Location: Pristina
Km on the clock: 2,871
 
I slowly climbed up another hill to the Serbian border post. Today I'd leave Serbia and enter Kosovo. Although I just spent the longest and one of the worst nights on my journey so far, life was good again after a few hours of sleep and a quick breakfast at a small village store. And since I freed some puppies from a trash container in the morning I kind of felt like a hero.

I could see that the border post guy watched me already for a while and he was laughing at me as I arrived totally sweaty at the post. I was the only person wanting to cross the border from Serbia into Kosovo. Dozens of cars were lining up on the other side of the road to enter Serbia.
'How are you?' asked the guy with a slightly sarcastic tone and big smile on his face. 'Well...it's a bit hilly here' I answered. He kept laughing as he checked my passport. 'Where do you sleep?' I answered 'I've a tent' and pointed at my bag on the back of my bicycle. 'And where do you eat?' 'My kitchen is in here' and pointed at my front right pannier. 'Okay', he said and handed me my passport. 'Have a good trip'.

Kosovo named the boulevard after him and built the statue to thank the former U.S. president for his help when they were struggling with the Yugoslavian government in the end 90's. By the way, there’s small clothing store next to the statue called Hillary. A picture of Hillary Clinton is also attached on the facade. Seems like some Kosovan's have a good sense of humor. There's also a Madeleine Albright monument and I heard there's even a George W. Bush Street. The connection to the U.S. can be seen and experienced in many places in Pristina as well as the connection to Germany. I was surprised to see many cars with German number plates and that quite many locals speak German. The shelves in the supermarkets are filled with German brand products. One of the supermarkets around the hostels corner even played some bizarre German speaking rap music every time when I went there. It didn't really create an inviting shopping atmosphere but I was happy to get some familiar products.

One interesting fact that I learned about Kosovo is that there was no law against keeping brown bears until end of 2010. Baby brown bears were snatched from their mothers by animal dealers in the forests of Kosovo and Albania and then held in small cages at restaurants as an attraction for customers. As I heard, the living conditions of the bears were horrific in most cases and some restaurant owners and customers gave them alcohol to see drunk bears for their amusement. However, since 2013 there's a bear sanctuary just outside of Pristina to provide those bears a natural habitat but also to create awareness to animal welfare and environmental problems in Kosovo.

Although Pristina is a nice place to visit for a couple of it's not a bicycle friendly city. There are no bicycle lanes and there's also lots of room for improvement regarding road signs. It took me a while until I made it out of town and on the R6 road in direction south to Skopje, Macedonia.

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I studied my map as I took a break in a village. It was a small and quiet place. Cars passed me only once in a while. While studying my maps, I realized, that I had no clue where I actually was and that this village wasn't on the map. And since there were no locals around, I couldn't ask anyone for directions. So, I decided to use my offline open street maps for the first time outside of the cities.

Approximate scribble of the route

I followed the directions that the app gave me and it was great. I went through scenic hilly landscapes and every now and then I came through smaller villages. The facades of many houses were in a rather poor condition and teenagers and young adult were hanging out in front of the very few stores.

Kids were waving at me and asking: 'Hellooo! Where are you from?' as I entered another village. I waved back and answered: 'Hellooo! Germanyyy' as I passed them. I stopped to check the navigation app when I reached a crossroad. My options were to continue straight ahead or turn left. Straight ahead was a solid paved road and the road to the left was a gravel road but seemed okay to cycle. The app suggested to turn left. This route would be even 10 kilometers shorter than the other one. I was hesitating because going straight seemed better to me. A young couple walked up the road with a bucket full of blackberries. Seeing them told me that must be the nicer way to go. Villagers were burning trash aside of the gravel road and lots of black smoke blow over the fields. I felt like I was in the middle of a fairy tale and had to make a decision. Straight ahead the nice, easy and sunny road and left the dark, unknown and mysterious path. I thought, Hey, why not turn left? It'll save me 10 kilometers. And this is what I did. Huge mistake!

The villagers were looking at me kind of suspiciously as I rolled down the gravel road. I passed the big trash fire and left the village. The road surface changed into sand at times which made it a bit harder to move on but it was still fine. However, first doubts came into my mind whether I had chosen the right road. The road led me through a hilly and forested area and it was incredible quiet around me. After a while it turned into a pebble road which made cycling very challenging. I had to get off the bike and push it. At this point I knew that I had chosen the wrong road but I felt like that I went too far to turn around. Moving on went really slow and I was cursing a lot. So I checked the navigation app again to find out if I'd get off this road soon. Just a few kilometers ahead of me there would be another road. The upcoming road must be better. There's no way that there are worse roads than that, went through my mind. So I kept pushing my bike. At times it wasn't too bad so I was even able cycle for a few hundred meters. I was surprised to come through a small village along this road. Two elderly men were looking at me like they had never seen someone on a bicycle before. And I honestly wouldn't wonder if it really was the first time. Having a bike in this area is probably the dumbest and most useless thing to have.

The closer I got to the other road the more excited I got. I pushed my bike an uphill section. Now it wasn't even a pebble road anymore. It was only rocks. The rocks had a size of bowling balls and now I was even cursing more than before. It felt like forever to pass that section and the sun was also about to go down. I prayed: 'Please! Let the new road be better than this one'. I didn’t want to be on such a road in the middle of nowhere at nights not to mention to camp somewhere around here.

'NOOOOO', was my first reaction when I reached the new road. Its surface was the same as the one that I just left. I was done, frustrated and ready to give up. I asked myself Why am I doing this? and wished to be at home right now. Even if I want to give up, I still have to go at least to the next town. So I kept going. Hiking my bike up a mountain through the dark forest.

