The short story: Kat and I made a wrong turn need to get our Chinese visas and are back in the USA for 3 weeks.

The long story: After doing some further research, the Chinese visas we thought we could get while abroad actually needed to be applied for while in the USA. Previous cycle tourists used to get the visa while on the silk road, but recent changes by the Chinese government have made this all but impossible. Faced with this, we could either fly back to Pittsburgh and apply through the local embassy or significantly alter our planned route. Worse yet, we needed to make a decision fast because we would be entering Turkey soon and China recently started hassling applicants with Turkish stamps in their passports, sometimes denying the applications outright.

After deliberating, we decided to bite the bullet and fly home from Belgrade before going farther. We arrived late last night and FedEx’d our visa applications first thing this morning, crossing our fingers we budgeted enough time to get everything approved before our return flight on June 18th.

As for our bicycles, they’re safely waiting for us in Belgrade. We owe a huge thank you to Milena and Vladimir, two fellow cyclists in Serbia who agreed to store them for us in their basement.

In the mean time, Kat and I took advantage of the unexpected trip home by bringing back our now unnecessary winter gear, freeing up some space in the panniers. We’re also going to shop around for a different saddle for Kat (#4 is a lucky number, right?). She’s currently in cat heaven as she reunites with her two kitties Patrick and Calvin.

Now with three weeks of R&R in the ‘burgh to kill, we’ll be making the most of it by hanging with friends, riding our tandem, and mapping out our .GPX routes from Bulgaria to the Chinese border.

*Bonus puppy pic*

Kat and I rolled into Belgrade with a few days to see the city. Our AirBnb host let us know that they also ran a food tour if we were interested. We didn’t have much planned yet and we love food (we eat it most days) so we signed up immediately.

The tour started at a local, open-air market lined with small booths owned by people from the area selling produce from their gardens and nearby farms. Our host narrated the history of the market whilst we grabbed ingredients for dinner. He also procured us some rakija (Balkan moonshine) from one vendor to “help with digestion”. We couldn’t tell if our digestion improved but enjoyed the early morning shots all the same.

We spent the rest of the morning snacking on pastries, pork cracklin’s, and beers as we continued to meander across Belgrade’s many bars, museums, and orthodox churches with our excellent guide. He regaled to us the history of Serbia and his past as a local restaurant owner. This prior occupation made him quite popular apparently, as his old friends and colleagues bumped into us constantly along the walk. Our host loved telling people we were cycling from Paris to Hong Kong which always gets the same, bewildered expression regardless of where we are in the world.

We spent the evening with our host, his family, and some of their friends enjoying drinks and dinner. He lived up to his reputation and was an incredible chef. He was also very generous with the rakija and wine because Kat and I got totally blitzed.

Eventually the music came on and we danced to some contemporary Serbian jams with our hosts. Their son and I took turns playing on the electric drum kit. We had more wine and ended up hanging with our new friends till late. Kat and I headed home to sleep off our inevitable hangovers.

Our last full day in Belgrade, we headed up to the fortress overlooking the meeting point of the two rivers of the city. By sheer luck, there was a rather large festival going on. I celebrated with some cevapcici (Serbian kebab) and beer. Kat celebrated by getting her face painted with a floral take on Mike Tyson.

 

Belgrade was a fun time overall. It’s an incredibly old city with a long history. It was sad to see the more recent history as many of the buildings still show scars from the conflict in the 90’s. In spite of this, the one things that struck us most is the incredible kindness and friendliness of the Serbians. Needless to say, we had a great time and can’t wait to continue on.

 

We’ve been really enjoying Serbia, with its friendly people and beautiful weather. Since our last update, we’ve had some luck with the trails improving. While we still ride on the roads or are greeted by the occasional dead end, we’ve had some nice relaxing river trails as well. These bits were made even better by the wild life! Among the little dung beetles hastily rolling along the path, we came across three big wild boars. They ran in front of us, and running behind them were their 10 little piglets. We’ve also loved that Serbia’s bike signs have consistently had neat little quotes on them.

On our way to Novi Sad, we happened to pull through a little festival happening in a town center. Traditional music played as people sold flowers, succulents, crocheted goods, and lots of ceramic yard ornaments. Kyle and I grabbed some langos and enjoyed the cheerful atmosphere. We even ran into a cyclist we passed earlier in the day, a young Australian man who was cycling from London To Istanbul. As we go further along our trip, we find more and more people on big cycling adventures. Kyle and I have agreed it’s much easier to tell people we’re headed to Hong Kong now that we’ve gone a good distance.

Yesterday afternoon, we were heading towards Belgrade but were unsure of if we would camp or grab a cheap room. Luckily we pulled through a little village right before the rain hit and found a home advertising rooms. When we knocked, a somewhat surprised older woman answered the gates and immediately lead us back to the quaint little cottage in the back, her chickens trotting closely behind us. We enjoyed the night cozied up with the giant painting of some saint overlooking our bed.

