On the Serbian side, after a little traffic jam caused by heavy goods vehicles and their customs declaration, it’s our turn. Here again, interrogative customs officers are surprised by this motorhome mastodon they initially think to be a heavy goods vehicle. No thorough inspection, but still, they open the door and take a quick glance from the outside. Nothing to report, and it’s good to go for the first stamp on the passports! (Schengen, it’s all good, but without the stamps on the papers, the trip is not quite the same…). Ah, and no more roaming, we left the EU…

Direction Belgrade, or rather its outskirts, where two options for camping are offered to us. The night landscapes are similar to those of Croatia, flat, rural and very white.

After a little extra fuel in Novi Sad, a good detour to avoid the highways, and two successive failures to find the campsites that led us to the center of Belgrade, (finding our way in big cities, we will do without), we arrive at the right address…a nice amount of snow and a closed barrier! Well…Well for this night, it will improvise a bivouac at the start of a path on the edge of the main road. There, light meal and lights out!

***

The next day, some stray dogs « liven » the atmosphere up when we wake up. It is a discovery for the kids, whom then need an explanation about the « principle » of abandoned animals and the difference with France. No outdoors games, school and DIY occupy the morning. Small incident with the hotplate that does not start when trying to get lunch ready, even after a small manual booster fuel. We fall back on sandwiches (hot anyway) in a gas station where the truck draws a few looks, and the sympathy of a gentleman who gives chocolates to the children. We take the opportunity to refuel before heading back to the monastery of Manasija.

On these roads of the former Yugoslavia, some questioning looks, few answers to our greetings (we feel like a certain mistrust, or people are just not used to it) and police control in the middle of nowhere. Few things that make you want to spend a lot of time in this country.