It was already midnight when I reached the top of the mountain. I was on 1,100 meters altitude which was the highest peak of my journey so far. And again, I reached a crossroad. This time I had the option to turn left or right. Both roads were in the same horrible condition. I decided to turn left although it would be the longer route towards to border to Kosovo but since I 'saved' 10 kilometers earlier I didn't want to make the same mistake of 'saving' a few kilometers again. Also, the next villages would be closer on this route.

The moon and my bike lamp gave enough light to hike my bicycle down the rocky mountain road. I felt tired and frustrated. After a while I realized a white reflection on the road ahead of me. 'Is it really? ... No way ... It is! ... WOHOOO!' It was the median of a paved road. Such a relief! I jumped on my biked and rolled down the hill through the forests. It made me happy to see the lights of a parking car. A couple enjoyed some let's say private time in their car and they were very surprised to see me bombing down the hill.

There was a tiny church in the small village Gazdare and since it was under construction it didn't have any doors and windows yet. I walked inside and put my sleeping mat and sleeping bag on the floor for the night. I fell asleep immediately.

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'We just installed another gate to my little piece of land here to enter it from the road. Since there's the new cycling path, we're not allowed to drive on there with our cars anymore', told me Milan.

He and his buddies shared their food with me and even offered me something to drink. After having that meal they put homemade Rakja (Serbia's national alcoholic drink) on the table. It was filled up into 0.5 liter Fanta bottles. Of course I accepted to have one together with them because I didn't want to be rude. And of course we didn't have only one. As refreshment drinks on the side we had beer. :D

They cracked lots of jokes and later they told me stories about the wars in Serbia in the 90's and that they feel that since then their country has a very bad image in the world. 'But this is not who we are', they said. 'We're not wild men with knifes between our teeth. We're good people and we would love to show it to the world'. I can tell, these guys were everything else than a herd of wild men. These were just some harmless elderly men chilling, drinking and enjoying their retirement.

The temperatures were above 40 degrees Celsius the day I left Novi Sad. I took the direct road to Belgrade. There was a pretty steep section just outside of Novi Sad and my t-shirt was soaking wet due to the heat and the effort of climbing up the road. Another elderly man waved at me and also yelled: 'Hellooo'. So I stopped again to also say hi. He and his brother offered me some coffee and a bucket of water as a shower. It was a great shower! Exactly what I needed in this moment. And again, those guys were no wild men.

My next destination was Kosovo. The ride there was not only a challenge, I even experienced the worst night of my journey so far. It was a night full of frustrations and doubts about this trip. But I'll tell this story another time. ;)

One last thing about the wild men of Serbia. I cycled across the entire country and I got the chance to meet quite some Serbians. Everyone who I talked to or even spent time with was super friendly and welcoming to me. For me, there are no wild Serbians with knifes between their teeth. I'd visit this country any time again. Without any doubts!

If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip two school class rooms in Darfur, Sudan. Cheers!

Dear readers, followers and awesome people,

You might have realized that there's a new section 'Partners & Supporters' on my website. On the one hand, this section is to say thank you to those people and companies that are supporting my journeys and challenges. On the other hand, the majority of the company links/banners are affiliate links. That means, every time when you click on one of them and make a purchase, I'll receive a small commission. There are no extra costs for you. You'll see these banners also in some other places on my website.

I won't get rich through it by any means but if you do your future online shopping through them, then I might make a few bucks at the end of each months That will help me to cover the costs to run this website and if I'm lucky it'll be even enough to buy me once in a while a meal or a beverage on my current cycling the world journey.

I'll also donate 10% of all profits that are done through these links into my fundraising campaign to equip two school class rooms in Darfur, Sudan.

So it would be awesome if you would keep me in mind when you online shop next time. I'd really appreciate your support! Cheers!

The road on the other side of the border was also very quiet. Once in a while a car passed by and the road conditions were perfect. I passed one corn field after another. This rural area reminded me on the areas North Friesland and Dithmarschen in my home state in Germany. I pedaled through some smaller villages and still there were not many cars and I even barely saw people. It was just a good and relaxing ride.

I could watch the sun slowly going down behind the corn fields the longer I kept pedaling. A few kilometers outside of Osijek I got off the road to find a camp spot for the night. I took a small track across the fields, went through a couple of puddles until I found a good spot behind a few trees and bushes a bit aside of the small track. I thought: Here I am invisible from the rest of the world. It didn't rain for many days and there were also only a few clouds in the sky so I only put up the mosquito net of my tent. After sunset I crawled into my tent and read for a while. I could hear and see a few rabbits running nearby my tent and later I heard some gun shots in far distance. Nothing unusual in a rural area. Most likely someone hunting for some game. Later I watched the stars and was about to fall asleep.

Light was pointing in my direction. A car came down the track. I laid down flat on my stomach. The closer the car came into my direction the more I was wondering if the driver can see my tent. Then it stopped. Maybe 10-12 meters away from me. I was still lying flat on my stomach and observing what's happening. I was really nervous about what would happen next. What shall I do if it's the person with the gun who I heard earlier? What shall I say? No clue! I guess I just have to improvise. Time went really slow now. Please don't get out of your car! Please don't get out of your car!

He slowly kept driving after about one minute - a veeery long minute. He slowly passed me and my tent. Only the few trees and bushes in between us. Hopefully he's not going to stop again! He didn't. Such a relief! I wonder if he actually saw me!?

I cycled through Osijek the next morning and Vukovar later that day. In the evening I arrived the Croatian - Serbian border at Backa Palanka. The border control lady on the Serbian side was very amused to see the little toy turtle on top of my handle bar bag and waved me through.

If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip two school class rooms in Darfur, Sudan. Cheers!