15 September 2007

Day 28

D0km; 04:30 - 10:30
Surcin - JU 262 - Schiphol - GVB 192 - Amsterdam
We arrived well by regular flight and later on we managed to pick up the bikes that arrived by cargo. This marked the end of our 2200km cycling holiday "From Amsterdam to Belgrade".

14 September 2007

Day 27

Day 27

D14km; 8:10 - 9:15
Beograd - Surcin
After spectaculair wrapping up by the JAT cargo department and significantly higher rates than firstly informed, the bikes are checked in as cargo. Eventually they will arrive in Amsterdam this Saturday....

13 September 2007

Day 26


Day 26

D45km; 11:00 - 16:30
Slankamen - Surduk - Batajnica - Zemun - Beograd
After family stops in Surduk (3x) and Zemun (2x) km we arrived after 2200 km cycling in Beograd where well deserved champagne was waiting.
Cheers!

12 September 2007

Day 25


Day 25

D48km; 10:15 - 14:00
Novi Sad - St. Anastasia - Beska - Slankamen
Today a small stage to the Starcevic weekend house at the Danube where we were welcomed with Rakia. The myth about Vojvodina as flat as Holland does not exist anymore. The longest and steepest climb of the whole tour, >10 %,  was met at Sremski Karlovci at the edge of Fruska Gora. Also the highest speed was measured with 49 km per hour where 30 km was allowed....

11 September 2007

Day 24


D0km;
Arriving in Novi Sad on Monday afternoon we decided to stay in Novi Sad for one day. This appeared to be a wise decision as on Tuesday it is raining and raining and.....
In the next stage on Wednesday we plan to cycle to Slankamen.

Levi9 in Novi Sad gave us the opportunity to upload photos to this weblog. Starting at Day 1 a number of photos are added to this blog.


10 September 2007

Day 23

Day 23

D101km; 10:00 - 16:30
Sombor - Sivac - Kula - Backo Dobro Polje - Sirig - Novi Sad

This day was the fastest day so far. Due to the mild wind from the Northwest we were able to reach an avearge of almost 20 kilometres per hour and despite our late start we arrived at Levi9 on half past four already.

9 September 2007

Day 22


Day 22

D70km; 10:00 - 16:00
Baja - Batmonostor - Hercegszanto - Bezdan - Sombor
After about 1950 km we entered the Republic of Serbia at Backi Breg where we continued our way on the Serbian part of the 'Donau Radweg' guiding us till Sombor.

In Sombor the greatest challenge appeared to be to find a restaurant.... Finally we found one specialised in domestic cooking, starting with rakia as aperitif.

8 September 2007

Day 21




D70km; 9:30-16:00
Paks - Kalosca - Fajsz/Danube - Baja
One day to go and we hope to enter Serbia. Today we packed the second and last Limes book. We followed the Limes route most of the time. It is a well known byking path along the old North border of the Roman Empire. We've seen some peaces of the Roman walls and crossed some Roman bridges.

Today on the road we made up the route ourselves and continued bicking on the Danube dikes. The temperature was higher and the wind was blowing from the North, which enabled us enjouing the surroundings even more. Along the forests, corn and sunflower fields we've also noticed a lot of paprika fields. The dried paprika's were offered for sale as necklasses in most of the villages.

Here in Baja, we are in hotel Duna again, but this one has a beautiful view and lovely interior. This hotel does not remind to the communist but to the Habsburg period, that is slightly more romantic while listening to some street musicians playing 'Die schoene blaue Donau'.


7 September 2007

Day 20

D87km; 10:00 - 17:00
Szekesfehervar - Sarhatvan - Cece - Paks
Back to Danube. After a shortcut we are at the Blue river again in Paks where we enjoyed some local fish soup. The stage was slightly boring with cycling on a more or less straight road between sunflower and corn fields, wandering how the locals can live without cappuccino or espresso. We somehow managed to stay dry and not too cold, although the temperature remained around 10 Centigrade. Its a matter of dressing up anything you have taken with you. Also usefull as the bags become lighter.
Our Hungarian improved dramatically. Very usefull when after 40 km you finally find a place with coffee with a couple of locals gambling on the fruit machines, discussing the politics and having an early Palinka.
Tomorrow some news about how we survived (the last one?) communistic hotel in Hungary. That happens to be the only place with B&B in this place.


6 September 2007

Day 19


Day 19

D96km; 10:00 - 17:30
Gyor - Tap - Bakonycsernye - Szekesfehervar
After a slow start - we expected a lot of rain - it appeared to be dry and we deecided to jump on the bike. It was expected to be a flat stage, however.... At least it stayed more or less dry and today we cycled more than expected.

5 September 2007

Day 18

Day 18 - II

D44km; 9:20 - 12:15
Mosonmagyarovar - Asvanyraro - Gyor
10 Centigrade, wind and lots of rain. Time for a break.

4 September 2007

Day 17



D99km; 9:40-16:45
Gross-Enzersdorf - Stopfenreuth - Bratislava - Moson-Magyarovar.
Today a 3 nation stage through Austria, Slowakia and Hungary.
For tomorrow we have a new plan for our comming journey through Hungary. This as consequence of a friendly chat with our waiter tonight. He is a biker himself an had lots of tips for us. He did not mention the weather forecast....

3 September 2007

Day 16

Day 16

D103km; 9:20 - 19:00
Mautern - Traismauer - Tulln - Vienna - Gross-Enzersdorf
Lost somewhere after Vienna in yet another "Umleitung".

2 September 2007

Day 15



D119km; 9:30 - 18:45
Mauthausen - Dornbach - Ybbs - Melk - Mautern
Cycling on good cyclepaths, but the down side is that the pubs are on the other side of the Danube so again, long sections without breaks.
Tomorrow we hope to visit the first "B" capital (Bonn retired as capital). Please notice that Wiena starts with B in many languages (Bech).

1 September 2007

Day 14


Day 14

D96km; 9:20 - 17:30
Jochenstein - Aschach - Linz - Gusen - Mauthausen
At half past nine cycling we left rainy Germany and entered Austria.
It was difficult to find a coffee stop so the first 43 km were cycled long before noon...
So far we have seen ships from Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Malta, Ukraine and Serbia, and almost as many power plants and locks at the Danube.  Some of these are used as a path on our journey from one to the other side. Today we have crossed the river by boat two times.