 Tuesday - Wednesday, May 27 - 28, 2003
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 101.5 KM
Average Speed: 54.3 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 03 Minutes
Today we arrived in Eastern Europe - Slovenia to be exact. We spent about an hour and a half at the border when we entered the country purchasing insurance for Jim’s bike. We tried to purchase insurance for Verna’s bike but they used the last form for Jim. What to do? It is illegal to drive in Slovenia without insurance. We were very lucky. The man who was selling the insurance at the border was very nice and found a very nice man who was driving a delivery truck to lead us to Zavorovalnica Triglow in the town of Tranj where we were able to purchase insurance for Verna’s bike. €4.00 cheaper in town than it was at the border for 15 days of Green Card insurance.
After that we found a bank so we could change some Euro’s for Tolarjev’s. Yet another interesting process. It was 12:30 when we started this and the first bank Jim went into told him to come back at 2:00 PM. We tried another bank down the street and they made the exchange for us, no questions asked.
Then it was time to find some lunch. We quickly discovered that our food translation book that has just about every language spoken in Europe does not have the Slovenian language in it. We also realized that it does not have the Croatian language either. Oppps! Fortunately the waiter in the road side cafe we stopped at spoke English and saved us. Goodness knows what we would have ordered had he not been able to help us with the translation. Lunch was very good too.
We then headed northwest for the town of Bled where we found a place to stay.
On Wednesday we took a bus into Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. See the Ljubljana page of the Slovenia section for information about Ljubljana.
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Total Distance: 163.1 KM
Average Speed: 45.1 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 54 Minutes
A nice ride from Bled over the Vsic Pass taking some of the roads less traveled to get there. At right is a picture of Verna by her bike when we were on a dirt road near Radovna. Beautiful countryside and a great days ride.
See the Julian Alps page in the Slovenia section for more information.
Friday, May 30, 2003
Total Distance: 123.5 KM
Average Speed: 54.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 2 Hours 38 Minutes
We headed south today in search of the Skocjanske Jame (Caves). We had yet another great lunch, this time in Sezana, and then went to visit the caves. At this time of year they only do three tours a day but we got lucky. There was a bus load scheduled for a two o’clock tour which is not on the schedule and they let us join the tour. This meant we did not have to wait for an hour and a half for the next scheduled tour.
See the Kras (Karst) Region page in the Slovenia section for more information.
Tomorrow we should be on the Adriatic Coast.
Saturday, May 31 -Sunday June 1, 2003
Total Distance: 27.6 KM
Average Speed: 43.0 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 1 Hours 05 Minutes
Well, we did not set any speed or distance records today. We probably should have ridden here yesterday - here is Ankaran on the north Slovenian coast, about 3 kilometers from the Italian border. We decided to have two days of rest and found a nice campground and set up house keeping.
Not much to see in these parts but the weather is nice and we will use the time to get the web site caught up. Unfortunately we will not be able to post anything until we next find an internet cafe or a hotel with a phone line we can use.
Monday, June 2, 2003
Total Distance: 66.7 KM
Average Speed: 49.3 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 1 Hours 57 Minutes
Yet another high mileage day! But, we are in Croatia - spending the night near Bassaisa on the coast. The border crossing we went through today had no services at all - like change, etc. We found an ATM (BankOmat) and got some local currency. Tomorrow we will ride to another border crossing not too far away and see if we can purchase Green Card insurance for the bikes.
Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Total Distance: 96.1 KM
Average Speed: 42.1 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 2 Hours 16 Minutes
We were able to test our “new” tent during the evening and night - a fair amount of rain. This is the first time we have used the tent in the rain since we purchased it last summer when we were in Stockholm, Sweden. It works just fine! What was even nicer is that the weather cooperated and it was clear in the morning and everything was dry when we packed.
We rode to the next border crossing and purchased Green Card insurance for the bikes. Not a bad deal - 30 days for less than $30.00 for both bikes.
