After our first night in Serbia, we cycled out of Bezdan along the Euro Velo 6 route. Even though we’ve only been less than 20 hours in Serbia, we already have a soft spot for it due to the warm welcome we’ve received, the lovely accommodation we found in Bezdan and the amazing mixed grill for dinner we had in a small local restaurant the night before.
In Serbia, veganism isn’t trending yet…
We had a long day in front of us as we decided, due to the lack of accommodation in this area of Serbia, to spend the next night across the Danube in Vukovar (Croatia). To cut the 120 km route short, I’ve reprogrammed Komoot to take a 20 km shortcut which showed as a dotted line on the app and as a track on Google maps. This could have easily gone wrong as sometimes such routes end up being grassy or muddy tracks, difficult or impossible to cycle.
Not this time though! We were presented with a brand new, minor road with the smoothest of tarmac and with the wind in our back, we were flying along the road!
As we went along, we came across several signposts directing us towards the Amazon of Europe. Curiosity was setting in...
…What is the Amazon of Europe?…
“Extending through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Serbia, the Mura, Drava and Danube Rivers form one of the great wetlands of the world – The Amazon of Europe.
The Amazon of Europe is the first protected area in the world managed across 5 countries and designated by UNESCO.”
Our itinerary never considered to visit The Amazon of Europe nor, to be honest, did we know it even exists, as we all of a sudden entered this lovely, vast area of wetlands & forests.
Full of anticipation to see Amazon river dolphins jumping out of the waters, swarms of colourful parrots flying around, red howler monkeys making a fracas high up in the trees and huge black caimans crossing the road in front of us, we ended up settling in with reality, and just followed, in the shade of trees and accompanied by the singing of birds, the bumpy track of badly tarmacked or gravelled roads through the wetlands.
Our track mostly followed along a bank, with waterways, wooded areas and scrubs interspersed with some agricultural land alongside it. Here and there we came across some properties built at the bottom of the bank. Some were looking like holiday properties and others more like smallholdings occupied by their owners. Several hobby fishermen tended their quiet business too.
It was a very peaceful, Orthodox Easter Sunday ride in the woods!...
…Until we found the Schnaps…
Right above one of those properties, Rebecca stopped, waiting for me to catch up as I was taking some pictures further back.
As I approached, we could hear voices shouting from the property ‘Dodi ovamo, dodi ovamo’!
A middle aged lady came up the steps, beckoning us down to her property.
‘Dodi ovamo’ (we later found out means ‘come here’) was also several times accompanied by the word ‘schnaps’ which was more familiar to us!
Accepting the invitation, we walked down to this smallholding and were greeted by Ana & Stipan, the owners of the house and their friends Pajo and Vlado who just returned from some early morning fishing.
On the table were a bottle of water and a bottle of homemade apple schnaps! As it was Orthodox Easter Sunday, the four seemed to celebrate the holy day with some early morning shots – after all, it was already passed 11 AM… and we joined in!
Communication wasn’t easy but they did speak a little German and so we got to know that Ana & Stipan live at this property in an almost self-sufficient way. Goats, chickens, geese, dozens of rabbits – all eventually ending up on a plate. Then they had several small greenhouses growing vegetables and there was also an orchard to make some delicious homemade apple juice (yes, we tasted some of this as well) and of course, lots of schnaps! Stipan claimed he has 1000 liters of it in the cellar!
Their pantry in an outbuilding was full of homemade pickled vegetables, chutneys, cordials and other delights too!
..Ace Pigeons..
What Stipan was particularly proud of is his success as a national & international Ace Pigeon breeder (pigeons competing in long distance races of several 100 kilometers). His lounge was decorated with many trophies & certificates and he currently has about 50 pigeons in his aviary.
Vlado then fed the dogs and cats with some of his catch of the day (no piranhas seen…) and soon after, with a bottle of homemade apple juice for each of us, we also got back on the bank and cheerily pedaled off waving a last big ‘thank you’ to Ana and Stipan, realizing it’s safer to keep the hands on the handlebars for now…
Serbia(ns) we love you!
We are just amazed with all your comments and stories. We love it.