Eastern Europe on two V-Stroms
 

Our last European trip was two-up on one bike a blue 2006 V-Strom. We added a red 2005 V-Strom to the family so we can take this trip on two bikes.

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Our new bike family

Knopf Tours in Heidelberg has been the home of the blue bike since that 2-up trip in the spring of 2011 through Western Europe and Morocco. I found our 2nd V-Strom, the red bike, for sale in Barcelona. I got it form Tom who lives in Florida and had used it for many trips in Europe. It had to be driven the 775 miles to Heidelberg before we could start our current trip to Eastern Europe. Mike was elected to do that drive alone so he left from Seattle a few days before Beverly. It was a long drive but he made it in time to pick up Beverly on September 7 at the airport in Frankfurt which is about an hour North of Heidelberg.

The red bike needed some work before we could leave and the shop at Knopf Tours was just the place to get the work done. It is quite convenient to have a place to stay and a shop where maintenance and repairs can be completed. The blue bike just needed the paniers put back on. The red bike needed a chain and sprocket, an oil change and some electric accessories

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Mike in the Knopf Tours shop getting the bike ready


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Beverly is ready to go


We left Heidelberg on September 9. Bamberg Germany was our first destination – about 150 miles. The roads through Bavaria are amazing. Smoth and precice Like a german Engineer had designed them.We drove through some rain on this leg of the trip and didn’t stop for many pictures.

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On our way to Bamberg


We didn’t arrive until 7pm but since we had already selected an Ibis hotel, we could drive straight there. They have an underground garage to park the bikes. After checking in, we walked around went out for dinner.

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View from Ibis hotel room in Bamberg Germany


On September 10, we set out for Prague, and we wanted to travel the backroads as much as possible. I set my GPS on the shortest distance route which took us on slightly paved to unpaved roads for a few hours. Although it was beautiful, enjoyable, and perfect for riding, it wasn’t an efficient way to get to our destination. It then came time to actually get to Prague.

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Where we have been

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Where we are going

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A reset on the GPS, several more miles on the back-roads, and we were back to the expressway which took us into beautiful Prague.

September 10 an d 11 -- Prague
 

September 10
We arrived in Prague at about 7pm on September 10th and again, Mike had recently selected a hotel, the Inos, and made a reservation. The convenience of driving straight to the hotel is nice when you arrive after dark. The last part of our ride today was on the expressways but the earlier ride through the Czech Republic has to be one of my (Beverly) favorite rides ever. There was hardly anyone else on the road which was more like a very long curvy drive-way than it was like a road. Through the trees and through the pastures. Through little villages and long stretches without seeing anyone.
The hotel has underground parking with a car-elevator. Our hotel was about a 15 minute tram ride to the Charles bridge which is in the center of town. Although we had a long day we were ready to become the tourists. We went into town the evening we arrived to get something to eat – a 15 minute ride on the number 17 tram. We went back to town the next morning, the 11th to be a tourist – boat tour, walk to the castle/church etc. We/ Beverly took a lot of pictures. One has to remember to look up in Prague. The architecture is stunning.
We stayed 2 nights in Prague
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September 12 Cesky Krumlov Czech Republic
 

We headed for Cesky Krumlov, still in the Czech Republic, in the Southern part of Bohemia. This town was a power center during the middle ages and has the second biggrst castle in CZ other than the on in Prague.The ride took us through the rolling hills of the countryside. I don't know what we expected, but the secondary roads were great. Some farm traffic but otherwise not much activity. I think the new freeways are the best thing for motorcycle riding. cars and trucks stay of the good roads. We stopped in Tabor for lunch. A building on the square was built in 1490 – before the Christopher Columbus “discovery.” The variety of architecture is interesting.
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The roads were good with little traffic
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Every little town has an interesting history told by the buildings.
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The grey building behind the bikes was built in 1490. Before Columbus found America.
After lunch we continued through the countyryside to Cesky Krumlov where we stayed the evening at Pension Anna near the square. The only rooms available there were apartments. But they had a garage for motorcycles so we took it. We went for a nice tour of the town and castle which was the Eastern Nazi headquarters during the war.

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Cesky Krumlov -- Pension Anna

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The castle dominates the town and has been restored after the war and the communist era let the castle and town fall into disrepair.

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The town is now a world Heritage site.

Mike and Beverly

September 13 -- We left Cesky Krumlow at about 11 AM to make our way to Slovenia through Austria. Heading South, we could see the mountains in the distance .We took the back road son the map through the Czeck countryside. We saw little villages and farms like you would see in the movies.

