Serbia again

Travnik-Marg

From Bosnia and Herzegovina, we made the very long drive into Serbia. 

Our route took us through Travnik, a Bosnian village with a long history.

Travnik Fortress-Marg

We stopped there and walked through the Stari Grad (old town), alongside a very fast flowing clear stream full of trout, and around an amazingly well preserved fortress that overlooked the town.

Our drive took us through an area that had been hit very badly by floods earlier in the year.

We were amazed at the devastation and the amount of rubbish high up in the trees alongside the river.

We eventually reached the border with Serbia and passed through both custom posts with ease. 

Sremska Mitrovica campsite - Vanni

We then found it only took a short time driving through little villages to reach our campground in Sremska Mitrovica north-eastern Serbia.

The camp is part of a nature reserve and we took a walk through it viewing the unusual range of tiny donkeys, cows and very hairy pigs. 

Sremska Mitrovica

Every night gave us a little giggle as we could hear the donkeys braying!

It was a very rural area and had lots of smells to match! 

Despite that it was a clean and modern camp and we enjoyed relaxing and chilling out there after our long drive.

Novi Sad

Thursday’s weather was predicting a storm so we decided to stay another night and catch up on some internet stuff. 

Unfortunately, the internet went down but we still had some good relax-time before moving on again.

We stopped briefly at Sremska Mitrovica township for a wee look and to exchange money, before heading northwards to Novi Sad.

Novi Sad

Novi Sad is Serbia’s 2nd largest city (population about 400,000) after Belgrade. 

Consequently, inner city parking proved a problem for our big Vanni. 

However, after tentatively driving down what turned out to be a very narrow street, a friendly parking chappie directed us to a place on the edge of town with bigger parking spaces.

Belgrade, Zemun - Marg 

It was an easy walk from there to the old town centre which had a lovely pedestrian area surrounded by grand old buildings.

There were lots of cute little side streets full of little cafes and shops; archways through to little shops in narrow lanes; ornate buildings of all shapes and sizes, and a huge fortress across the other side of the river.

Belgrade, Danube restaurants

We spent ages there and enjoyed exploring. 

We easily found our way back to Vanni to drive across the river and onwards towards Belgrade.

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia and our camp was at Zemun which is just North West of the city.

Belgrade Fortress-Marg

We could either walk about a kilometre to catch a bus to the city, or ride our bikes. 

We decided to go with the bikes after talking to an Irish cyclist from the van next to us. 

So bike batteries charged up, we headed off! We turned off the main road after about 6 kms then down a cute back street.

Belgrade, bridge over the Danube

The cycle track sign said still 14 kms to go. Whoops! 

Further than we thought! 

Then we hit the cobbled part - not just little cobbles but huge rocks that we could not ride over, so off to walk a short way.

We eventually came down a steep stretch to end up at the Danube River. 

Belgrade

This was a very pretty spot on the edge of Zemun with lots and lots of ‘floating’ restaurants all along the river bank.

There we picked up the sealed cycle track that followed the Danube all the way into Belgrade. 

Belgrade

Riding alongside the river was lovely and there were lots of people out walking, running, cycling, roller blading etc on the wide tracks. 

Lots of food and drinks stands, cafes and restaurants and very buzzy!

As we came around the bend in the river, Belgrade and its huge fortress came into view.

Danube beach Smederevo

The fortress certainly dominated the sky line and covered a huge area of land.

Belgrade is on the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers and we used one of the many river bridges get right into the centre. 

There we found a friendly lamp post to secure the bikes to, while we walked around to explore.

Golubac Fortress - Leigh 

Belgrade has a huge pedestrian area which makes it so much easier to walk without traffic racing past. There were lots of people everywhere and heaps of cafés and it felt very vibrant. 

It seemed to be a popular destination; although we found it a little impersonal as is often the case with a big city.

Golubac Fortress gates - Marg 

It is a city of large ornate buildings (most restored), churches and lovely parks.

We didn’t find it as attractive as Novi Sad, and its hilly terrain and large size took a lot more energy to walk around – still worth a visit though.

Several hot hours later, we decided we were ‘sightseed-out’ and headed back to our bikes for the 20 km ride back to camp. 

As always, the return trip never seems as long, even though there were a few hills (thank goodness for battery power).

A quick supermarket stop for some essentials then back to camp to recover!

The next day we headed south-east. The first part of the route took us through many rural towns and villages - some being more prosperous than others. 

The second part followed the course of the Danube River, mostly through small villages which again, showed the varied levels of prosperity in Serbia.

As we wound our way along the Danube we came to Golubac Fortress, built on the site of an old Roman settlement in about the 14th century. 

What an impressive sight – right on the edge of the Danube with the road going right underneath it.

Vanni only just fitted through the first gate - we had to tuck in our very wide rear-vision mirrors to make it!   

The route continued to follow the Danube and it was a fabulous drive – we had the river on one side and the impressive cliffs of the Djerdap National Park on the other.

The road was a bit of a challenge as lots of rocks and stones had fallen over our side of the road, so we drove a bit of a zigzag course to add to the excitement of the trip. 

Luckily there was hardly any oncoming traffic!

We stopped for a wee look at Lepenski Vir which is an archaeological site on the banks of the Danube, where 6 villages from 6400 BC to 4900 BC were uncovered.

We also stopped to view a 40 metre tall rock caving of Dacian King Decebalus which is on the other side of the river (actually in Romania). 

It was made especially impressive by its location above the river and nearby the cute Mraconia Monastery.

The Danube serves as the border between Serbia and Romania and near Decebalus Rex, the river is very narrow as it flows through the Iron Gates Gorge, one of the most dangerous passages for boats in Europe.

Decebalus Rex Statue

The Gorge is bridged via the Iron Gates Dam and the dammed water serves two huge hydroelectric plants and includes locks for shipping and a border control station. 

We drove onto the dam to get to Serbian border control and the customs guard was quite put out at Marg’s New Zealand passport. 

Trying to interpret his English, it seems that he had been refused a visa to enter NZ even though he was a policeman! 

He did not seem to be at all happy about this fact!

We thought he was going to be a problem but eventually he let us through - we approached the Romanian side quite relieved!

No problems with the Romanians and we were through. 

We drove into Drobeta-Turnu Severin but no camp ground was to be found! 

We seemed to drive around for ages looking but were having no luck.

Mraconia Monastery

We were getting pretty tired by this stage so stopped at a hotel near the entrance to town as they had a big car park. 

No go as it was for guests only, but they suggested we try the secure parking at the garage up the road. 

Yes! 

Iron Gates dam

For a small fee we got settled for the night and were on good terms with the guard.

An hour or so later an Italian van arrived (vans tend to see other vans and congregate). 

Unfortunately, they had a dog and it seemed to attract every neighbourhood dog to bark and yap most of the night! 

Not good for a peaceful sleep but at least we felt very secure there.

The next day we headed on into a new part of Romania.