Then we pointed ourselves south and stopped in Novigrad to do a walkabout and have lunch. Our lack of language skills caught up with us at lunch. Normally we order a salad and one entree. Today we got two salads and two entrees. So we blew the budget on lunch by spending twice as much as we had planned.
We learned how slippery the roads in Croatia are as we continued our ride south in the afternoon. The first incident was as we were arriving in Proec. The road was going slightly downhill as we approached a traffic signal light that had turned red. The vehicles in front of us slowed to a stop and as we attempted to do the same, the front wheel on Jim's bike locked up, started to slide and fortunately the ABS brakes kicked in and saved him. It is very strange to be pulling on your front brake lever with enough force to break the thing with the clutch disengaged and have the bike continue to move downhill at about 20 KPH as you watch the bike slide to the left toward on coming traffic as well as continue to get closer to the vehicle in front of you. Fortunately the ABS saved both Jim and the bike as well as the van in front of him! But that is not all. It had rained in the area we were passing through later in the afternoon, and while the roads were not completely wet some areas were quite wet. While following a bicycle into an intersection where we had a stop sign in our direction of travel we watched the cyclist initiate his turn to the right onto the intersecting road and immediately have his bike go out from under him. He and his bike then slid along the road for about 20 meters (50 feet) until they both stopped with him in one lane of traffic and his bike in the other of the intersecting road. Fortunately the traffic on that road was able to stop and further injury to him or his bike was avoided. But we learned an important lesson about how slick the roads in Croatia are.
We had been warned about the roads being slick by our friend Alessandro Zorat and he did not embellish or exaggerate at all. We thought the roads in Spain were slippery but they are like glue compared to the roads in Croatia.
Wednesday - Thursday, June 4 -5, 2003
Total Distance: 88.4 KM
Average Speed: 56.1 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 1 Hours 34 Minutes
Today we made it to Opatija which is located about 20 kilometers from Rijheka. Opatija was the fashionable seaside resort of the Autsro - Hungarian empire until the start of World War I. We arrived after a ride through a 5 kilometer long tunnel that cost us 26.00 Kuna each ($4.20 [€3.40]).What this really highlights is how much the US dollar has plunged in the last 12 months. Our life in Europe has become 20% more expensive thanks to politics. Grrrr.
Opatija was created at the end of the 19th century as a winter resort for the “upper classes” and is central to the Adriatic Riviera and has the longest tradition of tourism of any town in Croatia.
We wonder if there is anyone in Germany - it seems that Croatia is a very big destinations for the Germans. We find the menu’s in restaurants, and just about everything else for that matter, to be in three languages - Croatian, Italian and German. We encounter a few car registrations that are Italian but there are cars from Germany everywhere. As often happens to us, everyone thinks that we are German. Many times people will start speaking German to us and we don’t understand much of what is being said. We try not to embarrass them but many times we have no choice but to admit that we don’t understand what they are saying to us - and this really embarrasses the Germans who stop and talk to us about the bikes and our travels.
Starting tomorrow we will head down the coast with Dubrovnik being our ultimate goal. We haven’t decided how much time we will take to get there but we suspect that we will pick up our pace somewhat.
Friday, June 6, 2003
Total Distance: 294.1 KM
Average Speed: 58.4 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 6 Hours 16 Minutes
For us, a high mileage day. The traffic was light, the road in good to fair condition and the weather nice, but warm. Lots of police positioned along the road as we left town today. The Pope is visiting Croatia and arrived on the island of Krk just south of Opatija yesterday. Lots and lots of security for his trip to the airport where he will fly to Dubrovnik for his appearance there today.
The tour books do not exaggerate about the Dalmatian coast - it is beautiful. The road that runs along the coast is a fun road for motorcycles but from what we have seen it can be frustrating for car drivers when they get caught behind a bus or large truck.
