OrestisTrips: May 2023

30/05/2023

The HIVE Tour - Episode 10 - Petrovaradin @ Serbia

Did you like Sremski Karlovci on Episode 9? Well, I hope so cause it's over now as I head North:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 9 - Riding from Belgrade to Sremski Karlovci

Motorcycles need fuel as humans need food right? Well, there are some rare exceptions like this electric one I saw today parked outside the supermarket:

And I was there not for sight seeing of course but to buy food. So, let's easily agree that we all need energy though in different forms so let's focus on how I will regain mine:

Do you know this guy above? Yep, it's your truly reflected on olive oil. The latter will help my food to not stick on the pan and prevent it from drying out.

Today the chef (me) has pork chops:

Not a vegeterian's party but wait for it my vegan friends, a few images later it's all nice and clean for you again to worth the wait.

It's all Serbian to me so I can't tell where this salt comes from but it tastes amazing:

To solve the dilemma of which vinegar to use I decide to put both:

All together give the following result:

I leave it like that for a couple of hours, basically cause that's all the time I have before going crazy hungry and put it in the oven. The latter does its usual job and...ready:

Turns out that the oven, nice and new as it looks, it didn't do exactly a "usual" job hence the right mid parts are a bit less done than all the rest, even though I put top and bottom on plus hot air. In any case, that's not even a first world problem in my book so it all end on my dish ready to be consumed:

Cooking is mainly for the lazy rainy days but on a rare dry one (still rains like crazy) I take the chance to ride North towards Novi Sad. The first km with Belgrade on my back the scenery is flat like most of the Voivodina region:

All good and fun until I come to a point where the road is closed with no early warning or suggestions for deviation. I see even locals surprised but the just make a U turn and leave. A good Samaritan, a local farmer, parks his tractor and comes to assist me as he sees that I am in obvious WTF state. To my surprise he speaks English so he tells me I have two choices. Either follow a gravel route next to the closed road or make a deviation East and then North through a bunch of towns to meet the road later again. I didn't see him pushing the gravel route scenario that much so tempting as it looked, follow his tarmac suggestions instead. Locals know better.

Most of the times at least.

So, since the 100 road is closed I go back to Stara Pazova and then take the road to Novi Karlovci planning to meet the 100 road again after Indija. Part of that deviation really felt like riding in India, especially during one narrow straight that could barely fit two cars and was full of all sorts of trouble one can find on tarmac. Potholes, bumps, you name them. At some point I have a white van tailgating me so in the absence of space I decide to go faster and leave him behind. I end up doing well beyond triple digits of km/h and he's still licking my ass. The scenario of me doing 150 km/h in order to keep a safe distance didn't look that attractive so I try to find some space to let him go. When I do so, for the rest of that part my front view was a white van basically flying over bumps as if it came out of a cartoon scene...

I'm back on the 100 again when right at the road that leads to Tsortanovci I see this church on my right:

You can't tell from a rough on board image but the golden tops of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene shine from miles away.

A stop here becomes a no brainer:

That thing looks as if they polish it on a daily basis!

For whom the bell tolls?

Hope not for me 🙂

Kinda impressed to see an outdoor place for the candles, we keep them indoors in Greece:

Back on the bike,

And back on the road 100 heading North:

I saw vehicles of the Serbian army on a daily basis while I was near Kosovo but I see some here too in the North as you can see. Hope it's a routine thing and not due to one more conflict.

I haven't seen many bikers in Serbia but all of them wave to other bikers like this guy:

Some more army later:

And here I am entering Sremski Karlovci:

The area around the local Palace is know to worth a visit hence I turn left there to see what is what and from the first looks I guess it really does:

I leave the bike in shade and decide to walk a bit around when a huge school group arrives which immediately stops any thought of queuing to enter any of the impressive bits around so I try to harvest what is easy and not time consuming as I have lots of other places to see later.

In the last on board image you saw part of the complex of the Orthodox Theological School of the Serbian Patriarch.

Here's some less rough images of those impressive buildings:

Of course the local Palace is no exception to the beauty and grace of the whole area here but that's the only images I manage without too much humanity before I hop on my saddle again:

Even the least important buildings still worth a bit of attention here:

Time to hit the road again, see you for more beauties on the next one!

25/05/2023

The HIVE Tour - Episode 8d - Belgrade

Exiting Belgrade's Castle at its South West end I get the following view:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 8c - Belgrade

As the sun goes down over Belgrade "paints" the images of the medieval fortifications of the city in its own special way:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 8b - Belgrade

The highest monument as far as I can see here at Kalemegdan in Belgrade is the Winner's statue. Undoubtedly the winner must have a winning view from up there:

Άκρη είδα ή Ακρίδα;

Ήττα. Βαριά. Σαν του Τσολιά τα αχαμνά.

Πληγή. Βαθιά. Σαν από μπαλτά.

Και αλάτι της βάζω. Ιμαλαΐων. Σαν τη γάτα που συνάντησε ο Αλέξης, για να αλλάξει του κόσμου τις ορέξεις.

Μα ειν' του Κυριάκου το αλάτι πιο αλμυρό. Και να τ' αντέξω δε μπορώ.

Και βάζω βέρα στο δεξί. Και άλλη μια στ' αριστερό. Το τίμιο το χέρι. Το δυνατό.

Αυτό που ξέρει να χαϊδεύει. Εμένα. Που άλλος πια δε μ' ακουμπά. Λες και δεν έχω πένα.

Πένα που γράφει και σκορπά στους 4 ανέμους, το νεοφιλελεύθερο ψηλό του ερέβους.

Τέτοια είναι η πένα μου και την πενία διώχνει. Φέρνει όμως και γέλωτα που δεν επιδιώκει.

Γέλιο νεοφιλελεύθερο και δεξιά ειρωνεία και γίναμε την Κυριακή πολύ εύκολη λεία. Λεία για μη αριστερούς και όχι Λία Βίσση. Εκείνη ίσως μας έφερνε και μία κάποια λύση.

Καλύτερα θα ήτανε αυτή απ' την Ποπάρα, που η φόρα της στον πρόεδρο ήτανε σαν κατάρα.

Ήττα. Βαριά. Αχώνευτη.

Και πίνω περιέ. Και παπαριές ακούω. Για να πάει η βέρα από το δεξί στο αριστερό ξανά θέλει δουλειά φιλενάδα. Ανδίο.

22/05/2023

Εκλογές 2023

Δυόμιση δεκαετίες πριν, ο πατέρας του σημερινού ΠΘ είχε καταφέρει τότε μία εντυπωσιακή νίκη απέναντι στο συριζαϊσμό της εποχής (το ΠΑΣΟΚ και τον αυριανισμό). Εκφράστηκε έτσι το σίχαμα του κόσμου για τη λάσπη των πρασινοφρουρών που είχε πνίξει το δημόσιο, με το κάθε αγράμματο τσόκαρο να έχει πρόσβαση σε μόνιμη θέση και ακλόνητη μισθάρα, ιδιαίτερα στις ΔΕΚΟ, με μόνο προσόν τη γνωριμία με τον 3ο ξάδερφο ενός ΓΓ υπουργείου. Μαζί με το εθνικό ρεζιλίκι του να κρέμεται η χώρα από τα βυζγιά της Μιμής και την απόπειρα ελέγχου των ΜΜΕ μέσω Κοσκωτά όλα αυτά συνετέλεσαν στο να ψηφίσει τον Κων/νο Μητσοτάκη τότε σχεδόν 1 στου 2 Έλληνες. Όμως, όπως και σήμερα, η νάρκη της απλής αναλογικής που ανερυθρίαστα έβαλε τελευταία στιγμή το ΠΑΣΟΚ, βλέποντας πως χάνει την εξουσία δεν άφησε τη ΝΔ να κυβερνήσει αυτοδύναμα παρά το ότι πήρε σχεδόν το 45% των ψήφων.