Balkans Cycling Adventure – BCA. Cycle Day 40: Šabac to Belgrade, Serbia. 80.11km (126vm). 31deg. Connal Tours European Cycling Tour 2024. Connal Kit for all your cycle touring clothing.
Really long bridge leaving Šabac over the very wide Šava River. First 12 km done on busy State Road. Stopped for coffee at the point of leaving this road. Also grabbed some breakfast (yoghurt drink, banana and croissant). Tractors and trailers loaded with watermelons were lining the side street. Not sure where they all end up as it has been so hot the last few days. Stopped at the village soccer ground to eat breakfast under some shady trees. Entertained watching the local police car pull up and proceed to flag drivers down. They seemed to know most of them. They happily waved to us when we moved on. Bit less traffic for a while. Good to hear the birds and frogs again. Harvesting happening again and more expanses of agriculture. A huge hot house area – mainly green peppers. Sizeable industry in parts. Approaching Belgrade from the airport side we came across large warehouses and trucking depots. Traffic busy heading in until we hit the 4-lane approach boulevard and at last some cycle paths for the last 6km. Large park areas (large event must have been on the weekend as much of the park was still fenced off as they packed up). Finally, another huge bridge crossing the Sava again as the entry to Belgrade. The city looked huge from the bridge (and daunting). Found our apartment in a pedestrian street. Yet another good find. Easy access to the walking, eating streets. Lots of beautiful book shops (& coffee). Wandered, marvelled, drank, ate. Supermarket shop on the way home. Initial impressions – great vibe, good space and pedestrian areas, 5-6 storey old buildings line many streets. The narrow streets darkened by these. Lots of people out and about. Hot night. 2 nights here.
Rest day from cycling but lots to see. Catch a trolley bus to the Beograd Centar – Railway Station. When you look this up – quite a story. Been decades in the making, is not central at all, still building around it to make it central. Not well connected with other transport hubs. But it is a grand plan still in the making. Needed to check this out as the plan is to catch a train tomorrow. Bought tickets for us. When asking about bikes on trains “oh you have to check with the conductor”. Can we buy a ticket for the bikes? “You just pay the conductor”. How much? “Around 200”. So tomorrow we will find the answers and hopefully get to Nis with our bikes. Trolley bus back to Kalemegdan city Park and the Belgrade Fortress. Nice to visit a fortress/castle which isn’t on top of a cliff. This is just on a gentle rise overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers. Victor standing tall on guard at this place. Honouring victory over Ottoman & Austro-Hungarian Empire 1912-1918 wars. Victor holds a laid-down sword (peace & alertness symbol) and a falcon (invincibility & freedom).
Then a waterfront walk. Cool our feet in the water feature with the man on the bench. A couple of Danube cruise boats docked. The bridge we entered the city on & the old Belgrade bridge. Lots of new developments along the waterfront. Found our way back to our apartment before going out to find dinner in cobbled Skadarlija Street. Old taverns, lots of bars & restaurants. Was the centre of the Bohemian lifestyle of early 20thC – artistic, creative, local food, Serbian music. Once again, an evening thunderstorm to freshen things up.
Cycle Day 40 of 45 over 10 weeks cycle touring covering over 2400km in a loop circuit of the West Balkans in Europe through 8 countries. Connal Kit for all your cycling touring clothing. Connal Tours European Cycling Tour 2024. connalkit.com.au 24-25June2024.
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