Anyone who comes to Europe for a motorcycle trip should include this area on their agenda.r mor
Saturday, June 7, 2003
Total Distance: 183.9 KM
Average Speed: 45.6 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 01 Minutes
For those of you who are keeping score, today’s score: Radar Detector 1, Police 0
A rather interesting speed trap was set up in a remote are where the posted speed was 80 KPH. Nothing in the area in the way of civilization, just trees and rocks. As we came around a bend in the road the radar detector started to make noise in a manner that would indicate that someone is using radar around the next bend. We checked our speed to make sure we were not over the liming, and rode around the curve in the road. As soon as we came around the curve the radar detector went nuts and we could see the police car parked under a tree on the other side of the road. On our side of the road opposite where the police car was parked was a new speed control sign indicating the maximum speed permitted was 50 KPH. We immediately decelerated to 50 KPH and went on down the road. The people in the police car looked at us, at their speed indicator on the radar detector and back at us again, as we rode by. We think they were surprised that we were not speeding. :-)
The weather has heated up quite a bit - to the point that we can tell when the road goes the slightest bit inland from the coast. About a 5 to 10 degree centigrade difference in the temperature along the coast and that inland.
Sunday - Monday, June 8 - 9, 2003
Total Distance: 163.1 KM
Average Speed: 52.9 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 05 Minutes
Yet another radar trap this morning on the south side of Makarska. Yesterday’s radar trap was on the north side of the town. We spent the night not far from the place where we encountered the speed trap yesterday in a nice campground.
We rode through a small portion of Bosnia I Hercegovina this afternoon as we continued our journey south. We arrived in Dubrovnik shortly after noon where we will spend a few days exploring the town.
Dubrovnik is a most remarkable city. See the Dubrovnik page in the Croatia section for more information.
 Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Total Distance: 153.6 KM
Average Speed: 45.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 21 Minutes
And this was just the time on the bikes. What is not reflected in the distance/speed/time categories is the 5.5 hours we spent on the ferry headed back up the coast. We did some island hoping today on our way north. Our objective was to end the day north of Slip, which we did.
See the Dalmatia page of the Croatia section for more information.
Wednesday - Thursday, June 11 - 12, 2003
Total Distance: 240.0 KM
Average Speed: 52.0 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 36 Minutes
 T oday we left the coast and headed inland as we began our journey towards Zegreb, the capital of Croatia. But, before we left our campground we took this picutere of a Swiss couple’s camper conversion.
The roads continue to be in good condition generally and there is much less traffic away from the coast. Fewer tourists also. We were up early and on the road by 7:00 AM which is very unusual for us; we wanted to get an early start in hopes of avoiding the high temperatures we have had for the last two weeks. We were successful becuase of our early start and also spending the majority of the day at eleveations between 300 and 600 meters (1000 - 2000 feet).
We arrived in Pitivicka Jezera just in time for lunch. We also wanted to check out the lakes at this UNESCO World Heritage site to see if it was worth spending some time here. We decided to stay a second night in order to do more walking about the various lakes.
See the Pitivicka Jezera page in the Croatia section for more information.
Friday - Saturday, June 13 - 14, 2003
Total Distance: 141.3 KM
Average Speed: 57.7 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 2 Hours 26 Minutes
 We have reverted to an old strategy of ours when traveling in the heat. Get up early - like 5:30 AM and get on the road first thing in order to get most of the traveling completed before the heat of the day. And that is what we did this morning. We continued our journey north today passing this building on the way to Zagreb - it obviously suffered from the conflict at the start of the 1990’s. We were not sure if this had been a residence or a business but in either event, the fate of the owners is unknown to us and we cannot help but wonder if they, like so many others, did not survive the conflict.
We arrived in Zagreb prior to 11:00 AM and Verna set off on foot after we found a place in the shade to park the bikes and get our of our hot motorcycle clothing. We learned later in the day that today the weather forecast was for the hottest day in Zagreb in 57 years! Any rate, Verna set off on foot to find the Tourist Information office and to see if she could locate a place for us to stay.
She returned about an hour later having found a room for us after having checked several places. We then moved the bikes to a place close to where we would be staying and began the process of unloading and getting settled. It was now close to 12:30 and the temperature was 37+ degrees centigrade. We then signed up to go on a walking tour of the city scheduled for 10:00 AM Saturday.
