'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 we were done eating, they put a few bottles of 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 drink 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 went above 40 degrees Celsius the day I left Novi Sad. I took the direct road to Belgrade. I pedaled up a pretty steep section just outside of Novi Sad. My t-shirt was soaked from my own sweat. Another elderly man flagged me down and also shouted: '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.
From Nis I headed in direction Kosovo. The ride to there wasn't 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 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!
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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.
As I was pedaling, I watched the sun slowly going down behind the corn fields. 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 heard and saw a few rabbits running nearby my tent. 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 pointed 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 wondered 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 observed the situation. 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!
The driver slowly kept driving after a minute or two - veeery long one or two minutes. The car slowly passed me and my tent. Only the few trees and bushes separated us. Hopefully the driver isn't 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 the next 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.
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And if you enjoy reading it a lot, then I'd appreciate if you'd support me with a virtual cup of coffee on Ko-fi. Cheers! :) Click here if you want to take a look at my equipment.
Location: Pecs
Km on the clock: 2,136 My stay in Budapest went by really fast. Although I was pretty tired and exhausted from my 135 kilometers ride alongside the Danube from Slovakia into Hungary, I managed to join a free walking tour. I learned a few fun things about Hungary on this 1.5 hours tour.
I had the pleasure to meet with Marie from Neue Zeitung - Ungarisches Wochenblatt for an interview the next day. We talked about my first weeks experiences of my cycling the world journey and the reasons of why I'm actually doing it. Here's the link to the full interview (German only). Again, thank you Marie for the opportunity to meet with you and thank you Neue Zeitung for publishing my story and thus supporting my fundraising campaign.
Pecs is located in the southwest of the country near the border to Croatia. The closer I got to Pecs the steeper some road sections got. At some point the road had an incline of 12 percent and before I entered Pecs there was one last longerish uphill section. A few days earlier someone said to me: "The whole country is flat". Well, I'm sure this person has never been in this area before. :D However, bombing downhill into the city was fun.
Just outside of Pecs I found the first note of German culture in this area. It wasn't anything significant. The word "Deutsch" was written in big letters above a window on the facade of a house. Left and right of the window were paintings of huge beer mugs. I guess that's proof enough for German culture in Hungary. :D I couldn't find anything else significant "German" in Pecs itself. I asked at my hostel and some locals if they knew anything about the German minority and if there are places that I could visit to learn something about it. But they couldn't help me either. It rather seemed that they didn't even have a clue what I was talking about. I'm sure there are places to visit but since I stayed there for only two days I used the time to explore the city. Pecs is Hungary's fifth largest city and is the home of the country's oldest university - founded in 1367. The old town is a beautiful, calm, non-touristy place. There are many little museums for literally anything - arts, mining, agriculture, etc. Most significant is definitely the Mosque of Pasha Quasim at the old town's main square. Even there were barely any tourists. It kind of felt like I was the only tourist in town.
My original plan was to go to Serbia after cycling through Hungary. But since I didn't plan to visit the southwestern part of Hungary, I decided to take the "shortcut" via Croatia. So I left Pecs after two days and pedaled in direction Republika Hrvatska.
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Location: Budapest
Km on the clock: 1,840 The sun was just about to set when I entered the old town of Bratislava via the "UFO bridge". The sun slowly set behind Bratislava Castle and the evening sky was colored in purple. It created a peaceful and welcoming atmosphere which made me excited to explore this city.
I ended up in a club that night. I don't remember its name but I had to enter it through a cafe, walk downstairs and the corridors reminded me to a dungeon. The club was quite small and the DJ had the most bizarre music playlist. It started off with electronic music from the 90's such as Hyper Hyper from the German band Scooter and later German anti-fascist music. Whatever kind of music the DJ played, the audience went bonkers. :D
I came back to the hostel late that night. I actually wanted to leave Bratislava the next day but I decided to stay for another night since I was too tired from my night out. Thus I cycled well rested in direction Hungary the following day.
