Serbia

Serbia has been really interesting. People here are very nationalistic and also very bitter that America has been so involved in their politics (all the bridges over the Danube are brand new, after the NATO bombed the old ones to pieces). When talking to people, the subject always seems to come up without us mentioning it. Therefore, we usually pretend that we are Belgian tourists...well, Wim is not really actually pretending.

Many people have said that they are surprised and happy to see tourists coming through the area, because it has been so long since anyone visited the country. Everyone seems to feel that the world has a very bad image of their country, and therefore they can't wait to explain to us what a great nation they are. The low-budget Serbian MTV only shows little fat men in funny traditional clothes playing the accordion and singing about how Kosovo is a part of Serbia.

We are now in Belgrade taking a much needed rest. It is not really cheap here because the exchange rate of the Dinar is controlled. So hotels are expensive, but food is incredibly cheap. Six Euros for an excellent 40cm pizza and 35 Euros for a small dirty hotel.

A sign in our hotel letting us know the different frequencies of sirens in different types of disasters. We can then easily distinguish between a nuclear bomb, our building crumbling to the ground, and an air strike. Very good!

Serbians are even more generous and persistent in offering us drinks and fruit than Croatians.

Every other stop we make, we have to load our panniers with generous gifts. Therefore, we are also not buying any more fruit. We have so many grapes, peaches, and walnuts, plus one liter of vodka, that we can hardly get up any hills. When we finally try to get leave and be on our way again, the people we visit always make sure to give us their address, so that when we can write them a nice postcard.

People also like to honk and wave at us. However, it can get old really fast when large trucks and cars are honking at you from all sides of the road.

Tomorrow we will be off again, this time taking a random road to the north of the Danube, in hopes of avoiding the heavy traffic and crazy honking. There are hardly any towns on that side of the river, and with no hopes of crossing (maybe we could pay a fisherman?), it means that we are going to have to stock up on food, and get ready to start filtering Danube water. After a day or two, depending on the road conditions, we will be heading into Romania for another 1000 or so km. From what we have read, Romania is very poor, with mostly farming and hardly any hotels, shops, or restaurants. If you want some food, you have to ask a farmer. If we want a place to set up our tent, we will have to ask a farmer. It will be really cool though, just like Europe hundred of years ago!