Czech Republic

Crossing the border into Czech Republic we were surprised to find ourselves in Little Vietnam. The border gap contained a little village where you could buy all sorts of fake brand name clothing and trinkets. More importantly though, we found a good phở soup and friendly locals. A little further on we found a series of outlet shops and casinos that built like castles, aeroplanes and other crazy constructions. It seems that there is a lot of money in duty free fakes.

Little Vietnam on the Austria/Czech border

Outlet shopping, Czech style

We entered the small city of Znojmo not knowing what to expect. We found a castle, monasteries, beautiful pensions and a brewery. What a great city! We stayed at a ¨Cyclo Pension¨and enjoyed good views of the river and castle.

Znojmo views

We obtained good maps and followed the Greenways Prague to Vienna cycle route backwards through farmland and forest. Along the way we passed the only remaining part of the Iron Curtain, a physical fence and border gap separating eastern and western Europe during the Cold War.

Iron Curtain

We also got to look back into Austria, down to the oddly-named town of Hardegg.

Hardegg

We cycled down into a river valley at Vranov nad Djyi and then back up the next day to catch a train. The Greenways route was hillier and slower than we expected so we fast-tracked by train to Jindřichův Hradec, another great town with a castle on the river.

Vranov nad Dyji Castle

A red castle

Along the way, in a town called Sedlčany, we met Kyle, a fellow Australian from Dayboro/Albany Creek. He and Roger shared stories of growing up in Brisbane´s north as we relaxed in the backyard of a pension. Kyle's blog makes a good read too.

We cycled into Prague with mixed feelings. While it was good to be finishing our cycling leg of the trip, it was also sad to leave the bikes. We managed to sell them within a few hours of entering the city to a bike rental company. We then had to join the throng of "ordinary" tourists making our way around the busy tourist sites on foot.

Prague

Fred and Ginger Dancing building in Prague

Gothic night skyline

Here's a link to the map of our route. We cycled 3600km in just over three months, through ten countries. It wasn't all fun but a great experience. Let us know if you're thinking of doing something similar and want some information.

Austria

Austria - our only foray into the "west" - was immediately notable for its immaculate houses and gardens, spotless lodgings and impossibly courteous drivers. At times we even had to encourage cars to overtake us! There were many cycle tourists, some in supported groups, on our route which was largely on a dedicated path. The weather was starting to cool and it was no longer 38 degrees in Vienna. The Danube was even starting to look a lighter shade of brown so we took the opportunity to cool down on a pebbly beach one evening.

Excellent signage

With only four days in Austria (and not really planning to go there) there was little chance to learn German. Instead we amused ourselves by finding funny place names on the map like Windpassing, Badgasse and Lusthaus.

The route followed a dyke along the Danube which was quite monotonous until we got lost on a long and heavily populated stretch of nudist beach just out of Vienna. Not knowing which way to go (or look) Roger approached a nudist-cafe and some friendly gents pointed us in the right direction. Even though there was only one dedicated nudist beach it was generally acceptable to be nude anywhere within view of water be it the Danube, a pond or whatever.

Horses and cart, Viennese style

North of Vienna we were glad to find a campground to ease the strain on our budget. This time all the swimming spots were taken and there was a water park with loud electronic music focused around a murky pond-like Danube offshoot. After this we left the Danube and spent two days cycling through hills of vineyards and fields of corn and wheat to the Czech border. We were lucky to have a day of strong tailwind to propel us because even though rolling hills look benign it is more tiring to go up and down relatively small hills than to do a single big uphill. Some rain clouds threatened, reminding us that we hadn't had any serious rain - that interferes with cycling - for weeks.

Note the tail wind!

Even the electricity towers were picturesque in Austria

Windfarms were a frequent sight


Luisa and view to the Czech Republic

Slovakia

Approaching Bratislava we were happy to see not one but TWO bike lanes AND a roller blade lane! The heat had the Slovakians riding and skating around in their underwear in true European style, leaving us to ponder whether they left their inner city flats half dressed or stripped off along the way.