Jim met a chap in the hotel lobby who was waiting for his girlfriend to meet him who told Jim that he was an American and his girlfriend is from Bosnia and that he had been living in Sarajevo for the last two years. Now Jim is thinking about spending some time in Bosnia.
Later in the evening we were serenaded by some Dixieland music when a quartet set up outside our hotel and played through the evening for all of the patrons in the numerous cafe-bars that are in the immediate area. Not what we expected to be listening to in Zagreb!
See the Zagreb page in the Croatia section for more information.
Sunday, June 15, 2003
Total Distance: 299.2 KM
Average Speed: 51.2 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 5 Hours 50 Minutes
We Left Zagreb this morning headed for Pecs, Hungary. When we arrived at the border we needed to purchase insurance for he bikes. This had not been a problem up to now but we were not able to communicate with anyone at the border - no one spoke English. We did finally locate a very nice gentleman associated with the authorities who were working the border checkpoint who understood what we wanted.
It seems that the companies that provide insurance for goods that enter Hungary also provide insurance for vehicles. This is the same as it was in Slovenia and Croatia. The difference here is that they do not provide insurance for motorcycles. But, it turned out that the gentleman that we spoke with was able to issue insurance for our bikes, which he did. A different way of doing things but the end result was the same - we were able to purchase insurance for our bikes and continue on to Pecs.
When we arrived in Pecs we encountered three large discount stores. The first was for home garden supplies, the second for items for the home and the third was a huge supermarket that had just about everything the other two “super stores” would not. So we stopped and did a bit of shopping for things for dinner and breakfast the following day. Well, we did after we were able to extract ourselves from the people who were very interested in what we were doing in Hungary. We spoke with one gentleman who told us he had a 1937 BMW R12 that he rides on occasion - complete with sidecar.
We then rode north from Pecs for twenty kilometers to find a campground located adjacent to tow small lakes. The lakes were very nice and were mobbed with people out for a nice Sunday at the lake.
Monday - Tuesday, June 16 - 17, 2003
Total Distance: 203.8 KM
Average Speed: 45.7 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 17 Minutes
We rode into Pecs and spent the morning exploring the town.
We then rode to Lake Balaton after lunch where we found a place where we could rent a cabin for two days on the Tihany. We rode all the way around the lake only to discover that there is a ferry that we could have taken for $2.00 that would have brought us across the middle of the lake and saved us about a half hour of travel time.
Tihany is a small village that is located on a peninsula which sticks into the lake. The peninsula is a nature reserve and is considered by some as the most beautiful place on the lake.
See the Transdanubia page in the Hungary section for more information.
Wednesday - Friday, June 18 - 20, 2003
Total Distance: 125.6 KM
Average Speed: 62.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 1 Hours 59 Minutes
After a short ride north we found ourselves in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, this morning. We had tried to make a reservation at a hotel in the city center but they were full so we resorted to our usual tactic of locating something on the outskirts of the town. Doing this saved us €19.00 a night. We are about four stops on the Metro (subway) from the other hotel.
After we settled into the hotel we bought a three day Metro pass and headed into the center of town to locate a restaurant for lunch and to do a bit of sight seeing. It started to rain late in the afternoon as we were on our way to a bookstore that sells English language books which put a bit of a damper on our sight seeing activities.
We will be here for three nights, at least - the city has more unique architecture than we have ever seen in one place. There is a lot to see and we may have to extend our stay if we cannot get it all completed in two and a half days.
This being the first day we have seen any news in a language that we can understand for many days, we were very relieved to hear that Microsoft has declared war on spam email. Whew - life as we know it will surely be changed because of this!
See the Budapest page in the Hungary section for more information.
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Total Distance: 136.0 KM
Average Speed: 64.2 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 2 Hours 07 Minutes
We left Budapest this morning and rode east to the town of Eger. The Egar area of Hungary is known for its wine production and we wanted to see what it was all about.
See the Great Plain page in the Hungary section fro more information.
