May 26
Headed for the mountains. 0ur goal was to ride the Transalpine highway. It has the reputation as one of the best motorcycle roads in the world. Top gear did a show on this road with some of their exotic cars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transalpina_(DN67C)

To get there, we had to go on Hwy 7a. It was interesting but I guess typical of backroads Romania.







The 7A


We will hit our goal road in the middle at Obarsia where 7a crosses 67c. Our plan was to stay at Obarsia, unpack our bike for the ride, go south, see the Transalpina then turn around and do it again going North.

We arrived to see a car parked at the intersection with a family from Poland. They were combining a vacation with her job where she was lecturing on European trade.


Meeting at the junction of 7A and 67C

Look a little closer.

DSC_4910 by Beverly Whipple, on Flickr
The sign says that the Transalpinia was going to be closed until June 5. The road looked fine to us so we proceeded in a predictable manner.

The road surface was excellent but they hadn’t cleaned it yet. The worst thing about biking is sharp turns with mud and wet pine needles.
The road peak is 2300 meters. We went to 2100 meters or 6900ft. The scenery was exceptional. See the pictures.















We went back to the junction and decided not to continue. It was raining and tomorrow was going to be sunny. Better to ride this kind of road in the sunshine.

Stayed at a lodge. We were the only guests. No internet. We had to read and talk to each other.

May 26

This was right BEFORE we got to the 7A. Just weaving through some sheep cows and weather.

Yes, sunny as on your side of the mountain. Also no precipitation the previous night, that was the one that got me at 18 yo, some 45 years ago.

May 27

It is a sunny day so we are going to do some riding so we packed up and hit the road. We stayed here at the Pensiunea Bradal


All ready to go.


The bike had a nice cozy place for the evening.

The north part of the highway is not as extreme and has beautiful rhythmic turns. Pictures tell the story.



...though sometimes the roads were not so smooth.





Beverly taking pictures from the back of the bike.









We stopped in Sebes for a late lunch, got on the internet, and made a reservation for a room in Cluj for the evening.


Our lunch spot in Sebes

The ride to Cluj was through some nice scenery but we had heavy truck traffic.




The Gorge near Cluj

Cluj is the second biggest city in Romania and the Transylvania area of Dracula. Our hotel reservation ended up being in the suburbs though our GPS didn’t quite get it. We didn’t want to stay in the suburbs so we got the first hotel that we came to rather than continue to fight with traffic or find a place to stop and look on the internet for another hotel. The locals suggested the Beyfin and there it was with a place to stop. The Beyfin is more upscale than our normal standard. It seems as if locals quite often recommend upscale places – especially restaurants. Oh well. It was a great place to take care of our first chore: go have a on the terrace on the roof. The view from the Terrace is nice.


We made it.






After a , we headed out for a tour and had a traditional Romanian dinner. Our waiter sounded like Dracula, but that must be our imagination.
This is Transylvania, the home of Dracula. The true story id that Dracula is a figment of an Irish author's imagination, and there are no real historic sites. We bagged the idea of Dracula tourism.

Great story and pics, thanks for sharing
Brought back memories from when I was in Bratislava and Budapest on my trip before Christmas last year
Very different to Yakima? Well when I was there in '88' and way haha
Ride safe and keep it coming

Wayne

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The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

May 28
The weather was threating rain again and we wanted a down day so we were tourists in Cluj. Cluj-Napoca is the second largest city in Romania and the unofficial capital of Transylvania. The city has the typical eastern European city evolution but of note, the patron saint is Michael the Arch Angel and that church is in the city center. A picture of that was posted yesterday.

Cluj is the main cultural center of the country and when we were there, The Transylvania Interational Film Festival was there. Almost all the films were sub-titled in English. When we tried to get a ticket to see one, we discovered they were sold out for the evening. The tickets to see the movies were $2 to $4. The town buzz was that Sophia Loren was in the city to accept an award as part of the festival.




Some of the Film Festival posters

As we do, we wandered around the town to take it in.


Something to do with the Film Festival


Could this be Romulus and Ramus? Not sure of its signifigance

The hotel we should have stayed at -- much less expensive.


Some Transylvania architecture.

There were some interesting arts and crafts. The crafts were from specific areas of Ukraine and all were-made items. But even though we looked at something that would fit the grandkids, living on a motorcycle for a month doesn’t leave many storage options.


