King and Castles tour with Joe and Andy CKC250D
We started our tour in Vienna following the Danube river out of the city, which lead us through the Austrian countryside. We took a small ferry, crossing the Danube and followed some curvy roads into the Check Republik and stayed in a hotel in Budweis.
Budweis to Prague today. One of the highlights, the Bohemian Forest, a black ribbon of aspahlt and dense forest gives way to incredible farm ground, a sea of green dotted with brilliant yellow canola fields and countless small villages. Riding into Prague shows how good traffic light management can actually work. We make it into the city in no time to check into our hotel in the city centre and take a nice evening walk to our restaurant.
Just a quick ride out of Prague today. Countryside and castles.
Prague to Dresden today. Another day of amazing scenery, winding mountain roads and the coolest local food fair. The Saxonian Switzerland, actually still in Germany, some traffic into Dresden and dinner at a traditional Bohemian Restaurant. Dresden is an amazing modern city, surrounded by history. What a great day.
Today`s ride lead us south out of Dresden into the farmland that is surrounding the city. After a quick stretch back in Czech Republic, we visited the Castle Weesenstein. We could not take the tour, as the castle was closed, but therefore had the whole gardens for ourselves. In the afternoon we walked around the city centre of Dresden, which was not far from hour hotel.
In perfect weather we started our longest ride on this trip so far. After having a coffee and some pastries in Görlitz, we crossed the border into Poland and a few minutes later into Czech Republic again. Our ride lead us through the wonderful contryside of the so called "Giant Mountains" which are not really high, but provide wonderful twisty roads. In the afternoon we arrived at a nice SPA hotel in the Czech countryside and enjoyed the jacuzzi.
Today we followed the borderline between Czech Republic and Poland and enjoyed wonderful backcountry roads with no traffic. In the evening we arrived at our hotel, wich looks like an old castle.
Unfortunately the weather changed and we started in rain and crossed the boader into Poland. Today`s ride ist kind of short and after a short stop in Birkenau we checked into our hotel in Krakow early, to walk into the city center and enjoy the wonderful flair of the city and its old buildings, as well as its nightlife.
As the weather did not look promising, we decided to leave the bikes in the garage and take a day off from riding to spend more time in the city. We also visited a motorbike equipment store where Andy got himself some new gloves.
Another day of rain, and this time it hit hard. Also the temperatures dropped, as we crossed the border into Slovakia and followed the winding roads alongside the "High Tatra Mountains". But we kept the mood up and enjoyed the wonderful scenery.
Today the weather was better again and we spent the day riding through the Slovakian countryside. Throughout the day the scenery changed an the landscape became flatter. And then we arrived at the river Danube again, which we were following on our first riding day. We crossed the boarder into the 5th country of this tour, Hungary, and followed some heavy traffic into the capital, Budapest.
As this city has so much to offer, we decided to use the whole day for sightseeing. We discovered many nice places and took a small boat to see the city from the river.
The last day of our tour began with a visit to the most beautiful Danube river bend. We followed the river to Eztergom, where the biggest church or Hungary awaited us with some stunning views from its dome. After crossing into Austria again, we got closer to Vienna and ended our trip in the capital of Austria. In total we rode about 1900 miles on this trip and we saw countless castles and beautiful scenery with perfect roads and little traffic. What an unforgetable trip!