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After a couple of hours of playing around, we thought we should make some time. I think we are still cursed with the need to be on a schedule. A schedule is a silly concept on a trip like this; we need some beach therapy.
We hit the freeway and found ourselves traveling through tunnel after tunnel, one was 7 miles long. The tunnels are hot and loud and admittedly, not fun. We had a rest stop at a shopping center where we met Helga at the bookstore. She told us about Gamlitz, a premiere wine region in Austria that was on our way. The wine store where we stopped to pick up a bottle of wine echoed the recommendations for Gamlitz. We were sold – next stop Gamlitz, Austria. We ended up at Helga Brolli’s winery and hotel. What a beautiful place in a beautiful setting. The building is a combination of the old and the new with the restaurant and reception in the old and the hotel and meeting rooms in the new. She grows and sells wine including a fine Sauvignon Blanc. In the morning we enjoyed a spectacular view from our room overlooking the vineyards.


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Mike an Beverly

September 16th Valum Croatia
 

We talked to some Austrian bikers who had been in a little fishing village of Valun on the island of Cres. That was our destination for today. We left Petra's place and headed for the ferry some 25 miles away. It is cool the way bikes go to the head of the line and get on the ferry first
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Ferry coming in.
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Bikes on ferry

We talked to Heinz and Claudia who are from Vienna. They are bikers and have travelled Croatia on a bike but are traveling by car so Claudia can wear some nice clothes.
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Mike talking to Heinz and Claudia
When you are of the beaten path and want to get off that path, that is Valun. The roads were narrow and sometimes single track. When we stopped, it was a challenge for Beverly to handle the top heavy bike but she hung in. There are no hotels and no buildings on the beach. We were going to move on but got a room from the people who own the cafe we at which we had lunch. We met Clare and Sandi who are from Switzerland and have a house near by. They convinced us to stay. Went swimming at the beach and generally vegged out .The water was warm and so buoyant you could float vertical and still have your nose out of the water. We had a great dinner.I had Lambuga ( dolphin fish) and Beverly had seafood pasta.
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Overlooking Valum
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Arriving in Valum
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Mike with fish
Mike and Beverly

Sept 17 and 18 -- Baska and ride to Rab
 

Sept 17

We left Valun reluctantly. It was so quiet and peaceful. our plan for the day was to take the ferry from Cres to Krk and then from Krk to Rab.
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Ferry to Krk
We didn't check any schedules as part of our beach therapy so we missed the ferry to KRK but the next one was in an hour. When we got to Krk, the Rab ferry was just leaving. We decided to get the ferry the next day and go to a small beach town of Baska. It was a nice easy road with lots of nice turns. That was a break for Beverly after some of the goat tracks we were on the day before. Baska was very crowded. It was a nice weekend and apparently it is the local hot spot. We wanted to swim again so we did even though it was getting dark. We got a room had some wine and pizza and called it a good day.
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Night swimming in Baska
Sept 18
We went to the market for yogurt, cereal and instant coffee. Coffee will be a pass from now on. Drove the nice road back to the ferry and boarded.The ferry was small with the cafeteria down stairs. It was nice on the deck so I got caught up on our blog and Beverly got deep into her book. .We met Henry and Chrystal from Germany who shipped their motorhome from Germany and drove the Alaska highway. This morning, I was filling the hot water kettle and the water kicked back over Beverly's computer. We might be IPoding for the rest of the trip.

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Waiting for ferry to Rab
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Windblown on ferry
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Beverly with bicyclers from Wisconsin

We had a nice ferry ride and road ride and arrived in Rab. The old town was started in the 1300s. We went to the hotel Isera We wanted a real hotel with Breakfast and an elevator. The story would be better if I omitted that or just lied about it. We took a water taxi to a little island not too far from town and went for a swim. Water was a little rough but it so warm and buoyant it is always fun.

There is supposed to be a storm coming in tonight.

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Sign on the path to the beach. FKK means free body culture in German.
Mike and Beverly

September 19-20 Rab and the storm
 

September 19th
The storm came in last night right on schedule. It started with lightening. And then came the thunder. We sat out on our balcony watching the show until the torrential rains started. The storm continued throughout the evening and into the morning. While still lying in bed, we realized we wouldn’t be leaving today unless we were interested in the challenge of riding in the rain. Our next intended destination is Split. The weather teased us with some mild spells then came back with a vengeance. We had no choice but to stay so we toured the city and revised our itinerary.
Rab has an interesting history that dates back 1000 years. It was Roman then Italian then Greek and so on. Every little town has a unique history from the town only 50 miles away.
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This is now the view from our window.
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A satellite picture from the morning where you can see the storm that passed at the north end of the Adriatic.

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An aerial view of Rab during good weather.
September 20th
Some days are long. Our ride was going to be about 200 miles starting with a short ferry ride from Rab to the mainland.