Today, we did an easy 45 km into Belgrade. We entered along the Danube and saw the almost endless line of river clubs and party barges that lined the coast. My favorite was the eerily half sunken one inconspicuously nestled among the rest…Tomorrow we’ll go and explore the city!

Bonus fez and a pot:

“They don’t make them like they used to”

Since leaving Budapest, the EuroVelo 6 trail in Hungary has left something to be desired…but perhaps France and Germany spoiled us with their well paved and frequently marked trails. Hungary’s designated trails seem to be either unmaintained dike paths (at one point we ended up “riding” through knee high grass for a mile or so) to busy highways with no shoulder. Luckily, European drivers have been nothing but courteous and given us tons of room and an occasional “good on ya” honk. We did enjoy getting briefly stuck behind a farmer herding his sheep and goats, and watched as the sheep dogs effortlessly cleared us a path through.

Wednesday was a windy and rainy 60 miles, and when we got to our destination, we found that the “bike cabin” we planned to stay in and dry off was booked full and that all the surrounding inns were closed. Being in a suburban area, we couldn’t easily stealth camp and decided to go up to a family hanging outside and ask them if we could camp in their yard. Instead, they called to the owner of the booked hotel nearby and he came right over and showed us in to his personal guest house. Him and his wife were so sweet, bringing us cakes and coffee and making sure we were toasty after the chilly day. From what we understood, he owned most of the town, and from the expanse of liquor bottles, foosball table, and electric instruments lining the banquet hall of their guest house, he probably threw some great parties.

Today, we decided to simply stay on the highway rather than take a rather large detour by following the EuroVelo 6. From what we heard from other cyclists, the trails were just as bad as before and the highways were lightly trafficked. We rode a breezy 20 miles before arriving at our first overland border crossing – Serbia! We had our passports stamped and were greeted by some welcome signs. Kyle and I have not stopped referencing Serbia’s welcoming quote since we passed it. Very interesting…

Already, Serbia has been a friendly and welcoming country. We’ve gotten plenty of hellos as we’ve rode by, but my favorite by far were the stern head nods of two 10 year old boys riding a motorcycle 😂. We got into the town Sombor and grabbed some pastries to eat in the yard before heading to bed.

We scouted out Budapest with a bike tour like in Munich. Apparently, we were the only people who signed up, so it became a very reasonably priced private tour of the city.

We took in the key tourist sights while our guide narrated the history of the city. To sum it up, there’s still a lot of animosity towards the soviets from their post-WWII meddling in Hungarian autonomy. They terrorized the population, really flubbed up the economy, and are remembered about as fondly as the national socialists before them. Many of the original communist monuments have had their hammer and sickles taken off.

We treated ourselves to some traditional Hungarian street food afterwards: Langos (basically funnel cake dough but with savory toppings) and Chimney Cakes (a crispy, sweet dough tube filled with your choice of ingredients).

Our last day in Budapest was forecast to be miserably cold and rainy so we headed to the Gellert bathhouse. Inside were an assortment marble-clad pools of varying size and temperature under beautiful tile mosaic ceilings. We blew through a few hours just lounging in the hot water that streams from the fountains at the back of each thermal bath.

Budapest was my favorite city by far and I wish we’d scheduled more time to explore it. If we had another day, I’d check out the local caves and maybe hit up one of the art museums (and definitely revisit the thermal baths). Rested and relaxed, Kat and I prepped ourselves for the last few days of riding in Hungary before we cross our first (actual) border into Serbia.

When we left Bratislava, we decided to do some long days in an attempt to get to Budapest before the oncoming storm (and headwinds) came through. We did three 60 mile days and then a breezy 25 miles today, and even got some sunshine 😊

The roads in Hungary are extremes. They’re either brand new, buttery smooth bike paths or a potholed shoulder on a heavily trafficked road. The food is great and cheap which only reinforces our decision to live off bakery pastries and pizza. We’ve had some awesome experiences and met some wonderful people the last two days. The first was our air b&b host last night, where we stayed in their little grandma cottage they had in their back yard. Our host invited us to dinner where her husband cooked us amazing potatoes, mushrooms, and sausage over the campfire while she shared some very sweet (but good) Czech liquor. We all hung out in their garden and had great conversation, including their 12 year old daughter who enjoyed hearing us attempt to pronounce Hungarian words. Not to mention, they had the sweetest rescue pup (whose name we also could not pronounce) that helped with our dog withdrawal.