Bratislava itself was unimpressive architecturally (by European standards). There are many concrete commuinist style blocks and parts of the old town and city wall were decimated to make way for this:

Novy Mesto (new bridge)

Despite the good cycle paths leading to Bratislava we managed to get lost on the way out of town. It was only a few kilometres to the Austrian border and then a route with frequent signage throughout the small eastern chunk of Austria we traversed.

Sovakian-Austrian border Bratislava Castle in the background, hitchhiker and border guard

Hungary: northwest to Slovakia

The Hungarian version of a BBQ is goulash over a fire. All campsites and most parks have fireplaces for goulash making but even when they don't people can be found cooking goulash in the most unexpected places in pots suspended by a tripod.

Goulash for lunch

After Budapest we followed the Danube cycle route upstream, detouring from the route to visit Győr. We were now entering a serious heatwave. The temperature rose over 35 degrees for the next six days in a row. The cycling conditions were terrible between about 1 and 4pm. In Győr we followed strains of latin music to find an excellent band from Cuba performing in the central square accompanied by sweat-drenched local salseros. Unfortunately we had the wrong shoes on for dancing...

Cuban band in Győr

Back on the Danube and the heat persisted, and we fought off dehydration and heat rash the best we could to the Slovakian border.

Hungary: Eger to Budapest

Eger is a touristy city with lots to see. Back in the 16th century, the Hungarians successfully fought off a Turkish invasion from here and they're still proud of it, despite the Turks winning again 40 years later. So there's a great castle to explore, a humming old town, spas, as well as world-famous red wines.

Dusk

Europeans take their bathing very seriously. Thermal spas are everywhere and each offers cures for different ailments depending on the mineral content (and smell?) of the water. The number of crutches and wheelchairs surrounding thermal pools is astounding, and some baths are only accessible if you have a doctor's prescription!

Roger in thermal spring


Sunset over Eger

From Eger we headed west to Gyöngyös - pronounced jernjersh - through rolling countryside (read: hills) and then to Hatvan. The westerly headwinds were still tiresome so we opted for another train to Budapest.

Scenery between Eger and Budapest

Budapest! Wow, what a city!

This is a great place to hang out so we took the opportunity to rent a great apartment for five days. The apartment is in a renovated old building, has 15 foot ceilings, and modern furnishings. It's also about the same price as two dorm beds in a hostel. We've been catching up on domestic things such as shopping, as well as visiting the sights, of which there are many.

Looking east to Pest from Buda Castle

Budapest by night

A nice building

A nice church

Since the end of communism in 1989 the Hungarians have been collecting all their old statues and putting them in a park near Budapest. These huge soviet-era monoliths are worth the trip.

Communism lives

We spent an afternoon cycling along the World Heritage Andrassy Avenue to City Park where there are more thermal baths, museums, art galleries and a zoo.

Chariot

The reflected Fisherman's Bastion near Buda Castle

Hungary: Romania to Eger

Entering Hungary was a relief. There was a bike lane directly from the border and everything just seemed easier. We had been used to Romanian cars and trucks using their horns to get us off the road. But in Hungary the drivers were courteous, except for the odd Romanian truck. By the end of the day we were able to discern which trucks were Romanian before even looking at the number plate! There was still the occasional "no bikes" sign on busy roads. It took us a while to find a map that indicated where these roads were.

No bikes, tractors or horses and carts

Our first meal in Hungary was basic and traditional. We found a small restaurant in a tiny town and sat down, expecting a menu. We didn't speak any Hungarian yet but that didn't seem to matter because there was only one meal option. This was soup followed by a kind of pasta cooked in pork fat, topped with white cheese (thanks for the warning Matt).

Most meals in Romania and eastern Hungary consist of pork and potatoes. The differences between restaurants are the different ways they cook these two ingredients. We tried to order a meal without potatoes once but failed. We'd ordered enough dishes but none of them contained potato. The concerned waiter approached us and kept pointing to the potato dishes until we ordered one.

