27/08/2022 - Stage 17 from Belgrade, Serbia to Budapest, Hungary (389 kilometers)

Like the past few days, the alarm clock rang at 6:30 a.m. We started early again because we had a lot to do. Sremski Karlovci, a small town about an hour north of Belgrade, is said to be the most beautiful city in Serbia. We stopped here because it was market day. We found ourselves among locals who didn't speak a word of English. Using gestures, we bought 4 tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, 4 pears, and 5 plums for less than 1 euro. We strolled through the city with its beautiful houses and various churches. For very little money, we had a coffee on the main square of this cozy and worth seeing city, and then we continued towards the border. We made one more stop before the border crossing in Subotica. With a population of over 100,000, Subotica is the fifth largest city in Serbia. Prior to World War I, Subotica belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and was called Maria-Theresiopolis. We found a central parking space and walked through the city center with its interesting buildings. We passed by the synagogue, the beautiful town hall, and the central main square, where we ate a freshly prepared langos and then we had to move on. We drove through a few small villages until we reached the Hungarian border. Everything went smoothly until 500 meters before the border, and then everything came to a halt. It took us over 4 hours to go through the checks, and then we were in Hungary. Finally, at 8:45 p.m., we parked our car in the small backyard of our apartment in the middle of Budapest.