Sunday, June 22, 2003
Total Distance: 182.5 KM
Average Speed: 44.9 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 03 Minutes
As we left Eger this morning all we wanted to do was go for a bit of a ride in the mountains surrounding the area. We did that and then stopped in a campground in Sarospatak for the night. We did get a bit lost today but it was a nice ride and we found a nice place in the mountains for lunch.
Our goal for tomorrow is to enter Romania.
Monday, June 23, 2003
Total Distance: 264.1 KM
Average Speed: 42.1 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 6 Hours 16 Minutes
We entered Romania this afternoon after a nice ride in the morning. At one point on our ride we were stopped by the side of the road reading the map when a car pulled up along side of us and a man got out to see if he could help us. Then, later in the morning we had pulled over to the side of the road to do the same thing and another car stopped and insisted that we follow him - he would show us the way through town. These are wonderful examples of how nice the Hungarian people have been to us.
The formalities at the border consumed only an hour of our time. We did have some difficulty getting the people who were selling “Carte Verde”, green card insurance, to understand that we needed to purchase insurance for the bikes. It was not until we stopped at the third of the roadside stands selling this insurance that we were able to get the person working there to understand that we wanted insurance, not to exchange money. Any rate, we were able to purchase the insurance using Euro’s. We then headed for the nearest town to stop at a bank to exchange money - at a much better rate than was being offered at the border.
After this we rode some of the worst dirt roads we have ever been on as we tried to find our way to the main highway going north. There were not many signs in the town pointing the direction and when we followed the one we did find there was never another sign and we found ourselves on a street to nowhere. In our first day in Romania we have discovered there are four types of roads. Dirt that may or may not have some gravel on it but is guaranteed to be full of holes and be very rough. Paved roads that have not been touched since the original pavement was put down and they come very close to being just like the dirt roads because they have so many holes in them - they are worse because it would be very easy to break or bend a wheel on one of these roads. Paved roads that have been maintained but now the road surface is more bumpy pathes than anything else - the original road surface is not seen often due to all of the patches that have been applied and the road surface is also full of holes. And the fourth is a road that has been recently paved. Only a strecth of about 10 kilometers that we were on comming into the country from the border falls into this classification so far.
Later in the afternoon we were able to identify the police speed trap thanks to the radar detector. So, today’s score for those keeping it is radar detector 1, police 0. We thought this was interesting because of the condition of the roads and all the sheep, goats, milk cows, cattle, chickens, kids, adults, bicycles and more horse and ox drawn wagons than we have ever seen tend to prevent anyone from attaining much speed in the first place. We have been lucky to go faster than 50 KPH - the bikes just bump, rattle and shake as we go down the roads.
Tuesesday, June 24, 2003
Total Distance: 292.8 KM
Average Speed: 45.0 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 6 Hours 30 Minutes
The mileage and the time spent on the road today does not reflect in any way how bad the roads we traveled on were. We were both amazed to see that we had averaged 45 KPH (28 MPH) - no way did we think that we were going that fast! The most interesting thing we saw associated with the condition of the roads was the condition of every bridge we crossed. They had the worst pot holes than any other place. We think we understand why we have never seen bridge surfaces paved over previously. They just crumble and fall apart based on what we encountered today.
Romania is beautiful. Today we rode through the Carpathian Mountains and it was a wonderful experience. It is difficult to observe the scenery though. The small towns and villages tend to have every building on the main road. As a result, there is a constant procession of people, children, dogs, chickens, cows, sheep, goats and horses all wandering freely wherever they please. Oh yes, let’s not forget the horse drawn carts and wagons. This mix makes for and interesting environment to ride in when combined with road surfaces that look similar to the surface of the moon. Our first thoughts were that this was a lot like Mexico.
Oh yes, for those keeping track here is today’s score - Radar Detector 1, Police 0.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Total Distance: 311.0 KM
Average Speed: 45.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 6 Hours 47 Minutes
Normally our slow speeds are a result of our dawdling along. But not in Romania. Here, covering any distance is work. Fortunately we were given some new pavement towards the end of our ride today and we were able to move between 65 and 80 KPH for the last hour of our travels.