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Our ferry coming in
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Bikes packed in the corner
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Another ferry going the other way.
We are through with the island hopping on the ferries.
The fun started when we got off the ferry. WIND. The constant wind was tolerable but the gusts were intense blasts. I learned to watch Mike ahead of me. When he tipped and swerved, I knew I would shortly experience the same. We had to stop at a stop sign during a blast of wind and I ended up stopping in the oncoming lane. No worries though. There wasn’t much traffic.
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Hmmm I wonder what this sign says. We looked it up later. Translation: “closed to commercial vehicles with covered cargo space.” We headed right on through. There were other motorcycles out also, all making their way gingerly down the road with the frequent swerving.
It was only slightly overcast and the sea was actually beautiful. The sun breaking through in the distance lighting up a fog rising up from the water. Wait a minute though. That isn’t a fog. That is a water being sent up into the air by the wind. At one point I noticed that a wind tentacle blowing across the water surface traveling at a faster speed than us and we were going 40mph.
I noticed at one point we were driving on that grooved pavement that I so dislike. With this wind, I couldn’t even tell the pavement was grooved. I guess I am cured from my distaste for those roads.
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We stopped here to take pictures. Here is Mike holding up my bike while trying to look at a map because it won’t stand on its own in the wind.

Sept 20th Continued
 

SEPTEMBER 20 Continued
Time to take a rest from the wind. We stopped about noon at the Paklenica National Park. We wanted to go see Plitvice National Park, famous for its lakes, but the wind was slowing us down so much that we certainly wouldn’t make Split if we went. Instead we discovered Paklenica which turned out to be a beautiful rock climber’s mecca.
There are over 500 identified routes in this beautiful canyon. We took a hike up the trail watching the climbers and seeing the sites.
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Beverly taking up climbing
You can see tunnels dug out of the side of the mountain that Tito’s Yugoslav army used to protect its high ranking officials.
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The tunnels
Our next stop, a place to get out of the wind and have some lunch. Mike found this lovely spot situated on a road that ended with a small village on a protected cove next to the water. We sat with the locals in the sun and had an enjoyable lunch. They mentioned that the expressway might be closed to buses and bikes because of the wind. We don’t know if was true but a tour bus did pull in and had to ask directions.
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Mike having lunch at the end of the road.

After several more miles on the side roads we decided to give the expressways a try. As we moved further South and later into the day, the wind did seem to be losing some of its intensity. With still over 100 miles to go we hit the expressway managing to travel at about 55 for most of the way and then creeping up to an occasional 70 near the end. Twenty miles out of Split, we ran into the rain. And it was getting dark. We stopped a gas station store and tried to verify a hotel/room before venturing into the city. We eventually did.
The graffiti covered walls in the section of town where our hotel, the Dalmation, was located made us do a double take on whether or not we wanted to stay. Mike went in to check while I stayed with the bikes. He was satisfied with it so we unloaded our bikes and got ready for our next adventure.
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Our hotel -- looked kind of rough when we arrived in the dark.
Next adventure?? It is 8PM at night. And we hadn’t had dinner yet. The background to this adventure is that about a week ago when we were at Petra’s guest house in Njivice, we were sitting out on the marble-floored patio on some plastic chairs. Mike’s chair collapsed and he hit his hand on the marble. It has been bothering him ever since. And yesterday when we stopped to take a few pictures, Mike managed to catch my bike just as the wind was blowing it over. He saved the bike but strained the same hand. We stopped at a local pharmacy to get a hand brace and some ibuprofen. The woman said at the local village, there was a place to get checked for free. I don’t know if it was the right place but the doctor looked at the hand, said it might be broken and to go get an Xray. The visit cost 120K or about $21.
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Mike visiting the Doctor

To make sure it wasn’t broken we went to the local emergency room at the local hospital – during rush hour I might add. In the end, after X-rays, they said it wasn’t broken. Though I am not so sure of their diagnosis. While there, we saw 2 ambulances come in. One with a motorcycle rider who hurt his knee. Another, an old woman who was in some kind of distress. We also watched an entire family speed up to the door in their car and unload their young son. About 5 policemen were there interested in what was happening with this family, questioning even the young son. We never did figure out what happened.
They charged 240 kuna or about $43,and I got to keep the xray. I think I will take it to my doctor at home and ask that it be added to my file.
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Mike in the emergency room of Klinicki Bolnicki Centar in Split

When we left the hotel it was about 11:00 and we went to look for some food and failed. I had two hard – boiled eggs in my bag and some wine. It was enough to keep us alive and a base for some ibuprofen for Mike.
Mike and Beverly

September 21 -- Split to Dubrovnik
 

September 21
We got up early to tour the town of Split. Didn't do any research so we didn't have any preconceived ideas about the town. Split was settled in the third century when a Roman Emperor built hid retirement castle here. Many of the buildings through the centuries still remain. We went for breakfast on the water front, visited some of the tourist sights then cleaned up, packed up, checked out and hit the road.
Split is definitely a tourist town. The rooms are expensive and there is lots of shopping. Many ferry destinations are available from Split including the Dalmation Islands and Italy.
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Breakfast in Split – We are watching the ferries.

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Touring Split
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Beverly packing up
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Hotel in Split from the parking lot

We drove from Split to Dubrovnik. WOW!! 200 kilometers of turns along the beautiful coast line. The road was smooth, the sun was shining and the turns were rhythmic. There was some wind but we had our wind training yesterday so we chuckled when a strong gust tried to alter our course.

