Slovakia, Bratislava, 25-29 August 2013

Posted on Wednesday, 28-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

It took an hour to get out of Budapest due to roadworks being on a bike I managed to bypass some of it, short ride on the freeway after that to Bratislava, the border was a non-event, slow down and ride through there was no one there just some abandoned buildings, 230km, 2:55hrs.

According to my online research I thought I needed a Vignette for my bike but when I went to buy one the guy at the service station did not have any then he called someone and said bikes don’t need a vignette in Slovakia and Czech.

Bratislava, a smaller city population 460,000, reminiscent of Ljubljana with the castle on the hill and the names of the countries are similar enough to get people mixed up Slovakia and Slovenia and in Slovakian, Slovakia is Slovenska hahaha. Not a lot of traffic on the roads and the drivers are sane. No metro, only trams and buses a bit confusing because of the language, easier to just walk. First rain in 52 days and 15c have not seen weather like this since Switzerland.

The old city is well preserved, the castle was burnt down a while ago and recently rebuilt so its a new building which houses the History Museum which has a few photographs, paintings and miscellaneous stuff.

Free walking tours is something else I discovered they last about 2 hours, though they are not really free as a tip (5 euro, work that out) is expected, about 20-50 people usually turn up, a good introduction to the city and they are in English. The one in Bratislava was done by a guy from Brisbane who has lived here for 4 years.

http://unitedeuropefreetours.com/

Tip – Visit the restaurant/microbrewery Bratislavsky Mestiansky Pivovar to the right of the Crowne Plaza on Drevena Street.

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Hungary, Budapest, 23-24 August 2013

Posted on Saturday, 24-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

I spent the next couple of days wandering the city following the self guided walking tours, public transport is frequent and goes everywhere.

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Hungary, Budapest, 21-22 August 2013

Posted on Thursday, 22-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

Budapest population 3.3 million, this is a big tourist destination and tourism is well organised. This website has lots of information and pdf’s of self guided walking tours which I downloaded onto my phone and in conjunction with Nokia maps have completed 2 of the tours, the Inner City and the Castle Hill, weather mid 20’s very good.

http://visitbudapest.travel/activities/budapest-sightseeing/

All the Tv channels are dubbed into Hungarian, I have noticed in countries where they do this English is not widely spoken, where they don’t dub the English shows more people speak English.

 

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Hungary, Bucharest to Deva to Budapest, 19-20 August 2013

Posted on Wednesday, 21-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

I left Bucharest early at 0730 and it still took 30 min to get onto the freeway which lasted about 100 km. After that a 2 lane road through hills and mountains with many towns and villages and a lot of traffic especially trucks, a few bits of freeway around the bigger towns, very scenic following the Danube at times. Some of the freeway sections are brand new and not on the map as yet so follow the signs not your GPS. The plan is to build a freeway linking Western Europe to the Black sea. I stopped at Deva a big town with a fort on the hill above it, looks like it is being renovated. 408 km in 5:45 hrs.

Out of Deva the same 2 lane road and slow going all the way to the border with Hungary. I crossed at Nadlac where I also stopped and bought a Hungarian Vignette 10 days for 26 Lei about 6 euro. This Vignette is electronic, no sticker, there are cameras on the roads that take a picture of your number plate and check it against a database so make sure you get a Vignette before you enter Hungary. You can also change any leftover Romanian money you have at the same place.

Did not have to stop for Romania immigration just rode through but had to stop and get passport stamped at Hungary immigration after that a bit of rough road and then a freeway for the 185 km to Budapest 130 kph speed limit. I arrived on their main National Holiday a bit like Independence day and the roads were deserted. 427 km, 5:30 hrs

I arrived fairly early and went into the center on the Metro, first the ATM and it worked, the local currency is the forint, next a 7 day Public transport pass for 16 euro, it works on the Metro, trams and buses, a single ride costs 0.50 euro and you have to buy a ticket and validate each time you get on, if you forget its a 55 euro fine, ask Warren Beatty, with the pass no validation you just have to have it on you.

Big crowds and special event’s everywhere due to the holiday. I am finally in a place that is what you expect of a European city, buildings are in good repair, you don’t take your life in your hands when you cross the street and people actually wait until you get off the train before trying to get on, civilization almost boring after the last couple of months hahaha.

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Romania, Bucharest, 14-18 August 2013

Posted on Sunday, 18-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

The ride from Sofia to Bucharest had some mountains at first then farmland. The Danube is the border between Bulgaria and Romania and I crossed over at Ruse, cars pay a E2 Bridge toll but bikes are free, the river is very wide at this point. There is no Immigration or Customs on the Bulgarian side but across the bridge you have to stop and get your passport stamped by Romanian immigration, the bike was ignored. After that it was 65km to Bucharest on a new 4 lane highway, the last 10km into the city took an hour in 40c degree heat, no rules except traffic stops for red lights most of the time hahaha. 389 km, 5:50 hrs.

Bucharest population 2.2 million big crowded city used to be known as Little Paris in the 1800’s because they copied the buildings and architecture of Paris, all a bit worse for the wear after a 150 years. I managed to find a money changer who was willing change my Bulgarian money. The museum has a couple of exhibitions the rest is closed. Lots of cafes and tourists from neighbouring countries.

