Countries visited: Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania
Cycled mileage in May: 1,905.1km
Cycled mileage per country: 112.1km Austria, 229.5km Slovakia, 376.9km Hungary, 859.8km Serbia, 326.8km Romania
Total cycled mileage incl. May: 3,141.8km
May mileage not cycled 104.4km (walking)
Days per country: 1d - Austria, 3d - Slovakia, 6d - Hungary, 15d - Serbia, 6d - Romania
Days cycling: 22d
Technical failures: 2 Punctures, 2 broken spokes, 1 split tyre
Link to this month's route
We finished April in Melk. Between Melk and Vienna stretches the Wachau region which we had been looking forward to riding there. No need to mention that the weather had changed from sunny to grey once more. It would have been an enjoyable ride through endless fruit plantations which have made the Wachau region famous - but as things stood with the weather it wasn't too much fun. We called it a day when we reached the outskirts of Vienna.
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| Simon exploring the "Nose of Wachau" |
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| Fruit plantations in the Wachau region |
There was no need to visit Vienna once more as we both had been there before. Instead we opted for an early start in the hope to get to the Slovakian border and to the nearby Slovakian capital Bratislava before the forecasted rain would set in. Naturally the plan didn't work out and we arrived to Bratislava in a thunderstorm.
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| The "Pressburg", the castle of Bratislava |
The weather forecast looked disastrous and we were concerned we would have to spend a week there. Luckily the forecast was wrong and when the sun came out on our second day in town we happily set off. Shortly after Bratislava we crossed into Hungary and cycled along the border for most of the day.
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| Crossing the Slovakian - Hungarian border |
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| Nesting storks along the way |
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| Old town of Gyoer |
We made it to Gyoer early in the afternoon and decided to carry on after a short lunch break. After Gyoer our luck turned and the weather changed from sunny to rainy. There was nowhere to stay along the way so we figured our best option would be to continue to Komárno back on the Slovakian side. We made it there in the end, rain-soaked and after a long 140 kilometres in the saddle.
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| Tons of hunting trophies in our guesthouse in Komárno |
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| Rather random dinner after a long day |
We woke up from the sound of rain and quickly decided to extend our stay in Komárno by one day. Later the weather cleared up a bit and we took our chance to visit Komárno fortress. Even though it is rather dilapidated today, it once was the largest stronghold of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
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| Fortress of Komárno |
The next morning the weather was back to sunny and we set off towards Budapest. Another unexpected thunderstorm in the afternoon forced us to stop in Vác for the night. We slept at the local museum that serves as a hostel at the same time. A pretty cool experience!
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| Crossing the border to Hungary once more |
We easily reached Budapest the next day. Even after several visits to the Hungarian capital it remains a place that fascinates both of us. We spent 2 days there strolling around and taking a well deserved time off from cycling.
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| Hungarian Parliament by night |
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| Liberty Bridge in Budapest |
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| Matthias Church |
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| Chain Bridge |
Even after 2 days in Budapest we still felt tired and after a leisurely ride along the Danube to Dunaföldvár we took another day off there. We also had the first puncture on this journey. Luckily it happened at the end of the day and Simon had to push his bike only for the last 100 metres or so to the camp site.
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| Enjoying the nature along the Danube |
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| 1000-year old oak tree |
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| Fixing the first puncture after 1900 kilometres |
After another rain day on the way from Dunaföldvár to Baja we decided to leave the Danube valley and to head further east instead. So we crossed the Hungarian-Serbian border and reached the picturesque city Subotica with its Art-Nouveau-style buildings.
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| Hungarian citiy Baja - in a rain shower |
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| Cycling through the Puszta, the great Hungarian plain |
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| Serbian entry stamp |
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| City hall of the Serbian Art-Nouveau city Subotica |
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| Synagogue |
Dominik's workmate Stefan kindly arranged for us to stay with family of his girlfriend in Timișoara in western Romania. Actually this meant a quite significant detour but we had wanted to see Timișoara for quite some time and happily took this chance. From Subotica we carried on to Kikinda at the Serbian - Romanian border and another day of cycling eventually took us to Timișoara.
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| Centre of Kikinda |
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| Dark clouds on the way from Kikinda to Timișoara |
We spent a weekend with Ari and Mihai who made a tour through Timișoara with us. Thank you so much for your hospitality!
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| Cathedral of Timișoara from the outside... |
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| ...and from the inside |
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| Strolling around downtown Timișoara with our hosts |
After 2 days in Timișoara we headed back into Serbia to Zrenjanin. The ride wasn't too pleasant with roads either in awful condition or with an awful lot of traffic on them. Sometimes both at the same time. Short before Zrenjanin disaster struck - there was a broken spoke on Dominik's rear wheel. On closer inspection we discovered another broken spoke on Simon's rear wheel. We found a nice homestay a bit off from the city centre and tried to fix the wheels instantly.
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| Fixing the broken spokes |
After some research we're pretty sure that the spoke tension on the wheel sets we bought was just too low. Luckily we carried spare spokes and after replacing the spokes we re-trued the wheels and tensioned all spokes. It is still a bit annoying that the wheel builder did such a shoddy job and that we didn't build the wheels on our own like we did with the bikes!
From Zrenjanin we continued to Novi Sad where we explored the amazing Petrovaradin Fortress.
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| View over Novi Sad |
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| Petrovaradin Fortress |
The next day we were back on the bikes and on our way to Serbian capital Belgrade. It was a pretty unpleasant ride along busy highways but finally Belgrade got in sight - and disaster struck again. Dominik's rear tyre split on the side wall. Luckily we made it to our hostel anyway.
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| Split Tyre |
We spent four great days in Belgrade, strolling around the city, finding a new tyre and filing a complaint with the manufacturer of our tyres. Eventually it was time to say goodbye to the amazing staff at Trip and Sleep Hostel.
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| Sunset at the Kalemegdan fortress in Belgrade |
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| Belgrade old town |
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| Kalemegdan fortress |
From Belgrade we continued along the Danube to Smederevo, Veliko Gradište and on to the Iron Gate. We did not only meet amazing people, we also discovered picturesque medieval fortresses in Ram and Golubac and we passed through amazing gorges and valleys. The way was quite exhausting with uphill climbs and dozens of narrow tunnels.
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| Smederevo fortress |
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| Riding on the Danube dam near Ram |
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| Ram fortress |
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| Sunset along the Danube |
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| Camping near Veliko Gradište |
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| Near Golubac |
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| Camp site near Golubac |
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| Dozens of tunnels along the Iron Gate |
After a total of 15 days we left Serbia and rode on to Craiova in Romania. Getting there was a slog. Not only was it awfully hot, we were also chased by stray dogs dozens of times and there is a serious lack of accommodation in the south west of Romania.
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| No accommodation available so this kind family invited us! |
We arrived in Craiova just in time for a music festival and spent one day longer there than we originally planned.
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| Festival in Craiova |
With the lack of accommodation we had made a plan to get to Romanian capital Bucharest that would lead through some big enough cities to find hotels there. Considering the cheap prices of hotel rooms we couldn't be bothered with camping. A good decision - our first stop en route to Bucharest was lacklustre Caracal where we had the most amazing hotel room ever for a ridiculous price. A perfect way to finish the first complete month on the road.
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| Hotel in Caracal |