Highway 8 along the Croatian coast is a must ride. We saw many touring bikers who must have known the route.

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We arrived in Dubrovnik late in the afternoon and got a room at Maria's which we found on the internet. A beautiful view of the city, a garage for the bikes, a short bus ride to the old town and Maria fussing around us trying to make us comfortable. I have to mention the price - -E28.
We bought a tourist card for tomorrow and walked the old town. The wall enclosing the city is 1.3 miles long and is 20 ft thick in some places. It is thought to have been settled by Greek sailors but the documented beginning is in the 7th century. Dubrovnik was a main target of the Serbs during the war in 1991 and on. The Serbs launched artillery over the mountains and most of the buildings in the town were affected. Dubrovnik now has new roofs on almost every building.
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Sunset from our room deck

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Out for dinner inside the walled city

The Bikes
 

The Bikes

When I look at our posting, it reads more like a tourist story than a bike trip. This is the bike story to justify using Horizons to post. We had a trip in the spring and posted to Google blogger and it was awkward. htpp;//2seniorsonabike.blogspot.com

Two years ago we decided to do some touring in Europe and tried to ship our bikes. We had two BMW f650s. It was expensive and a hassle so we scrapped the idea. I decided to try and buy bikes in Europe and after some study, I thought that buying US registered bikes in Europe would work best for me.
Gary bought his 2006 Suzuki VStrom 650 in California and toured the US, then shipped it to Europe, toured around for a while then parked it in his parents garage in the South of England. I bought it and picked it up in the spring. It had about 18000 mikes. I changed the oil, put a few mods on it an proceeded to do a two up tour for a 3000 mile tour in Spain, France, Switzerland and Germany. I was so impressed with that bike. We had it loaded like a rented mule and it hauled us around a few off road places, some interesting mow nation roads and some excessive speeds on the motorways. Our BMW 650s could not have served us like that.

Beverly likes to drive her own bike so we needed another. Tom in Florida shipped his bike to Europe several years ago and did some touring. He sold me the bike which was stored in Barcelona. I flew to Barcelona two days before Beverly flew to Frankfurt, picked up the bike and drove the 750 mikes to Heidelberg where the other bike was stored. This bike had 24000 miles. I got it started, lubed the chain and drove like a bat out of hell to get there on time to meet Beverly's plane. I rode the bike hard but i think if it could talk it would have said that Tom rode it harder. Another good bike experience. I will lower Beverly's bike some more and do a few more comfort modifications.

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Mike and Beverly
roaming around Europe

More to come
 

We made it to Corfu but what a wild and long ride. We will post our last few days soon and it will include some details on one particular Albania route. Two nights in Corfu then a ferry ride to Venice.

September 22 Touring Dubrovnik
 

September 22
Maria started us off with coffee in the morning. She also left a bowl of fruit for us in the kitchen.
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Our goal for the day was to use the tourist card we bought the day before, swim in the ocean and see at least one museum. We jumped on the #8 bus which would take us back to the old town. While on the way, we could see a beautiful beach below with that extraordinary blue green water.
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Since the bus driver stopped for a break next to the path to the beach, we decided to go. Down, down, down. Many stairs. When the day was done we probably up and down over 4000 stairs – not an exaggeration. There were only a few people on the beach. There was a nice covered café. The water was warm and I did a bit of real swimming. It is practically effortless because of the buoyancy of the water.

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We sat at our table, had a few beers
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…. then headed back to the bus stop (up the stairs) and missed the bus by 1 minute. Oh well, it was a short walk to the old city and we had a nice view of it from the distance.
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We toured the old town again, went into two museums and walked the wall around the city which is 1.3 miles (and a lot of steps). The wall offered a good view of all the new roofs which Mike mentioned in our previous post as a result of the conflict with the Serbs in 1991.
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Games of thrones, an HBO movie was being filmed on location. We had a good view of it from the wall.
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Back at Maria’s, we packed up for an early start in the morning. Our plan was to get to Corfu in two days. The map said it was 679 km. In order to do that, we figured we should get to the area of Fier, Albania by the evening. The reason for our schedule – we booked a ferry to Venice in three days but we wanted a day to tour Corfu. Since we had no idea what the roads were like in Albania, we left ourselves this cushion of one day so we could be sure to catch our ferry.

September 23 Montengro and Albania
 

September 23
We knew we had a long day ahead of us so we packed the bikes the night before, had breakfast and were on the road by 7:00. We had GPS coverage in Croatia but after that we were flying blind. We had a map of the area; you know -- a big piece of paper with all the roads marked on it.