I simply followed the Danube and the EuroVelo 6 on the Slovakian side. In the beginning the cycling path was tarred and it was lots of fun pedaling on top of the embankment - the river to my right and open fields and forestes to my left. At times I reached speeds of 30 km/h. However, the further I went the worse the cycling path got. At some point it turned into a gravel path and later into a sandy path. At this point it was rather a hiking path. Cycling it was quite challenging and I wondered if it was the same on the other side of the river!? I don't know. But what I do know is that covering a designated cycling path with sand isn't a good idea. :D
Just a few minutes after I entered Hungary it started to pour. Fantastic! Now it's not only hot, it's even raining and it's still 50 kilometers until Budapest. I tried to hide from the rain under a roof outside of a supermarket and hoped it would stop soon. Time passed but it didn't stop to rain. I put on my rain clothes and simply cycled through the rain to Budapest. Although I didn't get wet from the rain, I was covered in my own sweat due to the high temperatures and humidity.
The rain finally stopped a few kilometers outside of Budapest. It was already dark when I entered the city and I simply followed the road signs to the city center. As I cycled through the city I got a good feeling about this place. I was excited to be here and to explore the city the next days. I was also very surprised about the good bicycle lane infrastructure. It was fun riding through Budapest at night. As soon as I discovered the lightened up Hungarian Parliament Building on the other side of the Danube, I knew that I'd stay here for a few days. It really had a wow-effect on me.
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And if you enjoy reading it a lot, then I'd appreciate if you'd support me with a virtual cup of coffee on Ko-fi. Cheers! :) Click here if you want to take a look at my equipment.
Location: Vienna
Km on the clock: 1,515 I cycled through Nova Bystrice and climbed one last hill. I entered Austria at the Grametten border crossing. I thought about my concerns of the possible language barrier that I had before I entered Czech Republic. Besides a few difficulties on the countryside, everything went well. Good old hand and feet communication also solved these situations.
Cycling in Austria started off with a long downhill section. So I just kept rolling for a while. This is definitely my favorite part of traveling on a bicycle. It's the reward for climbing up a hill and always makes me quickly forget about the hard work getting up there.
The sun already set but I kept pedaling since I didn't cover as many kilometers as I wanted - not today and also not in last couple of days. I planned to be in Vienna the next day to visit friends. I stopped when I was finally too tired and pitched my tent at the edge of a forest. A look at my map made me realize that I had have to cover another 125 kilometers the next day. I never cycled so many kilometers in one day so far in my life.
Natalia and Torben welcomed me with open arms and I stayed with them for a few days. The first day in Vienna I used to recover from the 125k ride. I didn't even know that I was capable to cycle that many kilometers in one day. It made me realize that nutrition plays an important role when it comes to cycling long distances. I also realized that my gear was too heavy. There were a few things that I didn't touch since I left home. Those things I simply left behind at the end of my stay.
Since I've been in Vienna already a few times and saw many sights I decided to visit the one place that I always missed out - Schoenbrunn Castle. I knew that it's a big areal but I had no idea that it's that massive. It's really impressive! I guess the Austrian royals knew how to live life back in the days.
The rest of the time I spent with my friends, relaxed by the Danube, enjoyed the local food and ate lots of ice cream. I went to the nearest ice cream place up to three times a day. Since this year's summer was just crazy hot, I took it as my excuse for my excessive ice cream consumption. :D
After a few nice and relaxing days it was time to say goodbye and I headed off in direction Bratislava. Once again, thank you guys for your hospitality! I highly appreciate it! You're awesome! I followed the Danube River and the EuroVelo 6 signs until I reached Slovakia. If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip school classrooms in Darfur, Sudan. Thank you! And if you enjoy reading it a lot, then I'd appreciate if you'd support me with a virtual cup of coffee on Ko-fi. Cheers! :) Click here if you want to take a look at my equipment.
