somebody is ... The square in Pancevo also has a lot of space to sit down, although not always in the shade. I had noticed yesterday that drinking fountains were often found in parks and squares. No need to bu... Yet another fairground. A canal at Ivanovo. The afternoon was a few more hours of this. I passed a couple of turtles. This one put on a surprising burst of speed when it heard me coming. O... A suspension bridge for pipes. There are several oil and gas installations around here. One refinery... The last view of the Danube, featuring another part of the pipeline bridge. In Smederevo. Nis, to the left, is where I hope to be in two days. I don't have much idea what the t... The square in Smederevo. Here is the bike locked up outside the Hotel Car, although even in Cyrillic, I don't know what that ... Today's weather isn't what I have been used to recently. I had always imagined having to do this par... Today is going better than I had expected. I thought today's road might be hard to find because one ... This is the first car like mine that I've seen for a long time. Industrial Serbia. Two things here. Firstly, haystacks like the ones in Romania. Farm machinery has been becoming progr... I don't know why the town of Jagodina would get many tourists but it seems to be expecting them. The Foreign Office website warned that rabies is common in Serbia. I have passed a lot of dogs today... I haven't shown you any cemeteries for a while so instead here is one of the boards which are used f... Two unusual buildings in Paracin. After a while, I noticed that the building on the right was a hote... This is how close you have to get to the hotel to see that it is indeed the Petrus. View from the window. Having got here early, I went into town to do some shopping and was surprised,... Just a wiggly roof. Paracin in the rain. There are two bike shops here, almost next to each other, one of which also sel... Sorry, I'm afraid I do have a strange fascination with number plates. I saw one like this yesterday ... This little section of the road climbing through the valley with the motorway alongside reminded me ... Fields and the motorway. The ground is becoming a bit undulating now. Given what a short ride today's is, it would be surpris... Another view. There was a pig snuffling around at the side of the road but before I could photograph... Another view. View. View. This is the bus station in Nis. Tonight's hotel's website gave directions which told me to start fro... Near Nis bus station. The river Nisava in Nis. The fortress, and an ice cream stand, of course. Another view of the Nisava. I was going to have a walk around the town taking more photographs after... My bike sporting its new lock, parked upside-down to prevent it falling onto the cars. The hotel lat... A view of the Nis riverside now that the sun has come out again. A well-stocked fruit stall that I spotted while waiting at traffic lights. The village of Jelasnica. I'm taking the hilly back road for the first part of today because the val... The soil is quite red here. When I took this picture, I thought it was an amazing view. I'm not so sure now. On the left is one of those handy water fountains. This is the road I've come up. View near the top. This is the road I will be going down. It reminds me of parts of Colorado. The sun is shining and I'... Here is the main Serbia-Bulgaria road which I had been anxious about joining. It doesn't look that b... Another view of the road. The first sign I've seen for Istanbul. What traffic there is on this road is mainly foreign vehicles... Just a view. The colours look good today after two dreary overcast days. This chap must know a short cut because I've overtaken him once and now he's in front of me again. I... Stock being transported at the Tigar tyre plant. This will be that rubber manufacturer that was ment... Bikes form a major part of the traffic in Pirot. After about an hour searching the Web last night, I finally convinced myself that the Hotel Stara, w... The start of the climb. There's the rain, on the left. It would catch me as I was climbing this hill but, to my surprise, wo... Pirot seen from half-way up the hill. The climb is turning out to be easier and quicker than I had e... After just an hour and a half, I've reached the hotel at an altitude of 1080 metres. The hotel includes this trophy room. I think it's used by the Tigar Tyres sports team. The hotel. I'm rather glad I came up here. Pirot was quite a grotty town and the reviews I had heard... An interesting piece of plumbing.<br><br>The television here is amazing. I don't know how many chann... This device in the bathroom sounds intriguing. "taster" seems to be Serbo-Croat for "... One more view of the road to the Hotel Stara, this time on the way down.<br><br>Hotels' attitudes to... Back down in the valley. The white things in the middle distance on the left are sheep. The main street in Dimitrovgrad, the last town in Serbia. My map shows that the last few kilometres of road to the border are a motorway, which was confirmed ... I don't know if this was once the proper road to the border. It's hard to imagine lorries going roun... That will be Bulgaria then. Getting out of Serbia was easy. I gave the border guards my passport and...