oh serbia!

We spent a few days battling some long steep climbs in the northeast of Serbia. The ride was beautiful and we had fun stopping at a stream for lunch where as usual Matthew got right in. Some of the larger towns in the north felt downtrodden and depressing, and we passed a few closed swimming pools, huge empty hotels and we felt sadly the sense of being somewhere that has seen better times. The people in this part of Serbia oggled us in a similar way to people in Romania and we were getting a bit tired of feeling like some sort of shocking spectacle as jaws dropped and eyes popped wide open when we cycled past people, without a hint of a smile. I felt a bit mean and impatient for getting tired of the stares, especially when right across Serbia we had lots of positive attention too with people waving and cars tooting / giving us a thumbs up. Whenever we started to get down, something good would happen to pick us up like a sweet old man putting a pile of plums into my bicycle basket. We often joked that Serbia was an emotional rollercoaster, as we swung between feeling like weirdo strangers to feeling a deep connection with or admiration for various wonderful and special people we happened upon. These encounters made me feel more attached to Serbia than any other place we have cycled. Also, Serbia is a very beautiful place, with varied landscape ranging from soft and pretty countryside to rugged, gorgeous mountains and forests. We didn't realise how beautiful it was going to be before ambling across it.

As we were nearing the Bosnian border, we met a cyclist called Zdravko while bumbling around his home town Pozega wondering how to get the back way (i.e. avoid the highway) to nearby Uzice. Zdravko was out cycling and stopped to chat as we stood in usual hunched-over-the-map fashion. He offered to show us the way to the back road we were searching for and we chatted as we cycled along. Zdravko ended up escorting us the whole way to Uzice, and contacted his friend Slobo who joined us there. On the way he showed us some of the local fruit which can be picked from the roadside - beautiful crisp apples, small sweet oval plums called "shliva", and walnuts which we were given by a lady gathering them from the ground next to the road. People here eat wonderful food, so many apple and plum trees we pass are brimming with fruit which falls onto the roadsides and while the available fresh produce is not very varied, it all tastes amazing. Zdravko also told us that the water here is exceptionally clean and good, and very accessible for a cycle tourist as it runs from mountain streams to roadside fountains. Zdravko loves Serbia and its people but regrets the current state of unemployment and migration caused by the wars and bad politics. In Uzice, we had a great time chatting to Zdravko and Slobo, with Slabo speaking excellent English and helping us to communicate better with Zdravko. Zdravko also was keen to show us rakija, a drink made from the little shliva plums we had tried earlier. This is a spirit with about 40% alcohol content yet was surprisingly sweet and nice. As we were leaving, Zdravko and Slobo very kindly showed us on our way by cycling a few kilometres with us out of town (uphill and in the rain!) we were so grateful for their help and also for the fun time we had chatting and learning more about Serbia.

Slobo, Matthew and Zdravko