We didn't start out with the same enthusiasm we normally have but as we left Maria's, we climbed the mountain leaving Dubrovnik, and the views of the sun coming up over the mountains and the islands and sea were spectacular. It was a short ride to the border to Montenegro. We were thoroughly checked out of Croatia and into Montenegro. For the first time I had to show all the insurance and bike documents. We came down the mountain through Herceg Novi and around a series of Bays along the coast. Not as developed an Croatia but very interesting. There were castles, Monasteries, and beautiful scenery. Beverly added Montenegro to Morocco on her list of places she needs to visit again. Maybe she will take me.
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We proceeded south through the national park and the fun began. The road was 1 1/2 lane unmarked lumpy road. We had a hard time believing this was a main road between two countries. It must have been because we came to a major construction effort for the remaining 30 kilometers. There were no signs, no barriers from the equipment and large trucks on their route.
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The road surface was alternately heavy loose gravel sub base, to compacted gravel, to slick mud and large potholes. At one point, The road was so narrow that Beverly had to get off the road so a large tractor trailer could get by. Three inches clearance!

We made it to the border with a sigh of relief. After another thorough check at the border , we were in Albania.
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The next 60 miles from the border to Shkroder was some of the worst conditions and hardest riding I have ever seen. I will write a detailed road report for Horizons route section. It took us 4 hours to cover the distance from the national park to Shkroder.

After Shkroder we drove another 150 miles on roads I would normally describe as poor, to just north of Fier. Beverly is sometimes a tentative driver but today she hung tough. I suggested that her testosterone level increased during that ride as a complement. All I got was a lecture on how inappropriate testicles and size were as a measurement of courage and fortitude. Next time I will just keep my mouth shut.

We stopped at a roadside hotel close to dusk. We got a great clean room, had a good dinner with a killer Greek salad, and had drinks in a 24 hour bar. After tipping lavishly, the total bill was E35.
In Albania, the people were very friendly and wanted to help. The service was friendly and the priced were very good. "That is all I have to say about that" . (Forest Gump)

I (Beverly) have a bit more to say about this day from my perspective:
When we headed into the National Park and the road turned into a dirt and rock road with road machinery in places I could of sworn we were lost and we would have to turn around at some point and go back. Finally Mike stopped (it really wasn’t that far). There wasn’t much traffic at this moment. We asked a passer by and sure enough, this is the highway to Albania. Onward.

We caught up with two trucks going the same direction as we were traveling. We passed them on some switch backs going downhill – the road is unpaved and very bumpy. Needless to say, they were traveling quite slow. Then we met two trucks coming up the hill. There is barely room for a truck and a motorcycle, let alone two trucks. Mike got by the truck. I pulled off to the side on the widest part of the road but as the truck came around the corner it was clear that the back wheel (as tall as me on my bike) was going to clip my panier. I yelled but he had already seen it and stopped. Where to go? I was as far off the road as I could go while still keeping both feet on the ground. I could go out a bit further to get around IF I only left one foot on the ground. I did a little hopping maneuver and got by. I wondered all day what happened when that truck going up the hill met the trucks coming down the hill. I would have loved to get a picture account of that.

At the border into Albania, we met Peter and his friends traveling from Hungary. They were on 2 VFRS and 2-up on a another bike. I am sure the road to Skroder was a challenge for those bikes. Maybe they will chime in here with their own experience.

We came to a new section of the road – a divided freeway without the lines yet. A small caution sign with an arrow directed us to take the little gravel road off to the right. Now who would do that with a perfectly good freeway in front of you? Then we saw why. The bridge over the river was not there yet. The freeway just ended and the river below. Some locals saw us returning and waved us over to the bypass with gravel, dirt, potholes, sheep, etc.
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I would have loved a photo journal of the rest of this day but I think it would have taken at least 3 days. We were on the road for 11 hours and most of it difficult riding in heavy traffic. We can’t share many images of our travels this day because we couldn’t stop – not even for lunch. We had a good breakfast to get us through the day.

If I did take pictures this is what you would have seen.
*A beautiful inlet surrounded by towering mountains in Montenegro.
*A new freeway road ending where they haven’t yet built the bridge over the river
*Cars billowing black smoke out the back.
*Flower stands along the side of the road.
*The water ahead that I had to go through, me, wondering how deep it was.
*A cow being slaughtered with another tied up waiting its turn.
*Cars passing, making 3(or 4) lanes out of 2.
*The two separate cars crashed off the road – one of them appeared to have just happened.
*Major highway turns with no road signs.
*Unfinished buildings
*Women dressed in their finest walking along the street.
*Police on the side of the road waving paddles for cars to stop.

We were glad to get through that part of Albania because of the roads but the people there were generous and accommodating. Everyone was quick to help with directions and to give a smile and a wave.

We made it almost to Fier by 6:30. Here is where we stayed the evening.
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September 24 Albania to Corfu
 

September 24

We had a good rest at the AMAC hotel. We had over 300 kilometers to get to the ferry to Corfu, a Greek island at the edge of the Adriatic Sea. If we made it, our reward was a day on Corfu where we hear has wonderful beaches. If we didn't make it, we could still get the ferry to Venice from the mainland.