The second was running into a pair of Canadian sisters who were cycling from Passau to Budapest. We spent part of yesterday cycling with them and then by sheer luck, managed to bump into again this morning as we came into the city. I love running into other cyclists on their own adventures and getting to make new friends. We plan to get some dinner with them tomorrow, and who knows, maybe we can convince them to come to Hong Kong? 😂

After finding our cute little air b&b for the next couple days, we followed the music that we heard blasting outside and found a little festival going on. “Europa-nap” was celebrating Hungary becoming a part of the EU 15 years ago. We enjoyed some pulled-pork sandwiches, beer, and a live band called “Elefant”. We’re loving Hungary already ❤️

Tomorrow we’ll try explore a little and look into getting visas for China 🇨🇳

Slovakia! We made short work of the ride from Austria and settled into our AirBnb for a couple nights to check out Bratislava. We still don’t speak a lick of Slovak, but our German and English were sufficient for communicating that we wanted beer and perogies.

Most of what we know of Bratislava is from 2004’s hit teen movie ‘Eurotrip’. The exchange here rate was good but not “buy your own hotel for $0.05” good that we’d been led to believe. Figuring Eurotrip may not be the most accurate take on Slovakia, we went out into the old town of the city, taking in the typical tourist spots including the impressive Bratislava castle on the hill overlooking the capital and the “working man”, a statue of a cheeky looking guy poking out of a manhole.

We saw a familiar name as well! Both this restaurant and a Koliba Park nearby 😀

Unfortunately, the morning we left Bratislava was pretty unnerving. We had a random woman harass us in the stairwell of the apartment as we were leaving our AirBnb. The language barrier seemed to upset her further and I just had to stand there and shrug until she finally got it out of her system and left in a huff. We still have no idea what set her off. A few minutes later, we popped in a nearby grocery to grab some breakfast for our ride. Before we could pedal away, we heard loud shouting and the sounds of a struggle from the store. A man who had been a few spots behind us in the grocery line was getting mugged and fighting the would-be thief. They spilled out onto the street in front of us and the thief sprinted off with the man’s backpack. We decided to bounce and eat the rest of our breakfast someplace quieter. Overall, not the farewell we were hoping for from Bratislava.

Our pace has increased and we will be in Budapest in a few days time. Here’s hoping Hungary has more positive experiences in store.

Vienna (or Wien in German) was our largest city to check out since Paris. Given how large it was (and a forecast for more cold and rain), we decided to invest in a weekend pass for the public trams and subway.

Our first stop on the itinerary was Schönbrunn palace- a massive estate and garden rivaling Versailles. This was also on everyone else’s itinerary too apparently as there was a two hour wait just to get inside. We said heck to that and went to an aquarium instead.

Vienna’s aquarium is housed in a former WWII flak tower in downtown. It’s a skinny building using each of its 13 floors to house a different exhibit. The view from the top was excellent. Our favorite was an open-air room filled with monkeys, fruit bats, and other cute animals that could approach visitors without barriers. We didn’t have the heart to to tell the Viennese that these weren’t fish and technically shouldn’t be in an aquarium.

Our last day in Vienna, we hit up a cat cafe and an old amusement park. The cat cafe was cute and quiet, but it seemed liked the animals were pretty sick of the tourists and kept to themselves. Kat enjoyed herself but will likely get her cat addiction fix by continuing to try to pet every stray cat we see on the road.

Prater Park is an old amusement park (featured in 1949’s classic movie The Third Man). Entry is free and all the rides are run by independent operators like a local fair. We did a lap and hopped on a giant swing ride to see the city from high up. Orson Welles didn’t show up during our visit, but we did see some terrifying statues that were probably in a Cronenberg film.

Tomorrow we ride over to Bratislava. We just got used to speaking German instead of French, so I’m sure we’ll nail Slovak.

The last few days since leaving Passau have been pretty rainy, but I don’t mind at all with the giant tail wind these storms have brought! Nothing’s better than seeing the trees bending in the right direction while you fly along in your highest gear without breaking a sweat.

All the rain has also brought out some cool critters! We’ve now become accustomed to playing “dodge the snail” during these drizzly days (I am losing with a score of 2), but we’ve been seeing some monster slugs as well. The coolest by far however are the fire salamanders! I saw one waddling across the road and almost fell off the bike from excitement. I perhaps should not have poked one, as I later learned they’re very poisonous, but I seem to be doing alright…

We’ve lucked out so far on not having to set up our tent in the rain and have been staying in the many great campsites Austria has to offer. Of course my favorite of these last couple sites was the one with the extremely friendly cat that ran over to us and kept us company while we made dinner. I was less fond of the night we had to cook up pasta in the rain…(we hid under a large tree, occasionally sprinting out to stir the pot)

As we’ve been riding along the Danube, we’ve mostly been surrounded by large, craggy hillsides. It’s made for some great scenery, especially when the fog rolls in. Kyle and I noticed that many of these hills will have farmland climbing up their sides, appearing as steps of small fields. Among the farmland is a sprinkling of ancient castles and churches; some maintained, some taken back by the land.

We arrived in Vienna this afternoon, and have been listening to the rain in our cozy air b&b. Tomorrow we go explore!

Bonus: you can find home wherever you are…