Distance: 74km
Elevation: 216m
During my break day, I caught up with work issues. Over lunch, I went out to eat and sat in a small restaurant.
After a while, a young lady with a bicycle came by. It is easy for bike travelers to spot each other, even without the bike. She also was looking for something to eat. It turned out, this was Christina from Germany, who was on the road for six weeks already.
She was following the Danube, Europes second longest river. Christina was a birder. She carried a big book on birds and a big photo camera with her.
Due to all her luggage, the spokes in her rear wheel had loosened. She was about to experience the same problems, I had 2021 when approaching the Northcape. Luckily, the locals were very helpful and organized a mechanic from around.
I went back to my work, but stayed in touch with Christina via WhatsApp. I learned that after some hours, a very gifted mechanic from around had fixed her bike and she was back on the road, a little ahead of me now.
So, the next day, I packed up and was in the saddle by 8 am. I did have an issue with Rosinantes front wheel though. I had changed the tube but now the wheel wasn’t rolling properly.
After 12 km, there was a ferry across the Danube which I had to take. I had not made a great effort of studying the timetable and just went there. It turned out that I had to wait one and a half hours for the ferry to arrive.
While waiting, I met Francesco from Italy. He was another bike traveler going from Triest to Bucharest.
Francesco only spoke Italian. And he was very pleased when he found out that I also speak some Italian. So, we decided to cycle together for the day.
The crossing of Danube on that old ferry boat was already quite spectacular. It lasted over half an hour. The current of the river here was very strong. 
Also, cycling along the Danube was simply breathtaking. The river was at least 1 km wide and the cycling path had hardly any traffic. We had a gentle tail wind, and also it went slightly downhill all the time.
We saw loads of different birds which we all could not name. But we knew, that we would not see them back at our homes.
During the day, some of my Italian came back. And for the rest, we had hands, guessing and Google translator.
Around midday, we found a restaurant along the way and had a proper lunch. It turned out that Francesco had cycled already a couple of kilometers more to get to the ferry in the morning and was really hungry.
It rained several times during the day. It was like a typical April weather – just in mid-May.
We both enjoyed the company a lot and were chitchatting in Italian all day. The rain and the cold could not affect our good mood. 
Francesco was also an influencer, and was doing little YouTube videos all the time. Being a bicycle traveler is a pretty unknown concept in Italy and he was on a mission to promote it more. 
In the afternoon, we approached a castle, the Golubac Fortress. It turned out, that Christina was just visiting the castle, when Francesco and I passed by.
She was using the local Wi-Fi to communicate since she was otherwise-off grid when in Serbia.
She had also met some other cyclists along the way and told them about me. So we agreed to all meet in Camp Asin, another 15 km away.
Once we arrived, we were already greeted by Leila and Roman. Both of them were bike travelers and already on the road for several weeks.
Leila was from France and Roman was from Switzerland, but he was also half-Russian. They had met in Bratislava and decided to cycle together. They were nagging each other like an old couple.
In the first instance, both were heading to Greece. Roman wanted to continue to cycle all the way to China afterwards.
After a while, our host Milena arrived and greeted us with homemade elderberry (Holunder) lemonade. She was a teacher and together with her husband also the host of this campsite.
This campground was in the middle of a nature reservation. And it had taken lot of time and effort to get all the permits that were needed to develop it here.
Christina arrived a little later and we had a big get together. Everybody brought their food and we traded a lot of war stories from the road.
Other than Francesco and myself, who were both 55 years old, the others were all 28 years old. Christina and Roman both had quit their jobs and their relationships. They were free as a bird. Layla had a five months sabbatical. Francesco and I were both a bit envious about the level of freedom that the young guys had.
For us, it was already quite an achievement to be a couple of weeks away from home and work. 
Francesco was without supplies for dinner since he had expected to find a shop along the way. The problem with infrastructure in Serbia is that it is very spotty. In some places you have an abundance of shops and then there are other places where there is simply nothing for dozens of kilometers.
I shared my food with him, which was a great pleasure for me.
It got cold quickly, and I asked Melina if it was okay to make a fire. Sure it was. 
I told Melina that I had had my prejudices with regards to Serbia, but that I was really positively surprised by the friendliness of its people, the beauty of its nature and the quality of its infrastructure. 
She was very pleased to hear that. She also mentioned that as Serbians, they worked very hard to improve their reputation in the world. 
All in all, it had been another great day. Even though I had made only little progress, I was very thankful for all the encounters with fellow travelers.