Cycling in bad weather was something I didn’t
enjoy so much in Bosnia, luckily as I neared the Serbian border the sun made its
appearance. Serbia, once the most powerful country within Yugoslavia, had to
endure few international sanctions in post war times. These led the country to
a difficult economical period, 20 years on, many foreign companies are
investing and the economy is slowly gaining the strength it once had.
Soon after entering country, the idea I had
about the country being flat quickly disappeared, I rode through some beautiful
woods and hilly farmlands until I reached Lazarevac, a small city near Belgrade
where my friend Suzana was waiting for me.
Trefalt family took me in like another member,
Suzana had everything planned so I didn’t miss any of the main sights of
Belgrade, every morning we boarded the busy bus to Belgrade and when returning
home Suzana’s mum would have a traditional dish ready to recharge batteries.
After meals we enjoyed sitting around the sofa chatting and drinking Turkish coffee
with her family.
When I was about to leave Lazarevac, one of
the fiercest storms I’ve ever seen hit the area, trees went down and roofs took
off like it where made of paper. I was lucky to be at home and not camping somewhere
in the countryside. The storm was followed with a 24hr blackout (only two
months earlier Serbia had endured the worst floods in recent history). Thankfully
the storm went away as it came and the following days after double checking the
weather forecast I said goodbye and started heading south on my bike.
As I cycled I pondered whether I should go
through Kosovo or Macedonia, in Serbia everyone warned aabout the dangers of entering
Kosovo but the funny thing is I had similar warnings before entering Serbia and
all I could find was nice people willing to help. Near the city of Krusevac I
did a quick search in warmshowers and found a cyclist called Momir, I sent a very
last minute request which he immediately accepted.
Momir is not the average cycle tourist, he self-discovered
cycle touring and have gone from touring with a 5 people tent and a hammer to a
really lightweight set up. When I met him he just returned from a 2000k tour
around Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia (an incredibly brave thing to do as most Serbians
don’t dare to cross the border into Kosovo). After hearing his interesting tales from
the road I decided to continue towards Kosovo…
PS. I’m currently in Greece with Ane, we’ve
been busy visiting friend and family, will try to bring the blog up to date ASAP.