Something for the grandkids?





Craft Fair booths


The hotel was nice, and we had underground parking. We were strong for the Ukraine border crossing and the drive to L’viv.

View from our room

May 29
We headed to the Ukraine and the trip was uneventful. We stopped to get gas and spend as much Romanian money as we could and have lunch.
The two kids working at the station had just finished tourism school and were practicing on us. We had to talk soccer and the presented us with two scarfs from the Romanian national team. We will watch them in the Olympics.


Lunch at the gas station.


Romanian soccer scarves as a present

We crossed the border at Halmeu. It is a small place but there were miles of trucks waiting. The border crossing was easy. One stop on the Romanian side and 4 stops on the Ukraine side. 45 minutes and we were on our way.



Looking back




Armed border agents sit in chairs in the shade under the tree. There is a dog in a pen. They have various chairs including an office chair. The woman at the last station asked where we were from. "US". Her: "and you are going to Ukraine for what?" She half-smiled, raised her eyebrows, and gave a little shake of her head. Like we were nuts to be doing this. Beverly asked if she could take her picture. Of course she said "no."


Mike waiting in the short line


Romanian Ukraine border crossing.



The roads for the first 30 miles were so bad they were laughable. Pictures from the bike a little difficult.



This and worse for 30 miles.

The typical photo opportunities seem to be horse-pulled carts, churches, birds on telephone poles (Beverly is still trying to get a good one. Many of them have babies), people sitting alongside of the road selling their produce, pot holes, gardens, various houses, etc.





A wreck








We drove to a small town in South Ukraine: Vinogradov. Not much there but we got money, had dinner at the Fontan café and people watched. Dinner with drinks was $8.

We had a visitor at our who was trying to figure our accents


The Fontan Café outside seating on the town square.


The bill = $7.80 for dinner and drinks.

Cool RR you have here Mike & Beverly!

Like the easy way and feeling the photo's are following the story, keep 'em coming.

Safe travels,

Dooby

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May 30 (run-in with the Ukranian police)

We headed out over the bumpy roads. We had about 275km to L’viv and we would go through some thunder showers. Most of the terrain was farmland and eventually the road was drivable.


Off to L'viv


Another common sight -- a pile of firewood




Greenhouses


Newer houses



A huge vineyard





Weather ahead





We missed a turn and went through a gas station to get back on the road. (There was no one in the gas station at the time.)

We were stopped by the Ukraine police for a predictable shakedown. Apparently, what we did wrong was to go out the in-entrance to a gas station. The dramatics were quite entertaining. They started with a fine of about $120. When I said OK lets go to “the official Bank," they wanted to know how much I would pay to the "unofficial bank." There were considerable gestures and hand waving until they wanted my passport. I put out my hands to handcuff me. In the meantime, Beverly was waiting in the sun. This will disappoint the motorcycle community but I gave them about $24 and then it was over. Some clandestine pictures were taken.





The rest of the trip was uneventful. We went through a small town where they were paving the road. They just stopped the traffic. I don’t normally like lane splitting but the line was a mile long. Saved us at least an hour.


Splitting lanes

Here was the problem.


We arrived at our Airbnb place in the middle of the city. Anna and her son Magnus live in an apartment owned by her grandmother.

We drove right up to the building, found a driveway and voila, a place to park on the very busy thoroughfare while Mike went up to check on our Airbnb place.



Putting the bike into the courtyard. It does not lock so we took everything up to the room with us.


Bike looks good from the balcony looking down

L’viv is 760 years old this year. It seems to have been in the middle of a tug of war for most of its existence among the reigning power brokers of the time. It became part of the Ukraine as the spoils were distributed after WWII.
We strolled around the city, got caught in a thunderstorm, and ate dinner at the nearest dry spot which was the Astoria hotel.


The thunderstorm from our dinner table

May 31

We walked around in the rain. It was kind of nice. The city has interesting and varied architecture from the various political influences.

We changed hotels, got caught up on chores and had dinner with Anna and Magnus.

New hotel


View from new room


Parking for the bike


A bus stop right in front of hotel. Constant packed buses...


...and trams.

Magnus is 8 and is impressed with Netflix of Mike’s ipad and the bike.

Magnus thinking about the bike in his future.


