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We back tracked to Bled, which is said to be one of the most picturesque spots in Europe. There is the Bled castle, and the church on the island. Here also at the largest hotel there serve the traditional Bled cream cake Kremmna Rezina or “Kremsnita” of which Dan had 2 slices (delicious).
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8658/2...59946609_b.jpgLjubljana-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7499/2...7c92c064_b.jpgLjubljana-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8810/2...7b8bb0c9_b.jpgLjubljana-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7510/2...f03387e0_b.jpgLjubljana-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8757/2...63e07881_b.jpg From Bled we headed back to the city and to the famous Hood Burger for the best burgers we have ever had and served from a metal shipping container in the SPAR parking lot! https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8404/2...94e08b2e_b.jpgLjubljana-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Sunday we had another sleep in followed by coffee at the base of Mount St. Mary (which we were to lazy to hike up the 600 meters), then we visited the cemetery, and finally the Metelkova district ( a former squatters village turned into street art and night club venue). We had a great Chinese lunch and then took a tour of the Ljubljana castle to appreciate the view. From here we headed to the Iconic Dragon bridge and then the Sky terrace for some Radlers and a view of the castle.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8798/2...d3514796_b.jpgLjubljana-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8802/2...628c0920_b.jpgLjubljana-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8031/2...7d786261_b.jpgLjubljana-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8809/2...b5e44114_b.jpgLjubljana-33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7673/2...a6448ff4_b.jpgLjubljana-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
So sad to leave the amazing hospitality of our friends, but the adventure continues. Slovenia is a very nice country that we never hear anything about in the west. That is probably because life is good here.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8715/2...26485883_b.jpgLjubljana by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Today we want to stop by the Akrapović factory that is just 35 km away in Ivanca Gorica. They were very nice to meet with us and gave us some cool Akrapociv gear! They are unable to give tours of the factory due to corporate security issues. https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8575/2...63b2c6d6_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-07-25 at 22.49.52 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8116/2...d7066010_b.jpgS6E1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Looks like Dan's getting used to that camera, great photo's and nice to keep my mind off work :D
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We then continued east and north to our destination of Nagykanizsa Hungary. (Sounds like it should be in Japan).
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8835/2...7c0fe993_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-07-25 at 22.51.14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8790/2...638d1e4d_b.jpgScreen Shot 2016-07-25 at 22.51.30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8788/2...632c5340_b.jpgSara Pics-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8700/2...5814d7d6_b.jpgSara Pics-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
This Slovenian rider stopped us at a round about and said “ do you speak English? Then he asked us to show him how to get to Ljubljana?!”
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8508/2...7dd18c0a_b.jpgSara Pics by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It was quite funny when we arrived on this very small country road to a border check. It was a sort of which country is this moment. We hoped it was the crossing into Croatia. For a second it was confusing since the sign said Hrvatska, which your brain translates as Hungary! https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8694/2...acfe80de_b.jpgSara Pics-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr This is a Schengen crossing with an out of the zone stamp from Slovenia and then one into Croatia, which is not in the Schengen despite being in the EU. We continued across Croatia to finally enter Hungary, where there is another Schengen check since Hungary is both in the EU and the Schengen. https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8239/2...011cb99c_b.jpgSara Pics-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We had to wing it a bit after the Croatian border since we had taken our paper map home and deleted the Croatia maps from the GPS since we needed the space. |
We had a short trip from the border to the fair sized town of Nagykanizsa. For Hungary they also have a vignette system, but it is not only for the highways, but some other major roads. It is easy here as it is an E vignette that you get online and is 5 E/10 days for bikes. It is also more sophisticated here as they have video surveillance for the tolls. We walked to the near by square for a traditional Hungarian meal of fried potato dumplings.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8625/2...35418e57_b.jpgHungary by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8716/2...bd41c720_b.jpgSara Pics-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
This morning it is pouring as forecast, but it was to stop at 11 and so we waited it out, but though it was less rainy it was till raining at 1030. That said we got 50 km east and to lake Balaton (largest lake in central Europe) and the sun came out and we stripped off the rain gear. We stayed on the north side of the huge lake and then hit the highway for the last 100 km to Budapest.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8784/2...a60b84fc_z.jpgScreen Shot 2016-08-04 at 19.16.43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We had booked into a cheap hotel that was 600 meters from the M2 subway line. This gave us quick access to the city. We had originally planned two nights, but this meant leaving when the forecast was terrible after the second night and then the next day was supposed to be very nice. So we booked for 3 nights in the slightly sketch hotel. After arriving we headed to what is now our new favourite European capital. The city is very clean, very easy to get around, stunning, and very alive. We did a walking tour of the city centre and along the Danube.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8067/2...f52517ea_b.jpgBudapest-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8759/2...276ae7d7_b.jpgBudapest-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8849/2...cec682ac_b.jpgBudapest-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8811/2...f040d5bc_b.jpgBudapest by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8817/2...b1b5aa4b_b.jpgBudapest-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8673/2...bfb15e4e_b.jpgBudapest-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Tonight we have been invited to the home of fellow rider Dirk and we took the train about 30 km away for a nice evening in his home with a very nice homemade lasagna. We made a stop to see the castle that was Mozart's summer house.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8582/2...9ce8af59_b.jpgBudapest by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8637/2...14b33795_b.jpgBudapest-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flicke https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8322/2...f6c1435d_b.jpgBudapest-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
As forecast we woke to torrential rain thunder and lightening. This eased off after 2pm and we headed into the city to meet our pilot friend Jason who had just flown in from Toronto. We had just missed him in several spots in Italy and as well in Athens this summer.
We made a stop at the largest synagogue in Europe on our way to the bar!!!. https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8167/2...b2da7abe_b.jpgBudapest-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8362/2...6d96b0b1_b.jpgBudapest-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8836/2...c8533468_b.jpgBudapest-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
He has a 48 hour lay over here and so staying the extra day worked all round. He had got the scoop from the flight attendants on the hip and happening spots in the city and our favorite was the Szimpla kert Ruin Pub.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8848/2...f5cb13eb_b.jpgSara Pics-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8618/2...5ca8dc29_b.jpgBudapest-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8836/2...0670c02d_b.jpgBudapest-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8676/2...8cda66b7_b.jpgSara Pics-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7749/2...6f8b54e5_b.jpgSara Pics-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8749/2...10e6851d_b.jpgSara Pics-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Since Jason was sleep deprived we said goodbye just after 830 and headed back down to the Danube to get some blue hour and night shots of this stunning city.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8292/2...09991096_b.jpgBudapest-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8867/2...cb6e163c_b.jpgBudapest-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8852/2...a049119e_b.jpgBudapest-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8789/2...21091e67_b.jpgBudapest-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8347/2...6545afce_b.jpgSara Pics-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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