The roads were poor with broken asphalt, washed out sections, and stretches under construction. Compared to yesterday, it was a piece of cake.

In Albania, the currency is the Lek. They will take Euros. We had a bunch of Croatian Kuna and 23.75 Euros. In Albania, You have to pay E10 to get into the country but you don't need to pay if you stay less than a day. We didn't pay going in but they could have asked of the E20 on the way out. We had to keep the E20 just in case. We needed to eat for the day on E3.75. Of course we could go to an ATM and get som Lek but that would ruin the story. We stopped at a Cafe, had coffee, croissants, bread and jam, but didn't have enough to buy bottled water. On seeing this the lady brought us two big glasses of water. Nice people. We had E.9. Funny what mind games we play.

Notice the oil derricks.
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There were police check points everywhere on the highways, and they were stopping many people. In the end, we were kind of hoping to get stopped to find out what the deal was. They just watched us go by and smiled and waved. Were they thinking there go those two old fools on the bikes?

At more than one point, we saw cows being butchered by the side of the road, With other cows tied up not 10 feet away. Were the live cows in a panic or were they thinking they would be glad to get out of here no matter what way. I committed to myself to stay positive.
When we arrived in Greece, I was almost like coming home.

A short ride out of the mountains and the ferry to Corfu.
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We found a hotel, the Mega Hotel, in a nice beach area for 35 Euros. We stopped at a few before that that were over 100 E. Here is the view from our room.
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Corfu Greece
 

September 25
Our goal today – go to a nice beach. After some recommendations and research we decided on Myrtiotissa Beach. Our directions weren’t clear so we ended up at Kontogialos Beach which was crowded with the local weekend family crowd – not what we had pictured. We ate and decided to press on to find our beach. The web write up said people don’t go to this beach because of the poor road to the beach. It was like falling off a cliff. It was pretty steep. The beach was beautiful and the monastery was there. We swam in the warm buoyant water, took the hair-raising ride up to the main road and then the road to Corfu town to check out the process for finding the ferry. We tried out the pool at our hotel too.
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After a nice meal, we packed and got ready for the morning. We had to get up at 4;30 to get a 6:30 ferry. Another good day.

September 26 Ferry from Corfu to Venice
 

September 26
This is the last ferry of our trip. It is going to be a long one, all the way from Corfu to Venice, about 24 hours. Without this ferry, our route would have been different. We would have not been able to go as far South. So here we are. This is our turn around point. We are headed back.

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We were on the road at 5:00 to meet a 6:30 ferry. It was helpful that we stopped by the port to get the lay of the land the night before. We had to check in at a little office on the port street, then go to one of the docks on the port that they pick that morning. No signs. I guess I was expecting something like our ferry from Plymouth to Sandander in the spring. We made it though and talked to a German woman who was from Munich. She gave us information on Oktoberfest and where to stay. They sure pack us in on the ferry.
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We got on the ferry, had breakfast and decided we were still tired. We went to our cabin and had a snooze. What a luxury. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Internet was very slow so we read and let the time pass.

The sun was coming up as we were slowly proceeding through the channel into Venice.
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The trucks had their engines running as we loaded up our bikes. Although the ferry fans were running to clear the air, they weren't keeping up. The truckers were interested in the tool containers on my bike. Mike had a chat with one of them as we waited to unload.
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September 27 -- Venice
 

September 27
The ferry arrived in Venice at about 7:30 am. We disembarked and the trusty GPS took us right to our hotel, the Elite hotel which was a 20 minute bus ride to Venice. There is a 10% discount if you book this hotel through bikerhome. it but we didn’t discover that until after we checked in. We had breakfast, did some internet work and a room became available early. We were fortunate to be able to get settled before our venture into the old town. Our goal: see Venice and take a gondola ride and get a picture.

The prices for a gondola at the square were stupid expensive – 200 Euros! We wended our way back away from the most popular areas and found a gondola for 70 Euros. Still too much but this was in line with what we learned was a going rate. The gondola ride was nice. The highlights from the gondola driver’s point of view were Marco Polo and Casanova’s houses.
We accomplished our goal.
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Cassanova’s house

Venice would absolutely be quite enjoyable if there weren’t so many people – on a Tuesday at the end of September the place is wall-to-wall people. We found our way to San Marco square, took typical tourist pictures along the way.
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A not so typical tourist picture -- a Venice garbage hauler.
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We stopped in one of the many squares for a beer and something to eat. The people at the table next to us included two Asian women. One was speaking Italian with a Japanese accent. Then they switched to French, English and Japanese. Why they kept switching languages we do not know but we were thoroughly impressed. We started a conversation with a young couple sitting next to us from Barcelona. They too had noticed the languages spoken at the table behind us. We tried our Spanish with them. His dream is to take a motorcycle trip through Africa. We gave them the Horizon’s website so he could dream a bit more.