Verna had a conversation in the parking lot of the motel where we stayed last night as we were packing this morning with a man who is from Romania but now lives in Toronto, Canada. He suggested that we take a different route today - one that would take us through a narrow gorge. We followed his advice - the gorge was beautiful.
And the radar detector wins yet again. This time as we crested a hill that rounded a corner at the same time. We find the use of all this radar to catch speeders on roads where you cannot travel more than 6o to 80 KPH to be rather amazing. The policeman standing in the road gave us a most curious look as we rode by. He was dealing with a car that he had stopped. He kept looking from us to his partner in the police car with the radar expecting his partner to signal him to pull us over. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
We have been doing a rather unscientific count for the past two days. Yesterday we encountered two tractors and today we encountered 12 tractors. It appears that the vast majority of farming in Romania is done manually using horses or oxen. We have seen numerous men plowing fields behind a single horse pulling the plow as well as people working in the fields with hoes and scythes. And we have seen untold numbers of horse drawn wagons laden with hay and straw like the one pictured previously or empty with just people in them going down the road.
See the Carpathian Mountains page of the Romania section for more information.
Thursday - Friday, June 26 - 27, 2003
Total Distance: 428.6 KM
Average Speed: 47.6 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 9 Hours 00 Minutes
Radar detector 5, police 0!
We have encountered more radar in Romania than anywhere else in Europe, except Germany. We were told by a man we met at our motel last night that the government was working to have the terrible road infrastructure fixed by the year 2005. Considering how difficult it is to travel at more than 80 KPH the vast majority of the time we are beginning to understand why there is so much emphasis being put on speed.
In the areas of the country where it is possible to drive at speeds higher than 80 KPH the drivers tend to be a bit out of control. We suspect that this emphasis on speed control is being used to educate people that they will not be able to do anything they want just because the roads have been improved.
While our average speed today is due to the road conditions it is not because the majority of the roads we rode on were in terrible condition. On two different occasions we were delayed due to road construction where the highway was being repaved. The second of these was almost an hour in length due to the way the paving was being done - no traffic could go on the road while the operation was being done.
For more information about our riding experiences in Romania see the Driving in Romania page in the Romania section.
But, having said that, it was a long day. And we did not have much choice because we were unable to locate any place to spend the night until we reached our destination - the Black Sea.
See the Black Sea page in the Romania section for more information.
Saturday - Sunday, June 28 - 29, 2003
Total Distance: 272.7 KM
Average Speed: 54.9 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 58 Minutes
Radar detector 7 police 0!
 On our way to Bucharest we stopped for lunch at a road side restaurant at a crossroads. This was a very popular stop for many people on the road. As has been the case everywhere we have traveled in Romania we were mobbed when we stopped or prepared to get back on the road. The picture at left shows many of the people that had stopped to watch us and look at the bikes. One woman wanted to get a picture of her son sitting on Jim’s bike. Quite a character isn’t he?
We arrived in Bucharest late in the afternoon and went in search of our hotel. We had made a reservation over the internet at a hotel that is located near the Gara de Nord (North Train Station). We knew the location of the train station only by seeing it on the map of our Lonely Planet guide book. As always, the GPS saved the day. We were able to guess an approximate location for the train station and rode towards that (it is located in the central portion of the city west and south of the geographic center of the city - we later remembered that we should have set the GPS to show the railroad lines). We were not successful in locating any of the streets that we had names of in the general area and pulled into a gasoline station to ask for information about our location and where the train station was related to that. We were seven blocks from the station. Not bad.
