24th June 2012

Debs:  Up and away on time, and I was pleased to see that the hotel was on the road straight to the Bulgarian/Serbian border. We are glad to be leaving Bulgaria, it’s depressingly run down, rubbish on the pavements and packs of mangy dogs roaming about. But about 5 minutes into our ride the lightening started and I could hear the rumbles of thunder getting nearer, so we stopped and togged up in our wet weather gear - just in time too, the heavens opened!

By the time we reached the border the rain had stopped and we were beginning to warm up again as the grumpy Bulgarian guards stamped us out. We pulled over about 100 yards into no-mans land in front of a ‘Bureau de Change’ to get some Serbian ‘slutties’ (or whatever their currency was called). I clambered off the bike in front of the shop owner who stood and watched me disrobe, which is no mean feat especially when we also had the wet weather gear on, and then waited for me to go into the shop.. it was at that point that he broke into gobbledegook and told me the shop was shut. Why wait until then and what the hell did he think I was doing? We were the only people around for miles. Bless him!

On past another grumpy Serbian checkpoint guard and out into the most beautiful countryside. We drove for about an hour enjoying the sunshine and the views  before stopping for a coffee in what looked like a really run-down little café.
The young lad there spoke good English (thank God), which he explained he learned at school, it was sure a whole lot better than my Serbian. We perused the lovely  ’English menu’ and then enjoyed a great breakfast of omelets with tomatoes, cucumber, fresh crusty bread, butter, honey and coffee, and it only cost £3 for the lot.

Serbia was a real surprise, it’s beautifully clean with well-kept houses and villages, a beautiful rolling country flanked by huge snow capped mountains. At one point we were riding along a gorge with high rock formations either side, and passing through several short tunnels when it suddenly hit me -  I had been here before! When I was 19  I had traveled overland to Cyprus, passing through what was then Yugoslavia and we had taken this same route, a sight I would never forget, it was a very surreal feeling.

Lots of these, but it's a narrow road full of surprises!

Onwards into Serbia with Dolly protesting violently that she wanted to take us via Aberdeen and Penzance, so Steve said a very bad word and turned her off! We stopped for coffee and petrol (at £1 a litre, the petrol that is)  and I bought a Serbian map to help us avoid Penzance at least, and off we went again.  So with my map sticking out of Steve's back pack I directed him cross-country to our final port of call for today, a small town called  Kraljavo which is about mid-way across Serbia.

We were booked in to the Hotel Technograd (should have known better with a name like that), chosen because it has secure parking for the bike, always a prime point in our hotel selection.  Well, it falls somewhere between ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Adams family‘. The first floor landing is very wide, and each room resembles a shop front, huge windows with a glass door to one side, and drop-down (electrically operated BTW, more later *)  metal security shutters, so if you don’t want to be locked in you have absolutely no privacy at all.

The general layout is straight back from the glass front to a sitting room, kitchenette and bedroom, with a bathroom to one side. There are small high windows in the bedroom that overlook the roof, air conditioning units and a wall about 6’ away.

We had also requested a non-smoking room, although strangely this one came with several ash trays. The bathroom and indeed the whole flat had obviously not been cleaned in a very long time.
There was a half used bar of soap with a crack in it on the dish, 2 half-used shampoo bottles, a dirty tooth mug and rubbish in the cupboard, I was not amused at all. So off I go to the girl receptionist and request another room - no problem, and we were shown to the room next door.. perhaps a slightly cleaner bathroom, but the rest of the place left a lot to be desired - be warned!.

The room had a ‘vibrating‘ chair so Steve thought he would give it a go. He got himself settled and leant to turn it on, then leapt up again as he noticed the transformer casing was broken and wires were exposed. A fried bum would not be a good idea with a couple of thousand miles to go!  He has since videoed and photographed the state of the room to pass it onto Booking.com.

*As an additional note, we closed the electric shutters on the windows for the night and to the time of leaving were unable to raise them again.. thank God I didn't do the door shutters as well, we'd still be there!

 We also found a hotel booklet which at least bought a smile to our day, it appears they have a resident dentist who will do a root canal filling for 20 euros, and only 65 euros for gangrene, but we don't know whether that's to give it to you or treat if you have it! 

'Scratch' the dog!

As I'm writing this a somewhat rat-baggy puppy has wandered across for a fuss.. I have a feeling that I'm going to regret making a fuss of him but hey.. I've had my rabies jab!








Steve:  It’s alright for Debs to enjoy the Easy Hotel and the nice scenery up through Serbia, but I’m itching and scratching ‘cos my side of the bed (right hand and usually Debs side) had bed-bugs! Bliddy bites are driving me mad.. A couple of glasses of wine and an anti-histamine sounds good to me for tonight. Please God let this one be at least clean, it’s costing enough!  (That was obviously written before we took the room, I'm doomed for disappointment at £70 a night!)

On to better things -

Isn’t it sad, I’m very happy with life ’cos I’ve managed to find a jet wash for the bike, it was looking really scruffy and not it‘s normal state at all. But after an hours work it’s all clean and shiny again, ready for tomorrows long slog ( 8 hours I think) into Montenegro. to meet up with my old friends Alec and Bridget, so hope  to have a nice break for a few days before the next leg up the Adriatic coast of Croatia.

 This holiday is going way too fast, 16 days, 2600 miles, and loads of fish, wine and laughter!