Vélo le long du Danube – Episode 2 : De Vienne à Belgrade

Je vous emmène pour un voyage à vélo de Bâle à Belgrade sur l’Eurovélo 6 à travers 6 pays, la Suisse, l’Allemagne, l’Autriche, la Slovaquie, la Hongrie et la Serbie. Au programme un fabuleux partage européen et la découverte de 4 capitales : Vienne, Bratislava, Budapest et Belgrade.

Dans ce deuxième épisode nous voyagerons de Vienne en Autriche, à Belgrade en Serbie.

[Sous-titre français et anglais]
[French and English subtitles] Cycling along the Danube – Episode 2: From Vienna to Belgrade

00:00 – Introduction
00:28 – Slovaquie / Slovakia
01:17 – Hongrie / Hungary
06:12 – Serbie / Serbia
10:09 – FIN / END

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I take you on a cycling trip from Basel to Belgrade on the EuroVelo 6 through six countries, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia. On the program is a fabulous European experience and the discovery of 4 capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade.

In this second episode we will travel from Vienna (Austria), to Belgrade (Serbia). And now I’m going to Slovakia and its capital Bratislava. You are not dreaming. There is a flying saucer on the bridge pier. It is actually an observation tower, a humorous note from a Soviet construction. If the city center is small,

It is really very beautiful. The life of a cyclist is hard. But I don’t have to hang around, because it’s already time to meet Veronika, president of the Slovak Crohn Club. Being ill myself, it is with a heart full of hope that during this trip I experienced fabulous associative meetings across Europe.

I decide if I continue to Croatia or if I go to Hungary. And it will be Hungary with the town of Cunovo. In Hungary I have the feeling that I am moving away from the standardization of the Western world. I must admit that I am delighted because the

Dirt tracks, and other small imperfections make my cycling life less monotonous. The cycle route is reappearing. I am approaching Budapest. On my bike I can see the city differently, crossing its bordering districts. In Hungary I see a lot of watermelons for sale. The purchases finished,

I arrive in my haven of peace for 2 days and 3 nights. A perfect setting to rest and restore myself. It’s not a museum, but the Café Gerbeaud, an institution in Budapest. But it’s not time for celebration, because at the back of the synagogue, the largest in Europe,

A metal weeping willow recalls the past of 600,000 Hungarian Jews, victims of Nazism. Bye bye Budapest. I cycle towards Belgrade, the final stage of the trip. It’s false start from Budapest, because I had to make a round trip, for a t-shirt forgotten that was drying. And since I left Budapest, I perceive

Hungary with a more authentic side, with more rurality. It’s very hot. I have 33 degrees in the shade. 10 degrees warmer in the sun. And after having cycled along the Danube for so long, I decided to change my point of view with a kayak descent of around thirty kilometers.

I think it’s the best idea I’ve had, because I’ve seen the Danube so much by bike. Especially after Budapest the river regains a wild appearance. I arrive at the small town of Kalosca. Exceptionally, I booked a hotel room for €22, because I didn’t find a good bivouac.

I think I would have been bothered in the night. And severe fatigue with stomach ache. An effect of the illness, and perhaps the prolonged exertion of the journey. But after lows there are highs, and the next day I get back in the saddle on roads with little traffic, or designed for local cyclists.

I am 3-4 km from the Serbian border wich will mark the exit from the European Union. And there’s absolutely no one there. I can do slaloms in the middle of the road. After the border, I am out of the European Union. This barbed wire wall makes me sad.

It was built in 2015 in response to the migratory flow. So Serbs are known for not being very friendly with bikes, and for riding fast. I confirm to you that it is true. But sections of busy roads are limited, and I alternate with other quieter moments, during which I can feel Serbian rurality.

And if the bees also have their collective habitat bars, the communes in the countryside are less dense in habitats. I stopped off in the city of Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia with more than 300,000 inhabitants. I appreciate his its historic center.

At the exit of Novi Sad there are several buildings with facades decorated with sculptures. Some are deteriorating, but it gives a certain character. On the way to Belgrade, I see a Serbia which is modernizing with a new railway line. The landscapes change. The plains disappear, and reliefs begin to form.

My activity is also a good ice cream, a little break from the heatwave. I cross rural communities, and very pleasant paths when I improvise an alternative route in search of tranquility . I like when I enter a big city, like here in Belgrade, with the bike

I cross the suburbs. It allows me to have another vision of the city. I barely have time to discover the view from my room, before meeting members of UCUK, an association committed to the fight against inflammatory bowel diseases, After the meeting I visit Belgrade.

But the end is coming. After washing and drying my hiking equipment, I collect an empty box from a bike shop. I dismantled lots of things: the handlebars, the pedals, the stand, the wheels. I lowered the saddle, the front rack. Pegasus was made very small to fit in this box.

I return by plane to France, and then I took the Paris-Dijon train. Like the Danube which grows with water, I grew in new knowledge. In my search to understand countries around us, I have become more open to differences. A human wealth which should unite us, rather than divide us. I will continue this

Trip, or will undertake another in Europe. I hope that you too, with this film you have found a dose of escape. On my Facebook page “72 rays of hope against Crohn’s Disease”, you can read the story of this bike trip and the sharing of my other traveling trips on foot,

On snowshoes with the tent in the snow, by bike and by kayak. You will find a link to a collection page for the benefit of the “François Aupetit” Association, recognized as being of public utility in the fight against chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. See you soon for new adventures.

Danube oh my Danube you are water, you are life. Show me the path to my dreams.