Our first impressions of Bucharest - the city is a lot like Cairo but without the terrible pollution or the volume of traffic. The traffic is less chaotic than Cairo and there are no horns constantly blaring. But, the city is, unfortunately, very run down and dirty. Lots of litter on the streets and everything is covered with a coating of dirt. Jim put his three black bags that he brings into the hotel on top of his top box and they were covered with dirt when he removed them. When we left the Black Sea this morning the boxes were clean thanks to some rain yesterday and the ride today did not involve dirt roads. We did a bit of a walk about after we checked into the hotel to find a market so we could purchase supplies for dinner and breakfast for the next two days and found that things look even more grim while we were out and about. Tomorrow we will do the sigh seeing thing and see if our initial impressions change.
Monday, June 30, 2003
Total Distance: 208.9 KM
Average Speed: 47.5 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 23 Minutes
We rode north this morning through the southern portion of the Carpathian Mountains so we could visit parts of Transylvania. Our first stop was the castle at Bran and after visiting the castle we rode a few kilometers north to the old mediaeval fortress on top of the hill in the town of Rasnov. The mediaeval town is being restored but it was an interesting stop.
We continued on to Brasov in the afternoon. For lunch we had something completely different - Chinese food. It was one of the best Chinese meals we have ever had and a definite change from the traditional Romanian fare which usually consists of fried chicken, pork or beef with potatoes.
As we were looking for a place to stay we encountered our first case of motorcycle prejudice since we left the United Kingdom in early 2000. Fortunately the next hotel we checked with had room for us and they let us park our bikes in a small enclosed area in the back of the hotel.
Tuesday, July 1, 2003
Total Distance: 143.7 KM
Average Speed: 47.7 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 00 Minutes
Radar Detector 1 Police 0
We rode east today from Brasov and stopped at the town of Sibiu where we stopped for the night.
The roads were better today but we have slowed our pace - we are getting tired of having to focus all of our attention on the road surface and not being able to enjoy the scenery. The temperature has also gone back up. It is in the high 30’s C (90’s F) and it too is taking a toll on us.
Also, many of the things that we have been experiencing the last two weeks that seemed quaint are quaint no longer - like the numerous waiters who increase the amount due on the bill at lunch time. Today the lad doubled the amount. We have learned that whenever we are presented a bill that is not itemized we need to ask for a menu and do a total on our own. On three occasions we have had waiter’s who were as blatant as the fellow at lunch today. The strange thing is that when you challenge them they give you another total that is still too high. It is almost as if this is an accepted practice - goodness knows they do not appear to be embarrassed about it.
Wednesday, July 2, 2003
Total Distance: 170.6 KM
Average Speed: 52.7 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 14 Minutes
Because of the return of the heat (36+C degrees yesterday [98 degrees F]) we decided to get an early start today. As we were loading the bikes a somewhat enterprising young man at the hotel brought out a large bucket of water, a rag and a cut of 1.5 liter plastic bottle to use as a scoop for his water and proceeded to wash each of our bikes. He did not get all the dirt and dust off but now we can get things out of the bags and put things into the bags without getting filthy dirty due to all the dust, dirt and road grime. And they smell a little better too.
We rode to Cluj-Napoca. We broke down and got a room with air conditioning. As we have ridden north from Bucharest the condition of the roads has improved to being the best we have seen since entering the country. And the general appearance of the towns and cities has improved too.
Radar Detectory 1 - Police 0
Thursday, July 3, 2003
Total Distance: 151.3 KM
Average Speed: 47.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 09 Minutes
Hot again today. We traveled on some of the best roads we have encountered while in Romania today. There was a lot of road work going on in several different locations. We stopped in Oradea in the afternoon and found a place to stay. We then went for a walk about town. Oradea is about 15 kilometers from the Hungarian border. We had been warned that the lines of cars at the border can be very long and that it can take hours to get across. That is why we stopped her thinking that we may have a better chance first thing in the morning.
Friday, July 4, 2003
Total Distance: 220.6 KM
Average Speed: 57.6 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 49 Minutes
It looks like our strategy for the border crossing paid off, or we were misinformed. The line of trucks waiting to get across the border was probably two kilometers long (on each side). We stopped to purchases gasoline with the last of our Romanian Lei before we got to the border and when we arrived at the border only had one car in front of us. We decided that the trucks must spend more than a day trying to get across. We then rode to Kecskemet, Hungary, about 125 kilometers south of Budapest. When we handed our passports to the young policeman, he replied “Whoa! Motorcycles form America?!?” I guess we weren’t what he expected. His buddy had to look over to check us out too.