We were kind of relieved to get on the bus back to our hotel where we got a recommendation for dinner. It was our first fancy dinner on this trip (last trip we did two fancy dinners). The Italians sure know how to make a meal.

guys love the blog, good to see you are both in good heath and looking great, looks like a fantastic trip, great photos from Bev, truely wish we were with you again, safe home.

Paul & theresa

PS poor Mike in the hospital looks like he needed a big hug:mchappy:

September 28 Innsbruck
 

September 28 Innsbruck
We got caught up on our email and got an early start. We were going to Innsbruck which is about 330 kilometers. We cheated on the first 100 kilometers and took the freeway. The area is flat farmland. When we hit the Alps, we took local roads. The scenery is spectacular. We drove slowly as we wanted to prolong this part of the drive.
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Beverly has ha trauma ever since she couldn't get bulk wine in France on our trip last spring. This makes her happy. €1.69 per liter. We found some in the mountains and we had some last night. It was good.
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On the last bit of freeway into Innsbruck, Beverly's tank bag came off her bike at 70 mph. We did retrieve the bag but her camera was in it so pics from now on are on our old point and shoot. It will be a challenge for her to keep up the quality of the pictures.

There was some king of medical convention in Innsbruck. We spent some time looking for a place to stay and found Pension Stoi. It was OK. We went out to dinner at the most typical restaurant we could find. We asked Alex, our waiter to just feed us some traditional Austrian food. He gave us Tiroler Grostel, which is beef slices and potatoes and vegetables, fried with a fried egg on top. It was very tasty. For desert, he gave us Kaiserschmaren. This was like a rough crepe, cooked it a rum and sugar mix with apple sauce. We were stuffed and happy. After a quick walk around Innsbruck we retired for the evening.
In the morning we toured the old town of Innsbruck and had breakfast. Here is where we stayed the evening.
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September 29 -- Munich and Oktoberfest
 

September 29
We were told by a local that we must experience Oktoberfest once. To see it twice, the choice is ours. Although we hadn’t yet heard that philosophy when we decided to put Oktoberfest on our agenda, it did reflect our thinking. Munich was on our return trip to Heidelberg AND Oktoberfest would be going on. Of course, we had to stop in and check it out.

The 175 km trip through the Alps was, once again, stunning. As we continued North through the back roads, the hills were taking on a burnt orange color and we could see and feel fall setting in. Leaves were starting to fall and swirled around when we drove through. The air had taken on that crisp cool feel. In the high Alps, Cordial is a town in a valley of rolling green hills surrounded by the majestic peaks of the Alps. It looks like a perfect place to use as a base for some hiking.

We checked into our hotel in Ismaning, got settled in, did a walking tour of the small town and decided it was time to go experience Oktoberfest. Back to the train station.
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This is when we met Alexandra. She led the way to the party in the city and, like most all the other women, was dressed in her Bavarian dirndl. Then men in the traditional leather shorts, suspenders and Bavarian hats. We had a nice chat on the 40 minute train ride. One of the topics we was, interestingly, about the crops grown in the area. In particular, she told us that in Germany, corn is grown more for livestock to eat, not so much for people. We told her that in the US, corn is used to make so many ingredients it is hidden in almost all pre-packaged food that we eat. Alexandra was headed to a corporate reserved spot in one of the tents to meet her friends and colleagues.

Note: The blog automatically inserted all the drinking icons below. I guess we can turn them off but might as well keep them there. That is, afterall, what we were doing.

Once we reached the Oktoberfest grounds we said our goodbyes to Alexandra and walked around in search of a beer. Most of the drinking is done in the 14 big beer “tents” - actually big wooden halls. Alexandra had told us that once you have your first beer everything is ok, but before that it is quite overwhelming.

Following her suggestion, our first beer was what we were intent on finding. We entered one tent. The music, hundreds of people singing along, you’re pushed and pulled. Everyone is toasting everything and dancing on the benches. And we weren’t even close to getting a beer. On to a different tent.

We finally found a place to sit at a table outside at the Spaten(sp)(spade shovel in German)- tent where we met Doris, Slatka and Arnulf. Amazing worldly people having a good time. Their company made the night truly enjoyable. In the spirit of Oktoberfest, we drank a bunch of beer, but not so much that we couldn’t find our way back to our hotel on the train. We also met Hans, Margaret and their daughter Fabian. Hans, Arnulf and Fabian, all worked for Siemens telecommunications. Of course there was some shop talk when I told them I was with Nortel Networks.
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We drank our two liters of beer and made our way back to our hotel on the excellent German train system.

Sept 30 to Oct 3 -- Back to Heidelberg
 

September 30 to October 3
Our pictures exceed the storage limits on Horizons so no more pictures until we set up an outside site.

September 30
Like they said …..”if you go a second time, it is your choice.” ...so we CHOSE to go back to Oktoberfest during the day. We got inside a tent this time, had a beer, toasted with the locals, left and wandered around. Don’t know what Oktoberfest used to be but it is now a huge carnival. It is very competitive to get into the tents, although we did OK. Many locals don’t go because of the hassle. We heard many languages, including a lot of North American English.