Location: Nova Bystrice
Km on the clock: 1,390 Just a few kilometers behind the Czech border I made my first 1.000 kilometers on this journey. It took me only two weeks of time. I know I could have been way faster but since I stayed in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden for a few nights I was happy to be here by now. It was the second time ever in my life that I cycled that far. Two years earlier I cycled the length Germany on my crappy old mountain bike which also took me two weeks but without any rest days. Back then I had limited time and basically rushed from on place to another. This time is different since I basically have unlimited time. It makes this trip way more enjoyable and my new bicycle also helps a lot. I really had no idea before that there are such big differences in sense of bikes. I thought: I wish I had this bike already two years ago. That would have made my life so much easier, as I reached the 1.000 kilometers mark. Back then I simply took all the equipment that I already had and just set off which was pretty much the same approach for the preparation of this trip. It works perfectly fine. However, meanwhile I really appreciated my new bicycle.
I arrived in Prague the next day and stayed for a few nights. Prague was the first place on this trip which I was really excited about to visit. I've been here before and always liked it. As soon I got connected to some free Wi-Fi I booked the cheapest hostel that I could find. Getting there was quite a challenge since the provided address led me to the wrong place. The hostel manager sent me the right directions via text message after I called her.
I met Matt from the U.S. at the hostel. He was also a long term traveler and we clicked right away. Together we explored Prague's nightlife. Throughout the days I did lots of sightseeing which also included lots of walking. A lot. My feet hurt at the end of the days which kind of made it more exhausing than sitting in the saddle and riding all day. :D
The city center was packed with tourists. Too much for me. That's probably why I enjoyed walking alongside the Vltava River and discovering the less touristy markets most. The best thing about Prague are the countless the street artists. They're just everywhere and it was a lot of fun to watch their performances - especially the buskers.
The day when I left Prague I made it almost to the city of Votice. Sunshine and rain alternated continuously. I put on and off my rain clothes numerous times. Although I didn't get wet from the rain I was covered in my own sweat. I wondered how much sense it actually made to switch clothes all the time. :D
I followed the cycling trail signs between Votice and Tabor which turned out as the hardest ride that I ever did in my life so far. The road went constantly up and down wherat going downhill was of course a lot of fun. My little bicycle device stated 54 kilometer per hour as I bombed down a hill. Climbing up the steep mountain roads on the other hand was everything else but fun - especially with a fully loaded bicycle. It felt like ages to reach the top of the mountains. Sometimes I pedaled up the hills with an enormous speed of less than 7 kilometers per hour. I was exhausted. I didn't even know if I should laugh or cry as I reached another peak. I was so happy that I made it up here but at the same time I could already see the next steep section which made me want to cry. I took a deep breath, rolled down the hill and tackled the next one. Thus far I usually covered 80-100 kilometers per day but that day I only made 70. However, I was more exhausted than any other day before. It took me one more day to leave Czech Republic and to make it into Austria. If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip school classrooms in Darfur, Sudan. Thank you! And if you enjoy reading it a lot, then I'd appreciate if you'd support me with a virtual cup of coffee on Ko-fi. Cheers! :) Click here if you want to take a look at my equipment.
Location: Nova Bystrice
Km on the clock: 998 The day started with a little disappointment. I just entered the small town Nauen and stopped at a supermarket to stock up for the day. I took off the handlebar bag and the little bicycle computer before I entered the store - as I always do. Apparently I pressed one computer button for too long and accidentally reseted it. Shit! I'm such an idiot. I must have had already 625 kilometers on the clock by then - probably even a little bit more. While I was picnicking outside the store I thought: Does that mean I've to start over now? It still counts right? Oh well, seems like from now on I'll have to add those kilometers. :D I arrived Berlin in the evening the same day. I bought a bottle of wine as a gift for my friend and former roommate Vivian who hosted me the next two nights. During dinner and wine we caught up about what happened in our lives over the past few years. I spent the next day with some sightseeing. I felt good to be in the capital again since it has been a while that I've been here. There's just so much history around here so that you could stay here basically forever to explore it all. However, two days later I left Berlin and was excited to head in direction Czech Republic now and to see its capital Prague soon.
