Saturday, June 11, 2011

Day 15: Sat 11 Jun - Mohacs, Hungary to Osijek, Croatia

 Ride: 82km

20 km into the ride and we were at the border. It took a quick stamp on each side and we were through.  Didn't even need to get off our bikes. A five minute process. 

Unfortunately there were no roads or paths near the Danube for today's section so we headed away into the hills. The worst hill was only 6-7 % so no drama. However just up the road we hit a bit of a snag when the Croats decided to turn a paved bike path shown on the map into a road. They were in the process of laying the gravel so we had to walk for a couple of km over a rocky surface. We have to be careful ducking into the bushes for a wee here as there are a lot of old landmines still lying around. If parts of Hungary were a little depressed then what we've seen of Croatia so far that trend continues. Every village we passed had a few collapsed houses. Maybe just a sign of a shrinking population in the rural areas?

The rural theme also continue with 100,000s of acres under grain crops. And what beautiful crops they are, postcard perfect.   

Osijek is a very old city and everyone has destroyed and / or occupied it since 380AD. It's on the Drava River, 20 km upstream from the Danube. May have been worth an extra day here, but time marches on.









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