Day 22 - Said good bye to Belgrade and hello Montenegro

Europe » Serbia » West » Uzice
June 24th 2013

Published: June 27th 2013

Mon 24 june 2013

Uzhitie, Western Serbia

Altitude: 809m

Finally left the 'Camp Danube' outside Belgrade this morning. First thing I did was to set the SatNav for Montenegro. Montenegro is a slight diversion from my planned route.

I remember my friend Tomo said many years ago that Montenegro and Dubrovnic are very beautiful places to visit. So today, my friend is in America and I am heading towards Montenegro.

I stopped the vehicle because the car was not performing well. I chose to stop outside a cafe. I quickly swapped the pre-fuel filter, then dropped in for a coffee. The man who served the coffee was a friendly man. We would have a conversation in different languages, He would mutter a few sentences in Serbian and I would say a few words back to him in English. Somehow, it does not matter if we did not understand each other fully. just talking to each other was enough to establish some kind of understanding and friendship. The funny thing was I understood the man when he said his tee shirt and trousers were made in China. "Grade, grade ???" No idea what

Mountains, Serbian mountains

he was saying. Then he said "Peking, Shanghai??", then I realised 'Grade' was which city in China am I from.

Not reached Montenegro by late afternoon, so I looked for the nearest campsite in the highlands of western Serbia. The scenery along the way was short of spectacular, so I have included some of the beautiful pictures in this blog entry.

The car was also tested today. Part of the trip involved driving on dirt track and in places I had to use the four-wheel drive to keep me and the car on track.

What surprise me today was to see the farmers picking raspberries from the fields. Also saw some strawberry being grown on the slopes of the hills.

By 5pm, I found the campsite ran by an elderly Serbian gentleman. I said "Dobra Dan" and he quickly smiled and gave me a very warm handshake to welcome me to his campsite. The site is a simple affair. A small hut housing the toilet, washroom and a shower room. Very basic but clean. Outside was a little trough to wash the dishes.

Being high up in the Serbian mountains, the air was fresh but

Road side view

also noticeably cooler than in Belgrade. Other pleasant surprise was that there was no mosquitoes here because it was too cold for the little beasts. So tonight I can sleep without worrying about being bitten by these little winged insects.

I camped in what is normally an orchard. There are many little pear trees. I think the orchard is very productive and I think the old man derive most of his income from the campsite.

Dinner was a simple meal. I cooked some rice and beans and yes, you've guessed right, more vegetables. Because it was cooler in the Serbian mountains, I have developed a appetite and I soon devoured the delicious meal and finished off with a glass of my favourite Chinese tea.

Tomorrow, I should be continuing my journey southwest to Montenegro and hopefully I can see more of those beautiful mountains. The past few days I have seen mainly flat agricultural lands and it does get a bit boring after a while.

Additional photos below

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