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Montenegro, Budva, 01 – 02 Sep 2024

Posted on Monday, 2-September-2024 by Chris Desmond

Medugorje to Budva Montenegro – No freeway here, first part through the mountains on winding two lane roads, good ride. Arrived at the border between Bosnia and Montenegro, 6 cars ahead of me boiling in the sun. The Bosnia guy was a grump, he scanned my passport and then asked for the Bike papers, showed him the plastic wallet and he waved it back at me without even looking at it, asked him to stamp my passport for Schengen and he grumped about that but stamped it hahaha. Short ride to the Montenegro border and the guy just stamped my passport glanced at the Bike papers wallet and waved me on, overall took about 15 minutes to cross this border. Then the road descended to the coast. From there on it was a nightmare, very slow going stop start traffic with 35c temperature and humid. There is a ferry that is a short cut instead of going around an inlet, I went past it and then turned around and got on the ferry 2.50 euro for a 10 min crossing instead of an hour or more of slow traffic, good decision. Overall it took 4 hours to ride 200km.

Budva – a popular seaside resort, a small and nice old town and many tourists. Strangely being on the coast there was no sea breeze making the conditions very opressive.

Posted in Montenegro | 3 Comments

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Medugorje, 29 – 31 Aug 2024

Posted on Saturday, 31-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Zagreb to Medugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Most of the ride was on the Croatian freeway crossing the border into Bosnia and turning off to Medugorje for the last 10km or so. Croatia is mountainous so it was never boring. At the border Croatian immigration stamped my passport, this is important as I was exiting the Schengen area. Next Bosnia and the Immigration guy scanned my passport and waved me on, no stamp did not even ask to look at my Bike documents.

Medugorje is a famous pilgrimage site, where in 1981 six children saw apparitions of Mary the mother of Jesus and some believe that they are still occurring. As you would expect it was full of pilgrims of all ages from all over the world.

Posted in Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 Comment

Croatia, Zagreb, 24 – 28 Aug 2024

Posted on Thursday, 29-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Bratislava, Slovakia to Zagreb, Croatia – Most of this ride was through the backroads of Hungary where I only stopped to re-fuel. Motorcycles do not pay a toll in Slovakia but I had to buy a one day Vignette for Hungary about 7 euro online. In Croatia they still have the system of paying at Tool booths with the resultant traffic queues cost for this 80km section was 6.20 euro. Overall a relaxing if hot ride. The only reason for this visit was to catch up with friends.

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Slovakia, Bratislava, 22 – 23 Aug 2024

Posted on Friday, 23-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Brno to Bratislava, Slovakia – First I stopped at the VW Factory on the outskirts of the city. It took a week to organise a tour, they normally only do groups 130 euro per group but they made an exception for me and did the tour for 65 euro. I had my own personal tour guide for the 90 minute tour, no photos allowed. This place employs 12,000 people working around the clock, it is huge with all the amenities of a small town, a police force, hospital, a bus service, school, etc. VW looks after their employees.

We started with the Stamping building where huge robot presses stamp out the panels for a vehicle. There is quality control at each step. Next we moved to another building where the panels are welded together into a complete body after which they go to the Paint shop via an underground tunnel. Almost everything is done by robots except for the quality control which is done by humans. The Paint shop was not part of this tour so next we went to the Drive train building where the engines, gearboxes and all the undercarriage components are assempled, lots of humans here. The final step called the Marriage when the painted body is lowered onto the drive train is done in another building which was also not part of the tour. Overall a very interesting experience to add to my collection of factory tours hahaha.

VW factory

I wandered around the old town for a few hours, lots of tourists and tour groups finally settling down in a microbrewery which I discovered on my last visit, very nice. I was here in 2013 at the same time of the year, read all about it here – Bratislava 2013.

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Czechia, Brno, 19 – 21 Aug 2024

Posted on Thursday, 22-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Mlada Boleslav to Brno – I took the back roads again except for the last 80 km which was on a freeway. It rained for most of the journey then stopped and let me dry out at the end, not a good ride.

Brno – another nice place built on hills so I was always walking up or downhill. I visited the Roma Museum, some of them live here in Brno and the surrounding area. These people originated in India and travelled to Europe between 300 – 1000 AD, this has been established by their DNA and their language Romani which is based on Sanskrit. They have no written language so their history is only known from accounts written by the nations they passed through. When they arrived in Europe they told people they were Christians fleeing from persecution in Egypt hence the name Gypsy. As a result they were initially helped and protected by the local populations. This relationship soured over the years to the point where they were considered vermin and could be shot on sight. Hitler did his best to kill them as well along with the Jews. They have nothing to do with the country Romania which derives its name from the Latin word Romanus meaning “citizen of the Roman Empire”.

Roma Museum

Brno

More Brno

Posted in Czech | 2 Comments

Czechia, Mlada Boleslav, Skoda, 17 – 18 Aug 2024

Posted on Sunday, 18-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Gasdorf to Mlada Boleslav – I took the back roads getting here, it took longer but it was more relaxing and fun. Motorcycles are exempt from freeway tolls in Czechia, I like this country.

