Balkans 9. Serbia at speed

 

covers 30 April - 6 May 2024

shopping in Kumanova, North Macedonia
before crossing into Serbia

                    

Most of you will already know that we never really work out much of what we’re going to be doing on these trips so the whole thing tends to be less like having a plan than a concept. So after seeing the Bee-eaters, being mindful of the time we had left before our ferry from Dieppe and with nothing booked, we just headed for the border into Serbia. No difficulties, just straight through. It was our seventh different country of this trip and we knew we weren’t able to spend much time in Serbia if we were going to have any time in Normandy before catching the ferry home. Even so, our idea now was that in the event of finding a decent site we’d have a break day and not go anywhere. Luckily we did find a good site not too far into Serbia (Camping Enigma, oddly named as there was no code to get into the shower block) and we had a couple of quiet days. The owner, in his 30’s or thereabouts was friends with the people who ran the site we had stayed on at Lake Ohrid. I think that indicates how small the camping owner community is here but maybe it was merely a coincidence.

breakfast on a site set in a pear orchard
 - pear Raki was supplied on arrival

Unusually, we then had fairly gloomy weather for a couple of days during which we moved back into the mountains of the Kopaonik NP Where it was very gloomy indeed with lots of conifers. Our trusty van had begun grumbling noisily around the front of the vehicle for a few days and it was getting worse. Steering ? Brakes ? Whatever it was we finally decided that it and steep unprotected mountain roads with hairpin bends made for an uncomfortable pairing and we should start to decide to think about doing something.

a typical farming area view in western Serbia

and a very grand wooden house in local style

Our next site had been recommended by the previous site owner and his father happened to be visiting this one when we arrived. Through another friend of this group who spoke good English (the amazingly helpful Robert, a Serbian from Novi Sad) we asked if there was a garage we could take the van to in order to get it checked over. We were assured that someone would come to the site the following evening. Mmm. I must point out truthfully but also of course for dramatic effect that we asked this in the late afternoon of a Wednesday which happened to be a public holiday in the same week that Orthodox Christian Easter Friday fell. So what odds would you put on a successful outcome ? On the Thursday morning Heather was just walking to the office to say that we’d be very happy to drive to a garage. She met Robert on the way who said “the mechanics are coming” and half an hour or so later, there they were. Two brothers who jacked up the van and discovered that our brake pads were completely worn out and had damaged the drums. We’d had a full service on the van two weeks before we left home and so are not happy, although the various people who wandered up to see the state of the English brakes were no doubt very entertained. The brothers got the parts and fixed the whole thing on the campsite all in a couple of hours. I’d put the chances of getting that work done on an English campsite at considerably less than zero. The brothers charged their time at only 15 Euros an hour and even tried to refuse a tip. However, one handy thing about this episode was that in our ignorance, we’d not been too worried.

our efficient Serbian mechanic brothers
- with an appreciative audience

the landscape near the start of the Sargan 8

Moving on slightly north and west we were off to the Sargan 8 which is a big attraction in western Serbia and lies close to the Bosnia and Hercegovina border. Sargan 8 is a train ride through some difficult terrain and it has to lose height quickly. By using 22 tunnels, 10 bridges/viaducts and sharp curves it drops about 1,000 feet over a horizontal distance of only 2.2 miles. The line crosses back and forth across itself at different heights so the line is sometimes below the train in a lower tunnel. Looked at from above the loops form a huge figure 8, hence the name. Definitely worth a ride and an astounding piece of engineering. Just imagine surveying it before any digging started.

the Sargan 8 train

Spartan carriages but with a fire supplied

Unsurprisingly this train is very popular and sells out quickly, so I waited in the car park while Heather went to see if tickets happened to be available on this Easter Saturday morning. If you don’t ask and all that. So she goes to the ticket office and says “are there any seats for the 10.30 train” “no, they are all sold but there are seats on the 12.00”. We decided that we weren’t going to wait. Then we decided we would after all go for the 12.00 as we were highly unlikely to ever be here again. So back we went “are there tickets for the 10.30” “yes, there are standing room tickets for the 10.30”. The moral of the story is to try to ask the right question. As it happened the train was half empty anyway and we could sit wherever we wanted but in practice everyone stood up to look at the views.

a rail car displayed at the main station

and a rail bike further down the line

This incredible piece of engineering used to be part of the Belgrade to Dubrovnik line which is over 300 miles by road. The train is narrow gauge at only about 2 feet 6 inches so it rocks side to side a lot and I imagine causes the rail equivalent of seasickness very easily over a long distance.

a plan of the line

As we turned towards home and on almost the last day of driving in the Balkans we experienced something that any younger readers of this blog probably never have experienced. As we drove along and only for twenty seconds or so there were quiet popping noises and we realised that it was insects being spattered on the windscreen. A distant memory suddenly brought back.

we all know that the Danube is a very big river - and this is just a tributary, the River Sava

We have paid tolls on quite a lot of major roads on this trip, some of them collected by a person sat in a toll booth taking the equivalent of only about 60 pence a vehicle. As I imagine most people do, we always try to run our cash down as we’re about to leave a country with a unique currency and Serbian Dinars for instance are not much use anywhere else. As we approached our final road toll booth in Serbia at the border we saw that the toll was 160 dinars (about £1.15), I had only 150 dinars left and the woman collecting the cash just waved us through into Croatia.

This trip was originally going to be Balkans 2020 when we were still travelling full-time but then Covid appeared and that put a stop to it. We’re both very pleased that we finally got here and it has been a great experience, seeing more countries and meeting more people who have been extremely welcoming and friendly. Unfortunately I fear they would not get the same welcome if they were visiting England. It might be that culturally we were treated as guests rather than tourists at campsites especially with camping being somewhat of a novelty in places. We were welcomed at a number of sites with home made Raki (a bit like Kirsch) or wine, and a chat. When we arrived at the campsite where our brakes were fixed, the owner’s family and friends were in the middle of a big outdoor meal and we were encouraged to join them for a plate of goulash.

For all the differences we’ve seen there are behavioural aspects which appear to be common in many diverse countries. Two spring to mind. Wherever it is (other than Vietnam*), people crossing a road in front of traffic all use the same semi-run/fast walk and then at about three-quarters of the way across they slow to a stroll. The other is that on campsites most people keep their distance, there may be a nod from someone or someone who thinks everybody wants to hear their stories but generally it’s all fairly distant. However, whenever some outfit is leaving, many people seem to go out of their way to wave goodbye (or good riddance, perhaps).

in France near Chamonix on the way home

just leaving our site near Chamonix and heading for Dieppe

and the reason all those mountain passes were closed
and we had to use the Mont Blanc tunnel again

When we finally got home after this major seven week trip, we’d driven 5,200 miles at 33.3mpg. To put that distance into some sort of context, it’s approximately the same as driving from New York to Las Vegas. And back.

As a closing comment I’ve decided that this has been a lower case trip, we visited all those countries and we haven’t bothered with any Capitals. Yes that is dreadful but once I realised, I just had to use it. I beg forgiveness.

* in Vietnam, you just walk at a steady pace across the road at whatever angle to the kerb you choose through the traffic. As long as you maintain a steady course with no hesitating or turning round for instance, the traffic just flows around you like water around a rock in a river and while it is definitely disconcerting that’s how it’s done.