Dinner with Ena and Magnus

June 1


What shall we have for breakfast? It is like Forest Gump, “you never know what you are going to get.”

Then out on the square. The weather is much nicer today.





Chess is big in Lviv. Many tournaments are hosted in the city. It is also a pastime in the square where men sit on the park benches playing animated games with interested audiences. A women’s championship was hosted this year but we didn’t see any women playing in the square.


Playing chess in the square


Chess with an audience


Street art. She was really good. We wanted this artist to draw a picture of our grandchildren from a picture which we got printed at the Lviv-like Kinkos. But when we went back to the square, she was gone.


The ubiquitous McDonalds. Yes, we admit to going once in a while. Tonight, ice cream.

Anna was our guide to the high castle hill. While hiking up the hill we ran into some women who travel to various countries doing volunteer work...whatever the country needs. What a great opportunity to travel the world as a young person. It is better than waiting until you retire to become a traveler.


Anna and Beverly and the world travelers.


Mike and Beverly at the top


Women selling their produce on the street.


Cadets in Lviv


Mike getting a hair cut. Cost: $1.60 with .40 tip.



Architecture

June2

The Ukrainian police stop the other day has been on our minds. Mike sort of wanted to fight harder but he was thinking about Beverly standing outside while he was sitting in the car and Anna in Lviv would be waiting for us. Beverly wanted to be more intrusive with her camera but she was thinking about the police taking her phone which had some pictures on it that weren’t copied anywhere else. Though we think we did fairly well with the fine being dropped from $120 to $24, Mike wouldn’t allow them to have a passport and offered to go to jail, and Beverly did get some pictures. Anna said that police are now paid an adequate wage to combat the corruption like this. But unfortunately, that supposed transformation hasn’t filtered into the smaller towns yet. We concluded, for the current moment, that Beverly should have been right in there and taken more pictures. Hindsight isn’t 20/20 because we have no idea what would have happened had we acted more aggressively.

Now for today. We got an early start at 7AM to avoid the rain and thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon. The 200mile drive to Krakow was nice and uneventful. The border crossing o Poland was routine – about 3 stops that took an hour. We were grateful that we were not in a car because it took an hour when we were able to jump to the front of the line. None of the cars appeared to have a problem with us doing that. Cars even moved aside so we could get our wide bike through the crowded lanes. The car line-up was long. We guess that it would have been at least a 3-hour wait had we stayed in line






Border


We experienced very light rain at the end of the trip. It wasn’t until after we arrived that the real rain started. We stopped in a town across the border to get some money. A city event like a fair with craft and food booths was going on. The streets were packed with cars. Mike parked the bike on the sidewalk, joining the many cars already there. We were walking across the street with the crowd when we noticed some police writing tickets for illegally parked cars. Mike went back and asked them if our “moto” was ok. At first they didn’t understand and thought it was a car. They motioned that it had to be moved. When they realized it was a motorcycle, they said “moto is good.”



Parked on the sidewalk


Going to the fair


All locked up


Ethnic food -- Polish sausage otherwise known as a hotdog.

Motorcycles really do get preferential treatment in Europe. Not just by the officials but by businesses and other drivers.



Bathroom with helmet holder


Bus lanes designated for motorcycles

We had wanted to get a place to stay right on the city square but there was no place for the bike. The city square is large and does not allow vehicles. Free parking is practically non-existent. Parking in garages outside the city square charge about 3Eu or more per hour. We opted to stay a little bit out of the center. It was within walking distance and easily accessible to public transportation.

We arrived at Hostel Extra, unpacked and headed for town. We had on our good rain-gear and plastic bag on the camera. The Salwater tram was traveling our route but we didn’t yet know how to find ticket machine. We did know that the fine for getting caught without a ticket was about $60 and they weren’t lenient with tourists.

Our Airbnb host provided some shelter for the bike.

On the way into town people were standing in the rain outside and across the street from the KAJKONIK pub. The people standing next to us told us to just wait. The Kajkonik is a character dressed up like a Tatar who once a year, parades through Krakow collecting ransom money and touching people with his mace for good luck. This has been going on for 700 years and is derived in some way from a story about repelling a Mongol invasion, and dressing up like the losers. It has become a Krakow Icon, hence the pub.


