Budapest to Novi Sad to Belgrade

So I went a few days without internet or a shower. I had some long days through Hungary and Serbia, with a slightly unexpected  20ish hours through Croatia.

Budapest - known for Turkish baths which I opted to skip because I'll do that in Turkey. I also wasn't really in the mood to see more museums, so I mostly wandered around the city all day.
Like Vienna, there are tons of old buildings here, especially along the main road leading up to Heroes Square.

I went to the citadel, which is this cool statue:

With this view of Castle hill, whichis where I went next:

With this old Church:

I was following a student group in, and it wasn't until I heard an usher ask the couple behind me for tickets that I realized that looking the part just saved me whatever the entrance fee was.

Budapest - The party city. Never before have I seen so many places advertising being open 24 hours.
Not being one to really frequent clubs, I decided to head to the Trophy grill which offers an all you can eat (and drink) buffet for about $20. It was some incredible Hungarian food, mixed with a Hungarian version of a Mongolian barbecue. It's times that that I'm happy to be on a 3000+ calorie diet. The ride back over cobblestones and well, Hungarian roads was an exercise in not puking up a great dinner.

Next day, I stuck around a bit to see some of the sites I hadn't seen before, such as this cathedral (saint stephens):

The inside is pretty incredible:

They even boast a holy relic that is a ~1000 year old severed hand (really)

Of course I couldn't pass up the chance to see the Hungarian underground, which has fascinated me since seeing the film Kontroll. I paid $1.50 just to enter the metro, look around, and leave. Worth it. They really have Kontrollers like in the movie, who check your ticket:

The cleanest subway I've ever seen:

After that is was south, following the danube. At least I think I was following the Danube. My eyes were mostly plastered to the road (if you can call it that) to make sure I didn't break something:

Hmm, my spider sense is telling me I may have missed a turn:

I saw lots of deer along the trail, but couldn't get a good picture as they saw me coming from 500+ meters away. I spent the night camping along here, and setup my first campfire of the trip, not because it was cold, but because I could. It only took one match. Yeah, I've still got it.

Next day through Hungary had nothing noteworthy. Really. Budapest - Because it's the only reason you're in Hungary. Most of the day was along the Donau, looking like this:

At least Hungary is super flat, and I had a decent tailwind so I made 85+ miles that day.
Next day, I made a slightly unplanned (as in, I was looking at the eurovelo route in Budapest and noticed that, hey, that looks like Croatia) detour into a bonus country. It cost me $2 to take this ferry across the Donau:

I had no trouble crossing the border. In fact I wasn't even asked any questions, other than "passport?"
Fairly quickly I realized I may have made a huge mistake. These signs started popping up everywhere:

This is the path I was riding along. Basically, everything to the left of the road is mined:

Courtesy of the Epheseus Museum in Vienna, this was pretty much my face throughout all of Croatia:

I made it to Osijek, but I had no money and couldn't find a bank. Also after seeing this little bit, it dawned on me that my lack of research may have cost me a few days. The language used here led me doubt if the Croatia/Serbia border was open:

Riding through Osijek was the first time I actually felt like I was on an adventure. You'll have to take my word for it because I was too creeped out to take pictures, but even 20 years later, there were plenty of buildings with bullet holes, or what were clearly bullet holes that had been patched over without the building being repainted. There was also a stretch of street where every house had a front lawn, but there was not a single blade of grass to be seen, so it was all just dirt. Very creepy. I tried to beeline out of Croatia into Serbia that night to make sure I could actually cross the border, but after 90 miles I was way too tired, so I wild camped about 10 miles from the border. It was the first time I didn't bother to setup the tent, as it had been several days without rain. Camping under the stars for the first time was very liberating and certainly saved me time packing up in the morning. I made sure to check for landmine signs before camping.

Next day, and my first real border crossing into Serbia. The border guards were bored apparently so they wanted to go through all my gear. Funny that the first real inventory since I've started my trip should be at the hands of Serbian Customs. After pulling all my crap from 3/5 bags, the guard said "this is taking too long" and I thought to myself, "yes, victory, I'm finally done here." He then continued to say "you seem like an honest guy, so answer me this: you're not carrying any marijuana or other drugs are you?" Of course I told him: "I just said I'm going to Istanbul, and the penalties there are crazy so of course I don't have drugs" but I couldn't help but smile while thinking "does that question ever work? Do people ever admit to something that will get them years in prison?"

Regardless, I made it into Serbia, but I was low on food and water. It was incredibly hot, so I spent noon to 3 eating lunch, watching a movie on my laptop, and waiting out the hottest part of the day. It was a success, and it dropped from 80 degrees to 70 degrees. Soon after of course it dropped to 60 degrees and started to rain. I realized then that I'd been spoiled and it hadn't rained since Austria. Watching the dirt road you're riding on turn into mud before your eyes is no fun.

Cathedrals in Serbia:

The Danube coast in Serbia, what a fixer-upper:

I made it to Novi Sad, which was fairly boring. I did realize though that I'm now in the part of the world where a decent meal costs $1.50, but buying food to eat later costs much more than that. This, combined with the increase in temperature means my picnicking days may be over.

At least Novi Sad has a cool fortress:

Anyway, the next day it was off to Belgrade. More Farmland, but so far Belgrade looks more interesting than Novi Sad, so I will spend tomorrow here: