Sometimes on a trip like ours, an overnight stay is just because it is the right distance from your next destination. Today Timisoara in Romania was just such a place but it had a hidden reason for a visit as well.

After leaving Belgrade we started our journey north keen to get to Budapest in Hungary but it was a bit too far for a one day ride. After checking Google Maps we decided to visit Timisoara which would also allow us to tick off a visit to another country - Romania and add another sticker to the bike.

Our ride was quite different today, not a mountain or river in sight. We travelled through flat, agricultural land and small villages. We saw more tractors than motorbikes. Our morning coffee stop was in a pretty town called Vrsac. This was probably the best presented Serbian town we travelled through with no grafitti and very little litter.

Crossing from Serbia into Romania was the easiest border crossing yet, a smile, a stamp in the passports and only one question - Are you tourists? We thought we would have to buy a vignette (road tax ticket) for Romania but were pleasantly surprised to find that bikes didn't need one. We arrived in Timisoara mid afternoon and checked in to our Best Western Hotel.

What a hidden gem Timisoara turned out to be! Eventhough it was 3pm when we left the hotel we decided to walk the 3 km into town for a look. This city is about the size of the Gold Coast with a beautiful river flowing through it, the Bega River (also a river in southern NSW) - we kid you not! We wandered through the Civic Park and ended up in the centre of town. Restaurants lined either side of the long plaza and the buildings were quite majestic. At the end of the plaza was the The Cathedrala Metropolitana or Romanian Orthodox Church, this beautiful church was surrounded by well maintained rose gardens and sculptured trees.

While wandering through the plaza we came across a parade of National Liberal Party supporters, dressed in yellow and they handed yellow flowers to people in the street. We chatted to one of the supporters who told us that the Party was celebrating its 100th Birthday and European elections are to be held soon and this was a form of electioneering - perhaps our pollies could hand out flowers next time to encourage us to vote for them!

We were also treated to a great rendition of the theme from The Godfather movie by a busker playing a Mandolin. After a delicious pasta dinner and glass of red we walked the 3km back to the hotel. Today we walked 9.7km or 14506 steps - not bad considering we were on the bike until 3pm.

Budapest tomorrow - can't wait!

*Blog of the Day 6