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Tweet Interesting that English is so widely spoken in Se…
Interesting that English is so widely spoken in Serbia, even in the small villages, Hungary & especially Croatia hardly spoken at all 🙁
Danube Bike Ride from Vukovar the brave to Novi Sad the shellsuit.
Today was a ride of contrasts from the dispiriting visit to a city still in ruins with very little hope of returning to it’s former glory and also visiting where 200 people were massacred and another bus load went totally missing to the prosperous second largest city in Serbia and its beautifully paved streets, handsome buildings all beautifully lit and groups of American tourists. What is worse from all that I’ve heard it wasn’t a civil war it was just a pure and simple land grabbing exercise by Serbia for which Vukovar paid a terrible price and this has all taken place in the last 20 years.
Ovcara is a short detour from the E6 but well worthwhile, the place where the 200 were held has been made into a beautifully simple but deeply moving place, from the embedded bullet shells in the floor to the 200 lights in the ceiling acting as stars and images of the deceased being lit up around the walls to their physical effects in the straw around the floor edges. Totally gut wrenching stuff.
I also visited where the mass grave was, since it was on the way back to the E6, once again very moving I particularly liked the simple broken headstone sculpture created by Drinkovic with its polished engraved front and the bullet holes in the rear, just like the people who were shot.
I continued on through the 3 deep valleys to reach Ilok and its massive citadel now occupied by nuns. and then onto the bridge over The Danube and the first stamp in my passport and also a welcome text from 3 reminding me they wish to charge me £6 per MB (a warning to anyone travelling the Danube E6 in Croatia, you are quite likely to pick up a Serbian 3G signal if your phone is sent to roaming for their Eurodeal, you could end up with a shock)
First impressions is that Serbia is very poor & the stretch of road cycling between the bridge and Celarevo is a nightmare. However, once you turn right and get on the embankment there is no traffic but it would be a total gooey mess if it had been raining. Today was dry and OK after a while it turns into a gorgeous smooth bikeway into Novi Sod unless a mountain bike plonker rams into you and takes out a spoke and hurts your knee 🙁 Novi Sad on the other hand seems a very prosperous city beautifully lit up and large public squares full of tables etc.
I found The Veliki Hotel purely by chance, it seems very good & the receptionist found a bike shop for me, so within an hour the wheel was fixed and also a new tyre fitted.
In all I did over 68 miles today but probably the actual route was only 60 miles. Here is The Strava and the pictures.
Mohàcs to Vukovar on The Danube Bike Trail
No riding on dikes today the initial one was blocked off for resurfacing as in fact the road diversion was too. I guess the Hungarian tarmac manufacturers must be coining it in!
I did a little side trip to the battlefield of the so called disaster of Mohacs where Hungary fell to The Turks and got divided up in 1526 – 487 years ago & apparently they have never recovered from the defeat. It was well over 3 pints of beer in price to go in. So I declined and pedalled on..
The customs post with Croatia was a half hearted affair with only a cursory inspection, hardly surprising since they only joined the EU two months ago. Interestingly Croatia’s official name is Republika Hruatska (make a good pub quiz question).
You soon start seeing the devasation caused by the civil war 20 years ago with many ruined buildings and memorial stones outside each village.
After climbing over the vine covered hill near Batina and its interesting cave entrances I briefly met up with the French Tandem couple again. Beatrice is keeping a blog that can be found by clicking here. in French of course.
I particularly like the traditional house design. Built at right angles to the road with a veranda the full length of the house. In summer you can sit under it & in the winter store your logs.
The real shock of the day was entering Vukovar which still looks war ravaged from the civil war and its 87 day siege in 1991 where the Serbs basically flattened the city including massacring 6 bus loads of patients & staff from the hospital which they had already heavily shelled & bombed . Truly amazing mans inhumanity to man and only 22 years ago. The situation is currently made worse by the authorities tearing up all the streets in the mania that is sweeping Europe to repave all cities, villages etc to dubious benefit, Since if you look anywhere this has been done the streets are in a terrible mess a few years later.
I’m staying at the rather inappropriately named 4 star Hotel Lav on the special biker rate of £37 a night b&b 🙂
Well in fact today I only got to see The Danube at the start & finish both from my bedroom window :-). I did the best part of 80 miles and now not too far from Belgrade. I’m spending today exploring the horrors of war by visiting the Place of Memory in the rebuilt hospital’s basement. I purchased the DVD containing news clips & commentary of the horrors.
Here is the Strava and pictures are here