I came here to visit the Skoda Museum, the Skoda car factory is also located here but in order to go on a tour you are required to have a car because the guide rides with you in your car hahaha so that was not an option for me. The company was founded in this town and still operates from here, quite remarkable. It is now a part of the VW group.

I also visited the Aeronautical Museum which has only old aircraft that are in flying condition and take part in events, very nice.

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Germany, Berlin, BMW Motorcycle Factory, 15 – 16 Aug 2024

Posted on Friday, 16-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Dresden to Gasdorf to the BMW motorcycle factory – I have been meaning to visit the BMW motorcycle factory in Berlin for some time and never got around to it, not this time. I made a detour from Dresden to Berlin and then continued on my journey. The Factory tour was disappointing as there was a lot of talking and very little seeing, cost 15 euro. We just walked around the periphery of the work place and had to peer through boxes and shelves to get a glimpse at a distance of what was happening and no photos. There were some interesting bikes in the Display area including 3 from the latest Mad Max film. Berlin had road works in full swing, stop/start traffic on the freeway for 30 min and in this hot weather made me almost regret making the trip hahaha.

More about my visit to Berlin 1, Berlin 2, Berlin 3, Berlin 4, Berlin 5.

Posted in Germany | 6 Comments

Germany, Dresden, 11 – 14 Aug 2024

Posted on Wednesday, 14-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Zary, Poland to Dresden, Germany – a two hour ride in hot and humid conditions which is fine as long as there is no rain hahaha. So far no rain except for a drizzle entering Hanover, can not complain. There was a queue of cars at the German border, looks like they are checking for illegal immigrants. This has been happening since 2015 when Angela invited a million refugees from Syria into Germany. It was a Sunday so no trucks, Monday should be fun, I get around these road blocks without too much delay because I am riding a bike.

Queue at the German Border

The Dresden drop

Housework

Dresden – another nice German city that was bombed to ruins during the 2nd WW and has since rebuilt some of the buildings. It does not have an old town much like most other German cities that were bombed. Public transport trams and busses will get you anywhere, very efficient and cheap if you buy a day ticket for 8.60 euro. I discovered a few murals here and a Brew Pub with some very nice beer. I also ate chocolate ice-cream for the first time since the Netherlands as Poland does not have chocolate ice-cream.

Tram

Altmarkt

Delicious

Fürstenzug

Scary men

Brühl’s Terrace

Nice

Shopping

Big Mosque

Loschwitz Bridge

View from the Bridge

Neustädter Markt

Golden Rider

Neustädter Markt

Eiscafe

Train Station

Dresdner Molkerei Gebrüder Pfund

Kunsthofpassage

Kathedrale Sanctissimae Trinitatis

Zwinger

Opera House

On top of the Opera House

Frauenkirche and Martin Luther

Frauenkirche

Stolperstein

Posted in Germany | 1 Comment

Poland, Zary, Stalag Luft 3, 09 – 10 Aug 2024

Posted on Saturday, 10-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Poznan to Zary, Poland – Short ride 210 kms took 3 hrs over some back roads, a pleasant ride. On the way I stopped at a huge statue of Jesus in the middle of nowhere.

Heading out of Poznan

Hard at Work

First glimpse of Jesus

Free Entry

Huge

Part of the site

Hotel for the Holy

Getting there

Back roads

Food

I stayed in Zary to visit the Stalag Luft 3 Museum where the Great Escape took place. There is nothing left of the original camps but the museum has reconstructed a few things and there is some memorabilia in the museum. An amazing feat constructing a tunnel 10m underground and 100m long under the noses of the Germans. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like working in such a cramped space, not for the claustrophobic.

An Icon

The Tunnel

They were treated well

Air Force were mostly the prisoners

The camp

MAny Camps in the area

Camps

The Barracks

Inside a Cell, nice

Note the Stove in the corner under which the tunnel was concealed

Dimensions of the tunnel

Tunnel Ventilation

Another Tunnel

No I did not go down there

Memorial

The actual exit

and Entrance

in the forest

Russian Cemetery

Great Escape Cemetery

Old Faithful

Dirt road to get to the Cemetery

Posted in Poland | 2 Comments

Poland, Poznan, 07 – 08 Aug 2024

Posted on Thursday, 8-August-2024 by Chris Desmond

Gdansk to Poznan, Poland – Easy ride freeway most of the way. I had booked a hotel in the centre of town where parking is 18 euro per day but the hotel let me park my bike in a corner of the underground garage for free. The garage was tiny only enough place for 10 small cars and you had to take your vehicle down in a lift.

Poznan – very nice and full of tourists. The Old Market square is the main attraction and I also visited the Imperial Castle which was being prepared as one of Hitler’s residences and I discovered Craft beer.