I pedaled for three days through the southern part of Brandenburg and Saxony. One night I pitched my tent at the Inline-Skate-Bahn in Brandenburg. It provides broad cycling lanes and the tarmac of most parts is like new or is about to get renewed. It was great fun to ride around there. While I set up my tent I heard some noise in the bushes nearby - maybe 15 meters away from me. I walked towards it to take a closer look and discovered a big fat wild hog. It ran immediately away when it scented me. I thought: Oh great...at least this time I know what kind of animals are around me at nights and as long it won't try to get into my tent at night then everything is cool!
The two days in Dresden went by really quick. I stayed at a hostel in the Neustadt. Lots of other travelers from all over the world stood there as well. In the eventings we hung out together, chatted and a had a drink, whereas I used the days to explore the city. I visited all the places that I missed last year when I came here with a friend for a weekend trip.
I was excited but also nervous when I left Dresden. Today would be the day that I'd leave Germany and enter Czech Republic. I was excited about all the adventures that would lay ahead of me outside of my home country and nervous how I'd get along in a country where people don't speak my language and maybe not even English.
I pedaled alongside the river Elbe and could already see Czech Republic on the other side of it. I wondered if I was also already in Czech and if I simply missed the border signs. I stopped to ask two ladies biking the other direction - one in her twenties, one in her fifties - if this was already Czech Republic and if there would be some sort of sign at the border. The younger one answered with an American accent: "No, this is still Germany but Czech will come very soon. However, there's no sign which says that you're entering the country." I was a bit disappointed that there wouldn't be a sign to take a picture as proof that I made it accross Germany and that I'd enter the next country any moment. I kept cycling for a few more minutes until I reached the border. The big stony sign stated Czech Republic. How can someone miss that? :D
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Location: Somewhere in Brandenburg
Km on the clock: 612 It's 30th June 2019 at 11 am. I just arrived at Flensburg Hafenspitze (tip of the harbor) after already cycling 20 kilometers from my mom's. The Hafenspitze was the official starting point of my traveling the world on a bicycle journey. It was a hot and sunny day with up to 35 degrees Celsius and the last chance to say goodbye to family and friends. As the bells of a nearby church were ringing at 12 o'clock it was time for some last hugs and kisses and time for me to leave. Now there was no return and the dream finally came true. Due to the heat I needed a first break after already one hour and 20 kilometers outside of Flensburg. I even felt that exhausted that I took a nap on a bench in front of the church in Satrup. :D
The next days I made it through the hilly eastern part of Schleswig-Holstein. Some hills were that steep that my maximum speed was in between 8-10 kilometers per hour and quite a pain in the arse. I realized that it would time some take to get used to a life on a bicycle. Going downhill on the other hand was fun. I reached speeds of up to almost 40 kilometers per hour and made me forget of the frustrations of going uphill immediately.
I spent the first few nights either on campsites or with family or friends. After staying in Hamburg at a friends place for two nights I headed east towards Berlin alongside the river Elbe. Originally I planned to cycle directly in direction Prague from here but I got invited to stay with another friend in Berlin for a few days. I didn't see her for a few years so it would be great opportunity to catch up after such a long time. From now on I camped in the wild every night. That was the adventure that I was looking for. Especially the first night somewhere in nowhere behind the embankment was a bit spooky. I woke up in the middle of the night hearing some grunting right next to my tent. The same creature also seemed to repel its horns on a tree next to me. I didn't know how to react. Should I make noises to chase it away? Or should I keep quiet and wait until it's gone? Since I was simply too tired to chase the beast away, I decided to stay quiet and tried to fall asleep again. That plan worked out pretty well. I guess dealing with the noises of the nights is something that I also have to get used to. :D
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