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I walked the asphalt road to Irig (which also lead to monasteries Novo Hopovo and Staro Hopovo). Upon arriving in Irig, men drinking rakija noticed my presence and invited me to join them, but instead I head to town center, where I had a hard time deciphering a menu in Cyrillic (it is not that difficult after one becomes familiar with some words and expressions in Serbian).
Walking again, I intended to reach Krusedol and Grgeteg monasteries. As I left Irig behind, an old couple offered me a ride to Krusedol. They insisted I had coffee and rakija at their place.
After visiting the monastery (and meeting an irritable, black-dressed old popa), I made the 20min walk to the town of Krusedol. Curious eyes of people and army men rapidly spotted me, and local polic seemed even annoyed by my presence there (the Serbian word for foreigner is translated as 'stranger').
At 7.00 p.m., with night falling over Grgeteg monastery, my only chance was to hitchhike the way back to Irig and find a hotel. Luckily, a young couple offered to take me not to Irig, but to Ruma, an industrial town 10 km away from the Fruska Gora.
Strolling through Ruma at night, I found the town very animated, with a central square full of young people. (However, there is a flumsy smell dominating the city, and some buildings even seem covered in some type of industrial smog).
Next morning I had a burek and yoghurt for breakfast at a busy bakery. The bus station was a 10 min walk from the town center. As I was browsing the bus schedules, suddenly a number of towns and places became familiar to me: Sremska Mitrovica, Novi Sad, Irig, etcetera. My plan was to reach either Vrdnik or Jazak, and visit the nearby monasteries.
At 12.00 p.m. a bus dropped me in the small town of Jazak. Once again I sighted the curious looks of people, old and young, and some even saluted me with a 'dobar dan' (good day). Jazak was the only monastery in which women, in their black habits, seemed to form the majority.
After Jazak I made the 12km to Vrdnik. The asphalt road lead through pictuesque vineyards, green valleys and tractors coming in every direction. Vrdnik was the largest of the towns I visited in the Fruska Gora: it had a medium-sized residential complex with four to five storey apartment blocks; it had a couple of green parks and an army facility in the outskirts of town.
By 5.00 p.m. I had reached a place by the name of Sanatorium, and there was a good place in the mountains from which I could spot Novi Sad in the distance. I inquired for rooms at the PTT hotel in Brankovac, but I found it rather expensive, and instead I decided to continue the walking until finding something else.
By 7.00 p.m. I had encountered a path to some place by the name of 'Ledinci'. After a 30 min walk through solitary woods, the town of Stari Ledinci appeared. My arrival here was a true surprise, and people added suspicious to their curiosity while staring at the lonely traveler. Asking the townspeople I found that there was regular buses between Stari Ledinci and Novi Sad.
By 9.00 p.m., suddenly I was back in Novi Sad city.
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