October 1
We didn’t have far to go to get back to Heidelberg so we were looking for an alternative destination for lunch. We decided on Nuremberg. Unfortunately, we came upon a humungous traffic jam as we were nearing Nuremberg. The traffic was completely stopped so for about an hour and a half, we practiced our lane splitting driving. We reset the GPS to Heidelberg and will have to do Nuremberg next time.

We arrived at Knopf tours, a sign was on the door indicating our room. Then we walked to the train station for a nice dinner.

October 2 and 3
Our plan was to do some maintenance on the bikes, some of which required purchases. Because it was Sunday, stores weren’t open. And what we didn’t realize until we got there was that Monday was a holiday. We were flying out on Tuesday so we had to revise our expectation of what would be done on the bikes. Mike changed the back tire on both bikes and changed the oil on the blue one. We washed the dirt and grime off and packed them away for our next trip.

Mike's summary of the trip
 

Travelling through Europe on a motorcycle is easier than here. There are many bikers and it is well accepted by hotels. There is usually a good secure place to park, and it seems you can get parts and service everywhere.

One good thing about our trip was the food and wine. I don’t think we had a bad meal the whole trip and the house wine was consistently good.

One month is not enough. The places we visited were interesting and we wanted to spend more time in each place. I guess we can always return to these places but also want to see new places.

It is expensive for us in Europe. Generally, the prices are the same in Euros as they are here in Dollars. So everything is 40% more, except for fuel which is almost triple.

I think the part I liked the best was the beaches in the Adriatic Sea; warm, buoyant, clean water and pebble beach’s. Probably need to give Albania another look before I have a final opinion.

Beverly did great on driving. Two bikes is fun but two up is OK if we had enough room. The Suzuki V-Stroms are an ideal bike for what we are doing. Hope to go to Scandanavia next summer.

Beverly's end-of-trip summary
 

2500 miles in just under a month. (Mike did 800 more picking up the second bike in Bacelona.)

Our last European trip in April and May was 2-up for 3000 miles. A round-the-world trip for us can’t be all at once for several reasons. We have to break it up. We started talking about having motorcycle adventures in September 2004 just before we attended our first Horizons meeting in Revelstoke BC. A couple did a presentation of their adventure where they rented bikes in Thailand. It was at that moment that we realized we could do that same trip right now. We went a few months later at Christmas time for 2 weeks and had a wonderful adventure.

On this trip, as usual, my favorite experiences were meeting people. It is amazing to me how people are so eager to talk to you if you are riding a motorcycle. The people who live there can give the best accounts of the history. For example, my understanding of Yugoslavia was improved after a ten minute conversation with a Croat at lunch in a small café on the beach. And I learned a great deal about Bulgaria in another conversation. We met people who I am certain would become our friends if I stayed.

My next favorite thing is a feeling of accomplishment -- that I did it on a motorcycle. Oh, and did we say how much we liked swimming in the Adriatic?

We settled into a schedule of getting up, having breakfast, doing our blog, emails and research on where we were headed. Often we would not leave until 11 am. When we knew we had a long day, we would leave earlier. Quite often, with traffic, the speed the roads could be traveled, meeting people, getting lost, etc. the riding day was longer than expected. Only a few days did I arrive at the hotel really beat.

Our idea of riding in the off-season was to just ride into town and find a hotel. But we found that it suited our travel style to find a place to ssay before we drove into town. We still wouldn’t make reservations days in advance – just same-day reservations.

Sometimes our agenda didn’t include riding at all; where we were headed was out on the town, walking or using public transportation. We wanted to see some of the sights along the way and meet the people. It is a challenge to strike the right balance between moving on and sticking around. With our time restrictions, I think tend towards the “move on” side, or as Mike would say, “trying to put three pounds of s**t in a one pound bag.” Nevertheless, we did manage to enjoy several areas we visited.

I was particularly impressed by the scenery in Montenegro, a country we road through without stopping to smell the roses. I feel we missed something there.
Riding my own bike gave me a larger sense of participating in the adventure. The scenery was even more awesome. It was a challenge at times and I did find myself a few times beyond the limits of my skills in low speed maneuvering—I just had to figure out how to get through it. But that is all part of the adventure. Having two bikes after our 2-up trip, we had lots of packing room. We carried drinking water, wine, and food and still had extra space. I still haven’t given up two-up travel – it is more relaxing.

Our next trip – next year in Scandinavia.

Image quota has been increased to 10MB
 

Hi Mike and Beverly, just to let you know you can now put more pics in, should be no issues for space. Sorry for the nuisance, and please let me know if you have any problems.
Cheers,
Susan

Another trip -- this time to Scandanavia and Russia
 

We are taking our two V-stroms to Scandanavia and Russia -- leaving mid May. Watch for another Ride Tale soon.

Thank you Susan. We will be posting more pictures now.

Mike and Beverly