Something is going to happen soon



The festivities


Here is is -- Kajkonik






Walking around the square and town

We saw a sign in the square that said a bar was showing a soccer game, so it looked like an easy place to have a . We ended up in the middle of a bachelor party for Matt who was marring Holly. After the mandatory ribbing form older men to the groom to be on how he was giving up his freedom, we partied and talked about strategies for his business. These guys are body builders who sell vitamins, and want to market to travelers who might want custom packages of supplements shipped around the world to supply people as they travel. The and the party took over and we didn’t finish the business plan.


We chose this bar for the soccer game



and found a Bachelor party

It was still raining and about 9:30. The place to buy tram tickets was supposed to be easily seen at every stop by the square. We didn’t see any. We decided that since you are supposed to be able to buy a ticket on the tram, that is what we would do. We got on but the driver was behind a locked door, no one else was in our car and the tram took off. We didn’t figure out how to get a tram ticket until the next day. No fines tonight.

Back home to bed.

June 3
The big event for the day was to tour the salt mines. The salt mines at Wieliczka. The salt mines have been in operation since the 13th century and were discontinued only 10 years ago. Miners would stay in the mine for weeks at a time and like the coal mines at home, they used pit ponies and canaries. The work was difficult, hence the saying “another day in the salt mines” to describe a hard day.


This man showed us how to get a tram ticket.

We went down around 400 wooden stairs ao start the tour and then down even more and came up an elevator

[

These stairs made from salt


Down into the mines even further







Salt mine tour



The miners tour – we didn’t do


We met these Canadians on our way to the salt mine tour. We rode the train back to town with them.
We also learned how to get a tram ticket from this man

After the salt mines we walked around town and the square.





Another bachelor party


"Be safe in Krakow." We found this in a souvenir shop


Tram back home after picking up breakfast. Pack up for early start to Auschwitz.
Individual tours of Auschwitz needed to be booked weeks in advance. The choices we had were to take a tour from one of the many tour companies, or go early and be there by 9:00 and get an early entrance. Our hotel Krakow was booked for tomorrow night so we decided to go early and get a hotel in Oswiecim near the museum.

June 4

Arrived at hotel, dropped off our stuff and took a Taxi to the Auschwitz museum on the advice of the hotel.


The tour took close to 4 hours and was well done.


Our guide, Jana, was excellent. She may have done that presentation every day but it didn't sound like it.

A dark cloud hangs over us from the experience. One can read, study, watch videos, and so on but the feeling of the place is penetrating. The seeds of racism and bigotry can grow to be hideous if not weeded early. Enough said. Here are some pictures:



The entrance gate. What it says is "Work will set you free."



Mike at the gate with barbed wire and a watch tower.









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We returned to the hotel.

.....and then had a little quiet time in our own minds in the spa in our hotel. The segue just doesn't seem right.

June 5
Today we decided to push on to Berlin. It is 350 miles and the forecast is for thunder showers. We got on the highway, set it at 80 mph and rolled. Not very exciting bike riding but duty calls. We got caught in a few squalls but generally did OK.

The freeways are in surprisingly great condition. It is a surprise because a few years back when we did our Scandinavian-Russia-Baltic tour, we took a ferry from Lithuania to Kiel Germany. The ferry was full of trucks from Poland. We were told that trucks like to take the ferry because the roads are so bad in Poland. That certainly was not the case in our experience.


Polish Freeways


We met some other bikers at one of the road stops. Of course we had to check out the bikes. The analogy of dogs sniffing any new dogs they meet, I am told, is inappropriate. They were part of a club known as the blue knights. This is an international club of police bikers. One of the guys had a friend and fellow club member from Chicago. He was happy to tell us that, and took pictures of our bike. They gave us some badges.


The Blue Knights with Beverly, Mike and our bike


A gift from the Blue Knights

We stopped at a gas station to spend the last of our Polish Zloty and have lunch.

This is what you can buy with 9 zloty: 2 s.


Our favorite -- A stand up lunch.

There are no border stops in the EU zone so we sailed into Germany.
We made it to Berlin and found our place to stay. Yuli and Marcus are our Airbnb hosts.


Back to Germany


Parking just outside our Airbnb building.

Berlin apparently has no specific downtown core like many European cities. We walked around the neighborhood, had falafel at a sidewalk diner and went home to work on this blog.

Talked to Neil MacDonald who is a guy from New Waterford living close to Berlin. We will meet him tomorrow.