CKC 1702 - THE FAMOUS KINGS AND CASTLES TOUR !
It's our last day on the road as we set out into the early morning drizzly. Riding through the hills just north of Budapest we make our way to Esztergom, once the capital of Hungary and now home to one of its grandest churches. From here head West along the Danube and cross the border at the site of the Paneuropen Picnic, where in 1989 over 600 East Germans managed to escape into the West. From its just a few short miles to Vienna and the end of a fantastic ride through the back roads of Eastern Europe.
It's a beautiful morning to explore Budapest. We hope onto a train into the city centre then jump on one of the many Hop-on Hop-off buses that run through the Hungarian capital. Along the way we visit the Fishermens Bastion with its beautiful cathedral and amazing views. In the evening we decide to forego the hotel restaurant in favour of one of the many excellent small restaurants which make Budapest a real foodie destination.
Last night's rain has cleared and it's a beautiful, cool morning on one of the best riding days so far. We leave the main roads behind and dive deep into the forests and hills of southern Slovakia. A classic Edelweiss picnic on the shore of a sunny lake allows us to catch our breath before the final miles take us across another border and into Hungary. Our final stop of the day is Budapest, our home for the next two nights.
It's a wet morning but the old royal city of Krakow is spectacular no matter what the weather. The barbican and the main square are beautiful but it's the Wawel and it's cathedral that make Krakow a truly spectacular place to visit. After lunch we split up to do some very necessary souvenir hunting before meeting up at a small restaurant in the Jewish Quarter where we dive into Poland's multicultural culinary history.
Last night's rain has cleared as we leave The Czech Republic for the final time of this tour and enter Poland. Today is all about Auschwitz, one of the most infamous sites of German occupation in Poland. As we take a guided tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp we follow in the footsteps of over 1.1 million people murdered here during WWII. A sobering reminder of one of the worst mass murders in human history. After the tour we get back on our bikes for the final 60km into Cracow, the former royal capital of the kingdom of Poland and our home for the next two nights.
Today we started off of our super relaxed hotel in Lazne Belohrad in the rain. It looks as if we would have this the whole day, but fortunately enough after lunch the skies cleared out a bit and the fantastic twisties and mountain roads dried out, so the grey day turnes out to be a very nice riding day! After checking in in out hotel we all watched the streaming of the Italian moto GP in the 'knights room' in our hotel. Followed by a traditional Czech dinner we concluded this very nice riding day
Our last day in Germany sees us crossing borders not once or twice but three times as we zig-zag across the hills that seperate Germany from the Czech Republic. Along the way we ride past ancient fortresses and toweing sandstone cliffs, dive deep into the former wastelands of Eastern Germany (now lovingly restored) before finally making our way to Lazne Belohrad, a charming little spa town and our stop for the night.
A perfect day for a amazing ride south of Dresden! With a nice riding temperature we took off around 9 am to expllore the back roads around the Czech/German border and what a ride it was! super nice swerving roads through the backlands mad this a very nice riing day Including a short visit at Weesenstein and a Clock museum in Glasshütte made this day a succes
Under a nice bright sky it was time to leave the wonderful capitol of Tsjechia and head northwest towards the border with Germany. Our final destination is the lively city of Dresden in the southeast corner of Germany Our first stop was in a nice little village called Melnik where we had a bone chilling experience in the ossuary under the church but also where we had abeautiful view over the Elbe and Moldau river and of course a nice coffeestop at the village square. Following our way up to the border chef Anthony has prepared the group a nice picnic. Very nice and winding roads to the densed forrest area around the border lead us towards Dresden where we arrived in the late afternoon after a visit at the viewing point Bastei where we enjoyed the views on the sandstone formations and river Elbe To conclude the day we had a real German restaurant where we had a genuine dinner with some nice beers
There is no better way to explore Prague than to put on a pair of comfortable shoes and go for walk. We do just that and take the tramm up to the Hrad, the largest enclosed fortress in the world. From here we stroll down towards Charles Bridge and across the Vltava River towards the old town. We end the day in the correct, traditional manner by sampling some of the many local specialties in a small brewery tucked away in the old town centre. It's porktastic!
Our second day on tour takes us south to Cesky Krumlov. Once a sleepy hamlet, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cesky Krumlov offers fantastic oicture opportunities as well as an axcellent selection of sweets and pastires to complement our morning coffee. From here we head north along the German border into the Sumava National Park, where single lane roads take us deep into dark green forests. Leaving the forests behind us we stay on small, single lane roads as we make our way to Prague, capital of the Czech Republic and our home for the next two nights.
What a marvelous day to start this tour: all the rain of the last days cleared out this morning and so we took off at 9a.m with an excellent riding temperature uit of Vienna. as soon as we were out of the city we rode already along the Danube river. short before noon, we crossed this very rapid flowing river to the other side by a old, genuine cableferry, followed by a nice and relaxed coffeestop along the banks of the river after this we rode up to the Taferlberg where we visited the basilque of Maria Taferl, a famous pelgrimage place. A lunch under the trees of an outside terrace made this day already good!. Then following our way up northwest we ended up at our hotel in the city of Budweis or Ceske Budojevice in Czech. A nice drink outside on the terrace or a short citywalk as some made, followed by a supernice dinner made this day complete!
After a couple of really rainy days in middle-Europe it began to clear out today in Vienna. Super begin of this beautifal classic Edelweiss tour which will bring us to six different countries. Some of the tourmembers already arrived a couple of days earlier to explore the wonderful city of Vienna and to get rid of their jetlag. In the late afternnoon we had our welcome briefing followed by a mooth bike handover. So enough time left for a nice get together drink in the hotelbar followed by the first of our 14 dinners . All ready to ride !