Good morning to all!
Today will be a day where TW560 will unlock some serious new-country XP, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia – potentially even Romania.. let’s see how today goes.
We start today with TW560 fully charged, cool temperatures and a beautiful day just starting at 6am.
The road I’ve chosen for today stays on Croatian territory for around 30km before crossing the Sava river into Bosnia and Herzegovina. I’ve chosen to cross there and not closer to Slavonski Brod as it is a larger crossing and I’m hoping to not have to wait too long in line as I will be leaving the Schengen area.
First things first – the drive is just sublime. Good (thanks, EU) road surfaces and no traffic.
The drive is mostly along fields and small villages. No major settlement anywhere close.
Eventually, I arrive at the border crossing and my assumption is correct – the officials are super-efficient and I’m through in no time. Interestingly enough, they not only wanted to see my passport but also vehicle registration, and international drivers license. I’m glad I heeded the RAC’s recommendation and got one for this trip!
And here we are! The first thing I get is a coffee at the first bar – I need a boost. The coffee was Italian-level good and had a good caffeine push that followed shortly after.
Immediately I get eastern-block vibes – the signs, the old soviet-style concrete mini-monuments in villages etc. The difference is marked when comparing to Croatia, which feels more European.
Another few things that I noticed were – the difference in foreign plate distribution: let me explain. In Slovenia, most foreign plates were either Hungarian or Austrian, In Croatia definitely German. Here, In BIH, there are an interestingly high amount of Swiss plates besides Serbian and Croatian ones. Another anomaly is the super-high amount of usually rather rare ‘temporary, duty unpaid’ (the one with the red box and letter “Z”, which is weird, as they would have been imported to Switzeraland – a problem to ponder another time)
Anyway, back to the drive. BIH’s roads are mostly OKish and the ones I took had virtually no traffic.
A little later, the sun had really started to heat the day and it was time for me to get yet another local energy drink. This one was unfortunately not as ultra as the can implied – it tasted just awful. One can’t win every time 🙂
Another half an hour later I arrive at the border crossing into Serbia. A very long bridge connects the two countries over the Drina river.
What is different in Serbia, you might ask? Well I got to sample one first thing pretty quickly:
Most roads outside larger settlements – regardless if they are in villages or overland are horrible. (ok, ok, ok, they are certainly ok for cars with large tyres and soft shock absorbers… but not for me with 8 bar rock hard tyres and super stiff suspension… 🙁 )
Nevertheless, I managed to take a picture of myself when I’m not actively grumbling about the roads.
Also, the sun and temperatures are just keeping my summer tan going. (mind you, I always apply at least 50 SPF multiple times a day.)
There is not much to say about the rest of the drive to Belgrade. The roads got much better closer to the capital!
I really like when I follow roads with signs for capitals that I’ve not yet been to.
Having arrived in Belgrade, one thing is striking: the amount of public transport and the amounts of people actually using it. I even get stuck in a bus-jam.
I drive through the city centre and past some monuments – traffic stays dense so I continue onwards toward Romania after crossing the Danube river.
At 2pm I started to feel really hot again and was in need of some hydration and 20 minutes of A/C, I drove into a Gazprom fuel station.
i had assumed that both Lukoil and Gazprom had divested from their non-Russian entities and that that was the reason for them to be able to continue business in both BIH and Serbia… but no.
At the Gazprom station I was informed that due to western sanctions no foreign credit cards were accepted… I didn’t hear any undertones from the person who explained this to me, however the pro-Russian graffiti everywhere gave me an idea that not everyone was happy with what the ‘West’ was doing to Russia with the sanctions packages. (as this is a non-political blog, I will refrain from discussing this topic further)
Back to the energy drinks! This one was really good!
Having left Belgrade, I was back to my usual (mostly) bad roads and very flat landscape with ever-rising temperatures. All the black metal in my TWIKE got too hot to touch.
The TWIKE however, was at ease here, too and made for a great foto opportunity.
The heat got unbearable and I went through about 1 litre of water per hour.
Even though I still had another 60km in the battery, I decided that I’d stay in the very last Serbian village before the border. I needed to get into some A/C quickly as I was fading fast.
As I entered the village I got to see a very rare combo in Europe: a Cybertruck … on Florida plates! (still not as rare as a TWIKE in the same place, but a good runner-up)
In no time I found a place to stay (using no phone, as roaming calls were at 2 CHF/min) by just asking some guys sitting in front of a small bar in English which asked an old guy nearby, which called the granddaughter of a friend who runs a small place with 3 rooms, which happened to have one free.
Included in the room charge is my overnight charge directly from my room – this setup reminded me of the iconic one in India.
The room has air conditioning and I just stay in my room for 45 minutes before venturing out to get something to eat.
This village feels so eastern European, everything: from the rusty beat-up Yugo to the guy selling produce from his van all the way to the monuments on the main square.
I found a small place that had some meat on a grill and fluffy bread – what do I need more? All ingredients for my Leskovacka Pljeskavica were sourced from around the village, I was told.
And it tasted just great. It was a nice fix for a very long day! (before going back to my room to crank the A/C back up again)
Let’s go to today’s stats:
