Friday    5.9.2025
619km Total: 7628km  6h 03m Total: 103h 03m
  4.49km Total: 301.15km

I was a bit indecisive about what strategy I should choose for the route back home.
The choice finally fell on transiting through Serbia, despite the border crossing.
On paper it still should be the quickest route.

At the border I'm at a complete standstill yet again in 30+ (86ºF+) looking at the same damn green van in the distance blocking a gate for ten minutes.
At that point this did not feel like a great choice when I could have stayed inside the Schengen-area all the way home.

Overall, I think it took me a little over an hour to get out of Bulgaria and into Serbia but once on the motorway it goes like clockwork.
130km/h, manageable traffic and not a single pile up.

Before the tunnels in this country there is a neon sign that says We are not alone in the tunnel.
Luckily I'm not afraid of the dark but isn't that a pretty ominous thing to write just before you enter a dark place?
I guess it's about them wanting you to slow down but that's a pretty funny way of phrasing it.

At the toll stations outside Belgrade that almost killed us with queues in 2015, I had four cars in front of me and the second and final toll in Subutica wasn't much worse.
The border crossing between Serbia and Hungary took about half an hour so in terms of time the strategy did pan out.
In all likelihood I could have done the same mileage through Romania in a (very long) day but it would have been a lot more frustrating.

The customs checks between Türkiye and both in, out and then back into the EU have been rudimentary to say the least, no one has bothered checked anything at all.
Either they've given up completely or focus is entirely on human trafficking now.
From a selfish point of view, very convenient and enjoyable, but from a broader perspective, quite worrying.

It's early evening when I pull into the Novotel Szeged parking lot and I'm lazy so since the hotel has both its own restaurant and bar, I never even left the hotel.

It was an antiques roadshow in one of the queues at the Serbian border control with two Trabants and a Volga

The view from the hotel balcony was definitely bearable

Thursday    6.9.2025
497km Total: 8125km  5h 12m Total: 108h 15m
  5.97km Total: 307.12km

The journey through Hungary is uninspiring and now it definitely seems that the days of cheap petrol are well and truly over, €1.75 in Hungary and €1.60 in Czech Republic.
Arriving at the Continental this is the first hotel on the entire trip that has a minibar, so in a frenzy of joy I lower my standards to a Heineken.
After the usual routine, I head out for a bite to eat.

As temperatures have dropped considerably now I had the foresight to bring a sweater in my backpack.
I put it on after walking just 50 meters from the hotel.
I am again fascinated how much the temperature can drop in just a days mileage, yesterday about this time it was 32º (90ºF), here it's 19º (66ºF).

I settle on a place called WokIn and go completely berserk in their ordering computer.
It was probably a pretty cheap fast food joint really, but after I clicked together every item on the menu that seemed good, I came to just over €20.
When I actually got the order I could probably have made lunch boxes for most of a work week out of it.
I did the best I could but didn't even manage to wolf down the half of it.

I take a detour walking back to the hotel and once there I arrange the last few things that need sorted on the way back home.
The last hotel will be in Magdeburg and the ferry from Kiel is booked for Tuesday night.

This building at a rest stop in Hungary looked like it could collapse at any moment and has probably been condemned for at least a decade.
Even so, while I stood there, people kept walking up trying the door.
Even if it had been open, I wouldn't have eaten there if it was the last Büfe in all of Europe.

I had stepped aside to take a piss and when I looked up I just for a moment thought I'd be done for indecent exposure.

A barbershop I passed by on my evening walk, damn what a classy joint!

Sunday    7.9.2025 
16.19km Total: 323.31km 

First stop for the day is St. James's Church but I must readily admit that what I was mostly interested in were the catacombs under the church.
It is Europe's second largest ossuary with the remains of 50,000 souls.
Macabre? Absolutely but also beautiful in its own way I think.

I continued along the underground theme with a tour of the labyrinth under the vegetable market but that required a tour guide so I book myself in and pass the time in between with a trip to the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
A beautiful Gothic church with a very scenic view of the city center from the tower.

I still have some time to waste before the guided tour so I buy myself something to drink and sit in a sun lounger that they have appropriately sprinkled around the Vegetable Market Square.

They had spiced up the guided tour under the square by decorating the old cellars with some crowd-pleasing things such as a torture chamber and an alchemist's laboratory complete with what was clearly a home-made distillation apparatus.
These were used by alchemists (according to the guide) to make "healing" potions.
The occasional healer in Sweden has also done so with similar apparatuses, but I don't think those potato connoisseurs called themselves alchemists and i seriously doubt the medical benefits.

As I said, the day is mostly spent underground, so from here I head with quick steps to Bunker 10-Z.

Originally a bunker from World War II that the communists developed into a self-sufficient nuclear bunker during the Cold War intended to house the party elite, up to 500 people could survive here for a short period.
There were televisions placed somewhat strategically that showed how parts of the supply equipment worked.
In total, it was a walk back in history of just over half a kilometer and I loved each and every step of it.
I'm know I'm more than a bit weird, but for me personally it was one of the absolute highlights of the entire trip.

I head back towards the square and the town hall to check out the Brno "Dragon".
Whoever gave that creature the epithet dragon should definitely have gone to SpecSavers.
Even though it was getting late in the afternoon, the tower was still open, so of course I took the opportunity and it was absolutely worth the effort.

After almost freezing my brain with a mango smoothie, I come up with the stupid idea that even though the castle is closed for the day, I could still go up to the courtyard and look at the exterior?
All said and done, a walk of just over three kilometers at a pretty steep incline got my body temp up considerably after the frozen smoothie.
Considering my level of (non) fitness it was quite the workout.
But as always, it was worth it.
It was a nice walk and even though you couldn't actually see that much of the castle, the view from the top of the castle hill was breathtaking.

Once back among the common folk, I have worked up quite an appetit.
After googling traditional Czech food, I still hadn't decided on what to eat just that it definitely won't be Czech food (sorry Czechs).
I eventually decide on more exotic latitudes and eat Pho at a Vietnamese restaurant, it tasted absolutely delicious.

St. Thomas Church with an interesting (and not least tall) horse statue

St. James church. It had a very beautiful organ.

The ossuary under St. James

Vegetable Market Square

Peter and Paul Cathedral

The view from the tower

The labyrinth guided tour

Bunker 10-Z

Old Town Hall, the "dragon" and the view from the tower

Castle Hill