Rural Serbia

We cycled out of the congestion of Belgrade across the Danube and the landscape quickly turned rural. There is still a fair bit of heavy industry in this north eastern corner of Serbia so the ride wasn't always so idyllic but the towns were always filled with interesting characters and cafes.

The coffee is delicious in this part of the world - ground super fine and strong but without being bitter. It seems most people have it quite sweet and without milk. This one (above) came with turkish delight.

many cafes and resteraunts are set on the rivers.

view from our camp spot

 lovely peaches and capsicum off this roadside cart

We stopped for our morning coffee in Vracev Gaj and meet the owner Mita who chatted to us in fluent English. He gave us some advice on our trip south through Serbia after Romania and places of interest. We were excited to learn his wife is from the small town of Visegrad which we planned to visit as it is the setting of the excellent novel, the Bridge Over the Drina. Was lovely to be able to communicate with a local and we spent an hour or so chatting. We also met Sasha and his boys (also pictured). Sasha had returned to his home in Serbia after working in Italy in his twenties. He told us Serbians have an affinity with the Italians, and they both spoke so fondly of Italy that it made us look forward to being there in a few weeks time.

long steep climb to the entry to Romania