I went on a day tour 13 hours to Transylvania to visit the castle made famous by Bram Stoker the inventor of Dracula. This part of the country is mountainous with ski and holiday resorts. It was also ruled by the Austrian/Hungarian/Germans for a while so there are no Greek Orthodox churches here only Lutheran and Catholic and a castle on every hilltop.

and finally this huge building started by Nicolae Ceauşescu the dictator, he was executed in 1989 before it was finished, currently used as the Parliament.

Tip – Visit the Caru cu bere restaurant in the alley to the left of the National Museum

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Bulgaria, Sofia, 9-13 August 2013

Posted on Tuesday, 13-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

Sofia, population 1.3 million, altitude 560m, currency is the Leva, everything in this place is in Cyrillic which is Greek to me hahaha. Even Two and a Half Men is dubbed in Bulgarian, how can you dub Charlie and Alan or Berta.

There is a Metro, Euro 0.50 a ride and there are two lines, never got to use it because of the language, there are also trams and electric trolley buses. A good city to walk, lots of ancient churches and some Roman ruins, Archaeology Museum, parks, pedestrian only streets, cafes and a modern shopping center or two.

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Bulgaria, Athens to Katerini to Sofia, 8-9 August 2013

Posted on Friday, 9-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

Athens to Katerini mainly a freeway along the coast with a few hills and tunnels thrown in, 9 toll stops E14, a real nuisance having to stop take gloves off dig the money out of my pocket put the change back, gloves back on, past Mount Olympus, did not see any Gods must have been nap time, 435km, 4:40 hrs, a fairly big town but nothing special.

Katerini to Sofia was a bit more exciting, freeway up to Thessaloniki about 120km 2 tolls at the start E1.60 and E0.80, after that 2 lane road and just before the border 4 lanes. I crossed the border at Kulata, queue of cars on the Greek side 34c hot and when I got to immigration they said go and park we have to stamp your passport took about 10 min not sure what they were doing, did not even look at the bike documents, short ride to the Bulgarian side and they were just waving everyone through no immigration or customs or stamps. Rode on and came to a barrier road blocked and the dug up on the other side so turned around and an old guy pointed sideways looking at the GPS I could see a turnoff so rode to it and then after a few kilometers came to a fork, GPS said go right, sign said go left, so went left and realized I was heading towards Macedonia so turned around and followed some local cars and came to another road block but only half the road, cars were circling and trying to figure out what to do, finally one guy went around the barrier and everyone followed, a few diversions with fine white powder, dust blowing, then the road was completely blocked with piled up dirt and on the other side was the highway but we could not get to it, so everyone turned around and drove back.

I decided to see if I could ride over the dirt mound but got my front wheel to the top of the mound then stalled as the rear wheel sunk in to the very soft dirt, bogged so struggled and pulled the bike backwards uphill onto the road nearly had a heart attack, started to ride back resigned to the fact that I would have to go the long way around which meant changing money at the border, refueling probably add a couple of hours to the journey. Then I saw an old truck that was carrying firewood that we had all passed a while ago, turn off on to a dirt track and realized that was the way around the road block, hahaha so I followed the truck up a hill, again fine powder and slippery and saw the highway on the other side only a few hundred meters and I was going again.

After that narrow 2 lane road lots of traffic and towns and trucks and police with radar slow going, hilly at times, finally came to a new freeway 60km out of Sofia straight upto 120 kph all the way 375km, 5:25hrs, what a ride.

There are no tolls in Bulgaria, you have to buy a Vignette 5 euro for 7 days.

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Greece, Athens, 6-7 August 2013

Posted on Wednesday, 7-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

I visited Kerameikos (Ceramic) or Potters Quarter which included a cemetary with some impressive headstones, saw the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier, different.  Wandered around the National Archaeological Museum considered one of the premier institutions of its kind, it contains some astonishing collections thousands of years old.

Tip – Go to the Acropolis and the Museum early or you will spend the day in queues. Walk down Ermou street from Syntagma square to Kerameikos.

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Greece, Athens, 4-5 August 2013

Posted on Monday, 5-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

The Acropolis museum new and well done with lots of stuff from BC no photos allowed, Hadrians Library in ruins, Monastiraki square restaurants and the Flea market, lots of things to see and do here.

I went on a day cruise to Hydra, Poros and Aegina islands, blue skies, warm, clear water, idyllic. Poros also had a shop with 46 flavours of Gelato and the Bitter chocolate was the best, add it to your bucket list hahaha.

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Greece, Athens, 2-3 August 2013

Posted on Saturday, 3-August-2013 by Chris Desmond

Athens has been around for 3,400 years, the birthplace of Democracy and also Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Greater Athens has a population of 4 million. It was the host city of the first modern Olympics in 1896. Museums and ancient ruins around every corner and millions of tourists and tour buses.

There is a modern metro and you can buy an unlimited weekly ticket for E14 that works on the trains and buses. Lots of organised tours and hop on-off buses as well. English is widely spoken, narrow lanes and crazy traffic and many of the signs are only in Greek so now I know what the saying, “Its all Greek to me” means hahaha.

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