Mohacs into Croatia

   Mohacs is a border town the last major place before leaving Hungary for Croatia, its also famous in Hungary for the two large battles that took place there, much like Falkirk near home the battles are mostly only of interest to Hungarians the cycle out of town to the battlefield memorial and visitor centre was along good cycle track and back roads, then once passed there it was all main road to the border,

      I never knew what to expect getting over into Croatia i was expecting the road to deteriorate as they normally do around borders especially ones where you leave a wealthy country to a less wealthy country, but the cycle route out was OK, i passed an old watch tower from the communist days and then there was a proper well marked and signed cycle route through passport control on the Hungarian side the Croatian side was empty for leaving the country, Croatia is also in the EU which surprised me off the huge Que of trucks waiting to enter Hungary from Croatia, its probably due to some sort of different levels of EU membership rules the old hard or soft border debate but there was definitely an issue for trucks entering Hungary from Croatia the Que of trucks was around two mile long,

           the weather was sunny and my book recommended mostly back roads for a spell and for the first time in a while i was away from the actual Danube and had two wee hills to go up! it was actually a relief to get some hills and once at the top i got a great vista of just how far this flat country spread totally flat from horizon to horizon except for one pointy hill in the distance, It was a grape wine growing region with loads of signs for vineyards, again this region was the scene of many battles over the centuries and at the top of one hill i had read there was a battle memorial there was no sign for it but i didn't want to drop down to the river again without checking out a left turn,
   

  that turned out to be a good decision after cycling around two mile away from the downhill road that was my route, I came across the big column and memorial to the second world war battle for the Danube crossing between the Russians and the Germans, it was a victory to the Russians but at a heavy price the Germans were outnumbered five to one,

    I took a steep path down from the memorial to the river level again back on the flat I had a can of radler for lunch with snacks then set of, there was an option about five mile along the road, there is a nature reserve here with a large wooded riverside slightly swamp like are there with a thirty five kilometre unpaved cycle track or you cycle on the main road? Marshall Tito had a hunting lodge here the biodiversity would have been great to see, I really wanted to do the woodland track but me and the auld dear were rattled to death already my fingers are still tingling i have lost a fair bit of weight and my arms have become skinny with no fluid layer. a better bike and more time i would defo done it but i opted for the road all the way into my evenings destination

     Osijek is yet another big city i had not heard of before, on the approach to town it was through an industrial wasteland then as if out of nowhere i came across the lovely riverside cycling running and tourist area, i stopped at a cafe in amongst an old plaza and ordered a beer (they had IPA!) but first i had to check i could pay using my card? as i still had no Croatian cash, no problem with the card and i checked on line and discovered what i thought was the ideal lodgings for the night for me, It called itself bobs hostel but by the description and photo it was a hotel not as hostel it appeared to be in a craft brewery ( it wasn't) on line it looked cool £40 for the night i booked it and cycled out,
 

 the cycle through the city in the sun was lovely i loved the trams very colourful bubble like things, the Croatians are huge on the flag and it seemed every second house had the red white and blue Croatian flag flying, even some of the trams had the flag flying front or back, there was lots of beautifull big buildings and a busy shopping area where my hostel was bang at the centre, there was no-one at reception i had to get someone from the attached restaurant so i had soup and a beer while getting someone to get me to my room, the way up was a pass-code security system which i had a code for now the worker should me how to get in gave me my room key and then went back to the restaurant to work, at the now unmanned reception there was a beer tap orange juice and coffee machine!? free beer oh yes i will have some of that my room was good but this wasn't the place i was expecting as what i thought was the craft brewery turned out to be a bottle and cocktail place the busy looking hostel bar turned out to be an attached diner sort of american based restaurant, I ended up having dinner there and a few beers before a short walk around town, then a free beer to bed, i was three floors up i better take two lol