Sunflower field

The westerly headwinds continued as we cycled through Hungary so we thought we'd take a train to Nyíregyháza. This was surprisingly easy. The train wasn't really meant for bikes but the conductor helped us get the bikes on anyway. This attitude was so different to what we'd experienced in Romania.

We headed north to Sóstó, a holiday region with lakes and lots of greenery. From there it was an easy cycle to the wine region of Tokaj, known mainly for dessert wines that comes in 6 grades of sweetness. We hung around the little tourist town tasting and learning about wine production.

Wine tasting in Tokaj

By now we'd obtained a cycling map and the route to Miskolc looked difficult. Most of the roads were prohibited for cycling and we'd have to do a big detour. So we thought we'd try the train and again it was easy. We camped near the Miskolc-Tapolca spa region and then headed west into the hills.

The Bűkk plateau is a national park and ski region. We explored the gateway town, Lillafűred, and then climbed into the hills. It was a long, hard climb but well worth the effort. At the top we found a private campsite run by a very fit looking Hungarian and his family. He'd built a beautiful wooden house and a few huts on his hilltop paradise and was living a very happy existence. His dog was happy too.

Roger and friend

From there we traversed the plateau on good forest roads that are open only to bikes, horses and feet. We didn't really know what to expect but it was a beautiful ride through grassland and beech forests.

Luisa on Bűkk Plateau

Looking down

We descended from the plateau to Szilvásvárad, a town known for it's Lippizanner white horses. We found a Dutch lady who had a great little campsite in her backyard and she organised a horseriding trip with a fellow Dutch lady who'd moved to Hungary two years earlier. We spent four hours wandering the hills on horseback, to little towns, lakes, and through forests. We had to duck our heads on some of the trails to avoid branches and got a bit scratched. The horses were happy and well cared for and they enjoyed roaming the hills and cantering on the flats.

We popped out of the forest to this village

Horsecam

The next night we were joined at the campsite by a group of school children and their teacher on a 6 day cycle tour of northern Hungary and Slovakia. The gas supply to the whole town was cut off for that day so we had to vie for shower time before the hot water tank ran out!

From Szilvásvárad we cycled south to Eger helped by a rare roaring tailwind (!) and found ourselves in tourist country again.

Romania: Maramureş to Hungary

Now in the heart of Maramureş we were lucky enough to be cycling through a string of villages on a Sunday. Crowds poured out of the Greco-Catholic churches in their sunday best: Colourful skirts and headscarves for women and loose white shirts and vests for men. On this Sunday we didn't see a single horse-and-cart, and no one was working in the fields.

Sunday parade

Even the younger generation adhered to the dress code


Villagers in their Sunday best

Greco-Catholic Church

Monastery in Barsana, a popular pilgrimage site

Pot tree of unknown significance

A tourist highlight of Maramureş is the Merry Cemetery. In the 1960s, the local grave builder started creating humourous headstones that told amusing stories about the deceased in poetry and pictures. Unfortunately there were no translations so we missed the poetry, but the pictures were great.

Merry Cemetery headstone

Maramureş is a truly strange region. It is separated from the rest of Romania by a mountain range and hasn't really caught up to the 21st century (or even the 20th). Even the main highway to the west has sections of cobblestone. By now we were cycling into a strong westerly headwind. We ascended the pass through a beautiful forest and found ourselves battling to stay upright in the gusts on the way down. The wind was so strong at times that we were pedalling downhill at 12-13km/h! After a hard day we stopped at a thermal spring hotel.

Cows outside the thermal hotel

From there we had another couple of days of headwind through Satu Mare to the Hungarian border. We were happy to leave Romania. It was a fascinating country but years of communism and poverty have taken their toll on the spirit of the people. We had many good experiences but the majority of the people we met were unhappy to see us and were unwilling to help us when we asked. The contrast with Hungary was apparent immediately.