Not a long walk today and all along the west embankment of the Tisza river.
I did not start very well by spilling yoghurt on the hotel room floor over breakfast (fortunately the waitress was very nice and said "no problem" while mopping it up, later echoed by the cleaning lady as I walked over her newly mopped hallway). Next I bought some apples at a supermarket, apparently I should have found someone to weigh them, instead the checkout lady had to take them to the back of the store to do it while the queue of ladies behind me waited patiently (or so I hoped). In the bakery where I bought a pizza slice and pastry for lunch I tried a "good day" in Serbian only to realise they were all taking Hungarian. The people at Tourist Information at Senta confirmed that Hungarian is the main language in this part of Serbia, and I noticed this is reflected in many of the street names, a remnant of the time when Hungary extended almost as far as Belgrade.
It had been raining heavily yesterday evening and the TV news over breakfast was showing pictures of damaged shop fronts and buildings. The weather forecast was predicting rain today but although the skies were grey it was dry until I reached Senta. The walk was along the embankment of the Tisza river, hidden by trees, although I did find a way through them to eat my lunch on the bank of the river at a spot where a fisherman had moored his boat. This was a flat bottomed affair typical of the area, a bit like a punt but propelled with paddles or an outboard motor. On the other side of the embankment there were fields, many with maize, a warm straw colour and ready to be harvested when the sun next shone. A couple of flocks of sheep with their shepherds were busy keeping the grass on the embankment short.
I passed through one village on route, Adorjan. As I left I passed some men loading bales of straw from a trailer into a barn. One indicated by his gestures that I could help throw the bales up. I declined. They were the old rectangular straw bales which you do not see much these days, having been replaced by larger circular bales.
On reaching Senta I looked around the main square at some of the Hungarian Art Nouveau buildings and a display on the important battle of Senta, where the Turks were defeated decisively. The people in the Tourist Information office were really helpful, they booked my next night's accommodation and gave me some leaflets on the town in English. I went to the café next door to digest them.
Now I am at Anna's guesthouse which is very pleasant as is the English speaking lady looking after it.
A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, or it is route johnpon0020 on ViewRanger.com, and also on Wandermap.com. I covered 23.6 kilometres today.
I did not start very well by spilling yoghurt on the hotel room floor over breakfast (fortunately the waitress was very nice and said "no problem" while mopping it up, later echoed by the cleaning lady as I walked over her newly mopped hallway). Next I bought some apples at a supermarket, apparently I should have found someone to weigh them, instead the checkout lady had to take them to the back of the store to do it while the queue of ladies behind me waited patiently (or so I hoped). In the bakery where I bought a pizza slice and pastry for lunch I tried a "good day" in Serbian only to realise they were all taking Hungarian. The people at Tourist Information at Senta confirmed that Hungarian is the main language in this part of Serbia, and I noticed this is reflected in many of the street names, a remnant of the time when Hungary extended almost as far as Belgrade.
It had been raining heavily yesterday evening and the TV news over breakfast was showing pictures of damaged shop fronts and buildings. The weather forecast was predicting rain today but although the skies were grey it was dry until I reached Senta. The walk was along the embankment of the Tisza river, hidden by trees, although I did find a way through them to eat my lunch on the bank of the river at a spot where a fisherman had moored his boat. This was a flat bottomed affair typical of the area, a bit like a punt but propelled with paddles or an outboard motor. On the other side of the embankment there were fields, many with maize, a warm straw colour and ready to be harvested when the sun next shone. A couple of flocks of sheep with their shepherds were busy keeping the grass on the embankment short.
I passed through one village on route, Adorjan. As I left I passed some men loading bales of straw from a trailer into a barn. One indicated by his gestures that I could help throw the bales up. I declined. They were the old rectangular straw bales which you do not see much these days, having been replaced by larger circular bales.
On reaching Senta I looked around the main square at some of the Hungarian Art Nouveau buildings and a display on the important battle of Senta, where the Turks were defeated decisively. The people in the Tourist Information office were really helpful, they booked my next night's accommodation and gave me some leaflets on the town in English. I went to the café next door to digest them.
Now I am at Anna's guesthouse which is very pleasant as is the English speaking lady looking after it.
A GPS file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, or it is route johnpon0020 on ViewRanger.com, and also on Wandermap.com. I covered 23.6 kilometres today.
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| Hotel Royal in Senta |
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| Senta City Hall |
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