Day 60 - Belgrade to Smederevo

61.5 km - Total so far 3,322.2 km - Route pedalled.      Relive Video (with pictures)

Video of the day: Europe Day 60                        1,146 Left to pedal

We are safe and secure in Smederevo, Serbia.

We left the apartment at 8:15 to get a good head start on the traffic. Belgrade is a big city and although they have bike paths, there is no guarantee that everything will connect seamlessly.

Our first stop was the Orthodox Church. It’s a huge building and the interior is spectacular.

With the quick church visit done, we back on the road. It was a long climb getting out of Belgrade but it was relaxed. Once we were outside of city limits, we had to contend with much faster traffic. We still got plenty of clearance when passed but the speed of the cars is what gets to you. Our route today offered a few opportunities to take less busy side roads and even abandoned roads. The scenery was at times spectacular but difficult to capture on an IPhone. 

We had climbs before and after lunch. We also had to repair another flat. I thoroughly checked the inside if my tire to find what punctured my tube and found nothing. I used  the spare tire today, a new tube and no problems so far. The plan is to re-inspect the tire later today and hopefully find something.

At lunch, we met Henri a fellow touring cyclists from France who is also following the Sultans Trail. He started in Vienna and he has not yet decided how far he intends to ride for the day. He is a lot quicker than we are. We wish him well in his travels. 

Our lunch spot

Hélène decided that we needed a large bag of local cherries to take along with us  and got one from a street vendor.

Entering Smederevo we did a quick tour of the Fortress.  A couple more climbs and we were home. The owner, Marko, offered us drinks on the house and a nice chat. 

Hélène walking her bike up

We had a nice walk to the grocery store and on the way back we stopped at the local dépanneur looking for bananas. In the process, we discovered that the little dépanneur on the side of the road was very well stocked. These dépanneurs were everywhere in Belgrade. 

We will sleep well tonight and tomorrow we are heading towards Velika Plana.

Marko in the background