Cooler temperatures today. We really enjoyed the ride after crossing the border. It was so nice being able to ride the bikes without having to think about the condition of the road around the next bend. Tomorrow we will go back to Budapest and visit some things we did not see the first time. On Monday we will pick up the new jacket Jim ordered before we left for Romania two weeks ago.
Most of our ride today was across the Great Plain, a huge agricultural area for Hungary. All along the road were stands selling fruit and the most abundant were watermelons. So when we stopped for the night, we bought a 1/2 watermelon for dinner. As we were enjoying it (it was very crisp and sweet), we realized it was the 4th of July so we felt it was quite appropriate! However, we decided not to have a seed-spitting contest from the balcony, which we’re sure the pedestrians below appreciated.
See the Transylvania page in the Romania section for more information.
Saturday - Sunday, July 5 - 6, 2003
Total Distance: 136.6 KM
Average Speed: 42.4 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 13 Minutes
A nice day just riding around the city of Budapest on the back roads in order to avoid all the city traffic. Arrived at the hotel and went out for lunch - something other than fried or grilled chicken/pork/beef which is all we have been able to find for the past two weeks, except for one day when we had Chinese. Had Thai food and it was great!
Monday, July 7, 2003
Total Distance: 151.3 KM
Average Speed: 47.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 3 Hours 09 Minutes
We rode to Gyor today, along the northern border with Slovakia. There is large number of industrial factories in the area along the river that separates the two countries. This area has been hard hit by unemployment because many of these facilities have been closed since 1989.
Gyor is an interesting town with lots of tourists moving about. We spent the night in a room that was previously part of monastery associated with a Carmelite church.
Tuesday - Sunday, July 8 - 13, 2003
Total Distance: 162.6 KM
Average Speed: 35.8 KM/H
Total Time on Bikes: 4 Hours 32 Minutes
Lots of time spent at the border dealing with the Hungarian authorities trying to get our tax refund today. It always amazes us how difficult it is get the refund - yet they advertise the refund as a way to lure tourists to visit the country. It appears that the forms we filled out at the BMW Dealer in Budapest must be mailed, from the US, to the dealer in order for us to receive our refund. We have no idea how they will get us the refund. Sounds like a gimmick to us - We think we have been had. But we will go through the exercise and see what happens.
After two days using the new jacket, Jim is very happy. The ventilation for the jacket is much better and he is cooler in the heat. And the objective was to find a jacket that would provide better ventilation and be cooler to ride in when the temperature is high.
We also visited the town of Sopron on our way to the border today.
See the Transdanubia page in the Hungary section for more information.
Our objective today was to reach Vienna. Yes, we know that Vienna is not part of Eastern Europe but we were so close to the city that we could not pass by without visiting. And, we need to get the bikes serviced.
 On our way in to Vienna we were accompanied by Roland Stumfoll on a BMW R1150 GS Adventure who had joined us as we were riding north toward the city. After a few words at several stop lights we followed him to an ice cream shop in Vienna where we had a brief rest and an opportunity for a chat. This was a great introduction to Vienna and when we finished our ice cream we headed for our hotel. At left is a picture of Roland and Jim in front of the Tichy Ice Cafe in Vienna.
While in Vienna the bikes received their 48,000 mile (80,000 kilometer) service At BMW Wien 22. From what we have seen of the dealership and the way we were treated this is one of the better BMW dealers we have encountered. See the 2003 Equipment Report Card page in The Bikes section for more information.
This makes a nice place to end this page and start a new one for the next portion of our Eastern Europe adventure - from Vienna we head back to Eastern Europe. We will ride into Slovakia when we leave Vienna. See the Eastern Europe - Page 2 page to continue with our Eastern Europe adventure.
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