2025 Balkan Autumn

Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, and Bulgaria, with plenty of beautiful roads, border crossings, cold weather, and unexpected encounters with incredibly kind people.

I started in Budapest in beautiful, sunny weather, riding through charming towns like Kalocsa and Baja before crossing into Croatia. I was especially excited about the border crossings—coming from Israel, I still find it amazing that you can simply cycle from one country to another, sometimes without even showing a passport. In Osijek I did some sightseeing before continuing toward Serbia, where I got my first proper border stamps on a bike. It was a small thing, but surprisingly exciting.

Serbia was a mixed experience. Novi Sad was charming, while Belgrade felt huge, chaotic, polluted air, and far too busy for my taste. Getting out of the city was a struggle, with heavy traffic, rain, and terrible roads. But once I reached the Danube, things changed completely. One day turned into a real adventure: a brutal headwind, rain, a flat tire, a broken pump. Eventually, a cheap little pump from a Chinese shop saved the day. Along the way, strangers repeatedly helped me—one family invited me into their car to warm up, a café owner offered me coffee, and people went out of their way to find me a pump.

The highlight was probably the quiet road along the Danube, which became one of the most beautiful sections of the whole trip. Later, in a tiny Serbian village, I stopped at what looked like a pensioners' club just to warm up. They offered me tea, wine, food, , and eventually one of the younger guys invited me to stay with his family. Their house was huge but extremely run-down, with goats living downstairs, but the hospitality was unforgettable. It was one of those uncomfortable but very special travel experiences that I would never have planned.

I also returned to roads I had cycled three years earlier and remembered how beautiful they were. When faced with a dangerous, busy road toward Knjaževac, I decided to take a bus instead. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip.

The final days in Serbia brought more quiet mountain roads, abandoned villages, beautiful scenery, and very cheap but excellent food. I was impressed by the landscapes, although I definitely wouldn't miss the traffic, crazy drivers, or the fact that practically everyone seemed to smoke everywhere.

Crossing into Bulgaria was memorable for another reason: a border guard seemed determined to make the crossing as difficult as possible, but eventually had to give up and return my passport. On the Bulgarian side, I found the emptiest and most beautiful road of the entire trip. There were almost no cars, abandoned villages, dirt roads, fallen trees, and eventually complete darkness. Temperatures dropped to just 2°C, and I ended up wearing every piece of clothing I had.

I spent another day riding a spectacular gorge, which was probably the most beautiful section of the whole journey. I shortened the route several times and eventually ended up riding a muddy trail in complete darkness at 4°C—typical of my tendency to make things more complicated than necessary.

The final day took me toward Sofia. The scenery was still beautiful, with snowy Vitosha in the distance, but the closer I got to the city, the worse the traffic and smog became. Sofia itself was chaotic and not particularly attractive at first, although the center was nicer. I did some sightseeing, then discovered I couldn't remove my pedals with my tiny multitool. Luckily, another cyclist happened to pass by and took me to a bike shop.

Finally, I picked up a bike box that a Strava virtual friend had kindly left for me, bought some sirene, packed up the bike, and headed to the airport.

Overall, this was a trip of contrasts: beautiful mountains and ugly roads, freezing temperatures and sunny days, mechanical disasters and perfect stretches of asphalt, chaotic cities and incredibly peaceful countryside. But more than anything, I’ll remember the unexpected kindness of people I met along the way. Some of the best moments came from situations I could never have planned.