Belgrade to Sofia

Serbia - Where I realized I've been spoiled like crazy by the flat eurovelo 6 and the tailwind.

Belgrade - a fun city
The serbians are known for their meat loving menus, and their version of the hamburger, the pleskavitza doesn't dissapoint. You can get a 300gram burger for about $2.50 and it is very tasty.

I went to the Belgrade Fortress, which is now a public park, where they have a ton of WWII tanks, as well as a miliitary museum. It also has a great view of the Danube, with all the party boats parked along the shore:

It must be fun to play on these courts:

I like tanks (PZI, PZII, PZIV, stug III):

In Belgrade I also spent some time in the Serbian orthodox churches. So far it has been really weird to see churches without pews for people to sit. I asked the guy at the hostel, and he said they have services for about 60-90 minutes and everyone just stands. I watched countless people walk in, cross themselves, kiss a picture of Mary or some other Serbian figurehead, cross themselves again, then move on to the next picture in the church.

I also went to the Tesla Museum, where they have a number of cool things like the urn with his ashes:

After leaving Belgrade, I headed east along the Eurovelo 6 to Smederevo before heading south towards Nish. I realized how spoiled I have been by the flat land and decent tailwind along the river. While looking for a place to camp I met up with a swiss cyclist, and we spent the next two days and nights together riding south towards Nish. There was nothing particularly interesting and it was mostly farmland. It was also incredibly hot so we took a number of breaks.

Also it was incredibly humbling that he was smoking at every break that we took, yet still beating me up all the hills. 

Arriving in Nish, we were wandering around town looking for a hostel when a German cycle tourist stopped us and mentioned the hostel he was staying at. We ended up staying there, and proceeded to see the rest of the city, including the fortress (also a park like in Belgrade) and skull tower:

He was heading towards Greece, so we parted ways in the morning.

Next Day I went to the Bubanj memorial in Nish before leaving town:

While sitting outside the hostel in Nish, changing my rear break pads (for the first time) I noticed this little problem with the rear tire: 

Question: I wonder how long this will hold?

Answer: about 5 miles before giving myself a pinch flat. Long enough to be out of town to the point where it would be annoying (and embarrassing) to return. Also I would've lost a day by returning to Nish to fix the tire

One Emergency tire boot later, and it was off to Sofia. (be prepared they said)

Han Solo says: C'mon baby, hold together:

Well it held together for 100 miles, and I'm now in Sofia where I've found an acceptable new tire. The front tire is not far behind the rear in terms of wear, so I will be looking for another one in Istanbul.

The border crossing into Bulgaria was about as easy as the crossing into Croatia, so no problems there. So far Bulgaria reminds me of the midwest.