Croatia, Zagreb, 10-11 July 2013

Posted on Thursday, 11-July-2013 by Chris Desmond

Zagreb’s old town is split into the Lower town and the Upper town, lots of grand old buildings most of which are museums now, this was once a wealthy city. The lower town has some big parks and the Upper town had endless open air cafe’s and a church or two, markets, the parliament and many tourists including a few Korean and Japanese tour groups with their own guides. English is not as widely spoken.

After a day of wandering the Upper town you will be glad to get back to your desk at work to rest those aching knees and calf muscles, unfortunately I cannot afford that luxury.

The trams are modern and a convenient way to get around 12 kuna a ride about $2, there are also buses, no plastic you have to buy a ticket, they are available at kiosks and supermarkets everywhere. The trams of course only operate on the flat, no hills.

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Croatia, Zagreb, 9 July 2013

Posted on Tuesday, 9-July-2013 by Chris Desmond

I rode from Ljubljana to Zagreb today, 133km in 1:45hrs. Both these countries are in the EU and in the Schengen area but you still have to stop at the border and you get stamped out of Slovenia though this did not happen when I entered Slovenia from Austria or in any of the other Schengen countries, then the police check to see if you have a Vignette (Toll pass) stuck to your windscreen, lucky I had done this the day before, the Vignette is not valid if its not stuck to the screen. Then the Croatian guys stamped my passport as well but neither of them asked me to take my helmet off. So far no Customs has showed any interest in my bike or its paperwork. No tunnels on this ride you just have to go around the hills instead of through them, a lot more fun.

Unloaded and went walkabout, first impressions of the town are that its a bit time worn, in need of a coat of paint. The currency here is the Kuna not the Euro, population 793,000.

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Slovenia, Ljubljana, 6-9 July 2013

Posted on Tuesday, 9-July-2013 by Chris Desmond

Ljubljana – population 280,000, Altitude 298 m, Average temp Winter -2c and Summer 20c, Currency Euro, Member of the EU.

A very nice place, the people are easy going, friendly and helpful, the second language is English, very organised and clean, buses are modern and a cheap way to get around. You buy a plastic card for E2 and then its E1.20 a ride which can last upto 90 minutes on multiple buses/routes

Lots of old buildings, cafes, pubs and restaurants in the old town where all the tourists hang out, very green with many trees, the roads are good and traffic is sparse.

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Netherlands to Slovenia, 3-6 July 2013

Posted on Saturday, 6-July-2013 by Chris Desmond

Left Veghel, Netherlands in a  drizzle and it rained all day through Germany except for an hour just before crossing the Swiss border. Riding in the rain is very tiring as helmets do not have wipers and you have to keep wiping and turning your head constantly to blow the water off the visor. A freeway toll pass costing 40 Swiss franks is required to drive on the Swiss freeways, its valid from December to January of the following year 14 months, so if you buy it half way through the year you only get the rest of the year plus January to use it and you have to buy the annual pass even if you are only in the country for a day. Stayed in the village of Gondiswil for a couple of days while visiting a friend, went on a day trip to Lucerne.

Left Switzerland and rode through Leichtenstein and Austria to stop in Sistrans another village in the hills above Innsbruck, very pretty, lots of tunnels some very long with their own tolls. The Austrian freeways also require a toll pass but you can buy one for 10 days for E9.55, this is the minimum amount.

The road from Sistrans to Slovenia was right through the Alps and not a freeway  so very slow going many towns and villages and being a weekend all the tourists were out and about, millions of other motorbikes on the road. Again more tunnels and tolls going through a short section of Italy, average speed 60 kph, fine sunny weather all day, looks like summer has finally arrived. The Slovenia freeways also have a toll pass and you can get one for a week for E7.50 for motorcycles which is half the price of the car pass, I already like this place hahaha.

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Belgium, Beer, 30 June 2013

Posted on Sunday, 30-June-2013 by Chris Desmond

There are around 130 breweries in Belgium producing 1,100 different types of beer.

