Driving through and past embassies on the tree lined avenues constructed at the same time as Andrassy Street; some buildings perfectly preserved, some needing work. Some new buildings.... odd..
Driving south out of Budapest was straightforward.. I was hoping to drive past a supermarket to buy a few toiletries, maybe an Aldi or a Lidl but surprised to see a sign for a....
It was enormous.. really a huge warehouse and pretty sold everything.. and more....
Not something provided in Tetbury....
Moving on.. southern Hungary is pretty, relentlessly flat. pretty much 400ft elevation all the way.. huge, expansive fields, mostly corn readying for harvest. The traffic thinned out the closer to the Serbian boarder with less trucks, but many more German cars heading south. One thing about the road, the surface was so much better than the Hungarian road driving towards Budapest. So I take it all back.
Finally I arrived at the boarder..driving past hundreds of parked lorries, and I realised that this would not be a quick pass through. The delay was on the Hungarian side.. But after 45 minutes it was my turn.. and they let me through... the first successful boarder crossing..:). Driving across no-mans land to the Serbian checkpoint, there was no queue and with a quick check I was driving on.. past a burnt out car left by the side of the checkpoint.. hopefully not a symbol of the future..
Well, northern Serbia is flatter. The road was slightly elevated so the view was greater than Hungary, Here, there were large expanses of blackened rapeseed being harvested by small groups of combines, swirling dust clouds marking the combines in the distance. It reminded me of the burning fields in Interstellar, (the film).
A friend suggested stopping at Subotica, close to the boarder but i needed to press on after the delay at the boarder; I will on the return.
After passing Novi Sad (the second largest Serbian city) the road improves markedly so no longer worried about my suspension.
Driving past the airport, memories of the manic taxi journeys to and from the centre of the centre flickered back into consciousness. The bridge across the Danube and the approach roads are under-reconstruction but the amount of jostling, moving from lane to lane, driving on the hard shoulder and pushing in at the last moment... The sound of horns have been generally absent on this journey; it was made up for here. But as ever, you ultimately reach your destination.
The apartment is in a creeking 50's building but the modern interior is exactly as it shown on the website. My car is parked at the rear of the building next to an old Peugeot 504, which is gently settling down to rust away.
A short rest and a shower, I ventured out into the centre..Tomorrow I will post about the city in detail, but I discovered a small street, Skadarska.. with a string of small restaurants. but decided to move on when competing accordion bands started to compete with each other.
I was advised to go to another restaurant in the Dorcol area. and sat in their courtyard terrace... So, 30 degrees when I sat down...
Within an hour, the heavens opened with lightning...
 |
| Lightning strike..... |
Waiting for the rain to stop.. I must have left my camera on, on my phone. As I was leaving the restaurant after the ran had stopped my phone died; no map...
I knew what direction to take generally but I ended up taking the wrong boulevard road and walking way past my street, only to have to double back.
I finally arrived back to the apartment, with a little help, at 1.30am....
Well, I did see more of Beograd than expected...
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