Top night in Bačka Palanka. Such a friendly place, great atmosphere and feel to it. The hotel too was so welcoming with a bottomless breakfast. Pretty sure the guys who set the budgets for these places did not plan for cycle tourists descending upon their fare like a one man locust plague.
Today was going to be a short one, only 40KM to Novi Sad which is the second largest city in Serbia. Even the exit from Bačka Palanka was wonderful with a sunny morning along tree lined streets. As I was looking at my map, a taxi driver with customer stopped to ask if I needed any help and later on down the street, he had stopped and waited to make sure I had understood and then went onto give me even more precise directions.
Traffic was OK although the roads were peppered with dead dogs that had not made the crossing, I did not want to fall into the same trap.
I continued along the main route and briefly considered the other option of an unsurfaced dyke which would probably have been prettier. However the traffic was not heavy and the trucks, like the people, were friendly and gave me plenty of room when they did occasionally appear. To be honest, I was ready for a day or two off in a big city and that was my main focus.
As I rode along, there was a rather strange looking object in a field, consisting of a wooden pole with another wooden horizontal element which had a bucket at one end and a wheel complete with tyre balancing it out on the other. I have absolutely no idea what this is for, maybe a piece of art? I would love to find out.
The entry into the city included passing either a club or a gym, but either way it had a cool feature of a helicopter stuck on the side. Novi Sad has recently been awarded the European Youth Capital, so figured it could be both.
The sun was on full blast as I eventually located my hotel down some side streets with the most fabulous receptionist ever called Blaise. She reminded me of my friend Ingrid back home, bursting with energy and a killer smile.
Unloaded my stuff straight away and hit the town for a chilled lunch of a very healthy salad and beer before wandering around. So many pretty buildings, streets lined with restaurants and I just loved this place.
I was a bit knackered and it was hot, so I headed back to the hotel for a nap, what a luxury. However I did get up later on to catch the sun setting over the city and hung around old city and drank coffee.
The place was packed with students and truth be told, I felt a bit lonely and could have done with some company.
So I headed off to an Irish bar and that did the trick. No actual Irish people but everyone could speak English and I downed a few beers. I would probably live to regret it the next morning and although it wasn't exactly immersion in the local culture, I did have a fun evening.
I did leave behind my fleece top though. Ooops.
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