The dark beers have a high alcohol content, averaging 7% and going up to 12%

Many of the beers are bottle conditioned (second fermentation with yeast in the bottle) and come with their own style of drinking glass.

http://www.specialtybeer.com/brewery,index,caracole.html

 

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Belgium, Hastiere, 28-30 June 2013

Posted on Sunday, 30-June-2013 by Chris Desmond

I was invited by friends to visit their holiday home in Hastiere, Belgium. This is in the Ardennes region of Belgium which has extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and rivers and people come here for their holidays, rock climbing, kayaking etc. There are also many small brewery’s in the local Abbeys run by monks.

Nearby is the historic town of Dinant where Adolphe Sax the inventor of the Saxaphone was born, it also has a large fort on a hill called the Citadel.

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Ireland to Netherlands, 22-27 June 2013

Posted on Friday, 28-June-2013 by Chris Desmond

Loaded my bike up in a drizzle for the short ride to the ferry terminal from Belfast to Cairnryan in Scotland, booked online for $80, as usual everything went smoothly with the crossing rode onto the ferry at 1045 and off again at 1350, chatted to a couple of riders one 74 years old returning from touring Ireland.

Rode from Cairnryan to Edinburg and arrived in pouring rain to visit friends for a couple of days then rode from Edinburg to Harwich, 9 hours in fine and cold weather.

Harwich, UK to Hook of Holland is an overnight ferry cost $185 booked online, boarded at 2100 along with a whole heap of riders all going to Assen for the MotoGP, very nice cabin and restaurants etc and off the boat at 0800, had my passport stamped again as arriving in the EU, couple of hours later got to Veghel in the South of the Netherlands.

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Ireland, Belfast 20-21 June 2013

Posted on Friday, 21-June-2013 by Chris Desmond

Belfast where the Titanic was built and they have a big and very modern Titanic museum very well done. This was a prosperous city until the “Troubles” began, it is still a work in progress, 14 peace walls divide various neighbourhoods. The battles are now fought with flags and murals. The police still drive around in their armoured vehicles.

It is clean and organised and has a very good Metro bus system with frequent buses and a 3.20 pounds all day ticket, a single fare is 1.90 pounds. Look out for the Hop on-off bus companies there are a number of them and the one I chose (Allen’s) had only one bus that took 2 hours to do a circuit which meant that if you got off the bus at a stop it would only be back in 2 hours.

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Ireland, Giant’s Causeway, 19 June 2013

Posted on Thursday, 20-June-2013 by Chris Desmond

I rode from Dublin over the back roads to the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of Northern Ireland which is part of the UK though there was no indication nor were there any signs of any kind when crossing the border, the currency is now back to pounds and the speed limit signs are in miles not kilometers.

Many villages and towns later 241km and 3:45hrs I arrived. They were 3 parking attendants and bikes were parked at the front so I could take all my gear off and leave it with the bike and not have to worry, very well organised, guided tour then I wandered around, after 2 hours I was back on my bike. Weather wise this was the best day blue skies all day, it was 21.5c when I arrived in Belfast unbelievable hahaha.

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Ireland, Dublin, 15-18 June 2013

Posted on Tuesday, 18-June-2013 by Chris Desmond

The first thing you notice about the city is the lack of high rise buildings, many tourists some with American accents which I haven’t heard since Manila though the majority sound like East Europeans. Many of the businesses are run by East Europeans as well, strange when you are expecting to hear an Irish accent hahaha.

Tourism is big and well organised, the people are helpful, courteous and efficient and they have a brochure or map for every activity. There are a number of very good museums and admission is free.

Tip – If you go on the Trinity College tour which includes entry to view the Book of Kells do it at 4pm when you can walk straight in, in the morning the queue is a mile long and all to peer over someones shoulder at a book under glass, totally underwhelming.

With President Obama attending the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland, his wife and kids decided to visit Dublin, so for three days the roads around their hotel which is in the heart of town were surrounded with barricades and it was on the Hop on-off bus route which took an extra half an hour or more to do the loop around the city.

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