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CKC 1702 - THE FAMOUS KINGS AND CASTLES TOUR !

Monday, September 18, 2017 | Ted Goslinga / Anthony Fairweather | Europe

Final day - Budapest to Vienna

Charmaine's birthday! Congratulations, granny!!

Day 12 - Restday Budapest

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. 

The famous Chain Bridge.
St. Matthews Church on top of the Bastion is must see for any visitor to Budapest.
A well earned beer after a long day of sightseeing.

Day 11 - Rajicke Teplice - Budapest

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. 

One of the many beautiful castles of this tour
Always nice to have the morning briefing outside; means weather is nice!
Nice picnic day alongside a beautifyl lake in slowakia
Fun in hotelbar in Budapest
Mike and Fiona in Cicmany, one of the many fantastically beautiful villages hidden in the valleys of Slovakia.
Another gratuitous castle moment.

Day 9: Rest Day in Krakow

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. 

The barbican in Krakow is the largest fortification of its kind in Europe.
Singing in the rain.... not really.
Fiona and Mike trying to find their way out of the tower by google maps !
The Wawel cathedral is a must on this tour.
This is what happens when you don't listen to the waiter (Ted thought he was ordering a small beer).

Day 8: Stary Jicin to Krakow

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.

The infamous sign over the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Day 7: Lazne Belohrad to Stary Jicin

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

Great roads along the Czech-Polish border!
Our moto GP die-hard fans watching the Italian GP. Great atmosphere!

Day 6: From Dresden to Lazne Belohrad

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.

The famous Kelchfelsen make for an excellent background .

Day 5 - Rest day Dresden

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

beautiful castle garden in Weesenstein
...and a coffee plus cake at the curb side in Glasshütte
several border crossings up and down Czech republic an Germany

Day 4 - Prague to Dresden

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

Coffee stop in Melnik under a nice sunny sky
Our picnic spot of today
View on the Elbe river from the Bastei
Charmaine enjoying the views
Pork and beer.... It's not a stereotype if it's good!

Rest Day in Prague

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!

Selfie time on the Charles bridge
Great view on the Moldau river
Fiona and Mike in front of the astronomic clock
The famous Hrad, vastly improved by the presence of an Edelweiss Tour.
Tony trying to swallow a huge pork knee.....
....and Mike and Charly trying to capture that !!!

Day 2 - Ceske Budojevice to Prague

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.

Arrived in beautiful Prague with outstanding weather!
Na zdravi !!
Our beautiful hotel in Budweis
Morning brief outside.....weather is awesome!
Jon eager to ride the Twin!
Cesky Krumlov in the sun. It doesn't get much better than this.
Blueberry dumplings for lunch, yes please!

Day 1 - Vienna to Ceske Budojevice

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!

Super nice lunch spot in Maria Taferl
River Danube in all its' glory
Charlie, Jon and Mike at the ferry
Basilique of Maria Taferl
Our first border crossing of this tour....and certainly not the last!

Arrival day in Vienna

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 ! 

 

a masterpiece of impressionism...!
Welcome briefing.......
.......a lot to talk about....
.....and finally the bike handover !
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Add a comment Rate this post
Claudia Wenhart
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 at 20:33

Hey Ted and Anthony,
long trip .... cool pictures. Krakow reminds me of my stay during the worldtour.
Have fun and drive safe.
Greetings Claudia
Ted Goslinga
Friday, September 15, 2017 at 08:46

Thanks Claudia
Julie Nagel
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 23:23

Hi Ted. What a nice small group. We are still thinking about this trip!

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