Wandering around Europe – part 2
In Part One of the notes from my most recent trip/wanderings around Europe I said that I had headed off across Germany and then spent a couple of days traveling in Poland. My second stay in Poland had been at the very decent Hotel Sahara not to far from Bielsko-Biała .
Heading for Slovakia
I decided that from there I would head in the general direction of Croatia, travelling down through Slovakia a country I hadn’t been to before.
I had decided to leave the Hotel Sahara early so as to make the most of the day, and as I wanted to be on the road by around 07:00/07:30 it meant missing breakfast, which isn’t something I would normally do when I’m on a bike trip.
I had decided I would get something to eat en route, but the receptionist at the hotel did sort me out with a decent coffee and almond croissant though before I left.
I was on decent roads within minutes of leaving the hotel and I really enjoyed my riding through Poland and then through Slovakia, it was truly beautiful. I was in the Czech Republic (or Czechia to give it its more modern name) for a short time and crossed through several old and disused border crossing during the day all of which were sort of fascinating in their own ways.
Different sort of a place to stay
Overnight at a vineyard. Oddly enough and completely by chance I ended up staying at a Slovakian vineyard in Samorin which turned out to be a fascinating stop over, especially when my curiosity and questions about the place led to me being offered a personal tour – it wasn’t huge in vineyard terms but does produce around 400,000 litres of wine a year.
Off to Slovenia
After my night at the vineyard and perhaps not surprisingly a couple of glasses of very decent wine I set off after breakfast the following day to head once again in the general direction of Croatia and traveled through Hungary and into Slovenia where I had an overnight stay down near Novo mesto
The riding was excellent with some fantastic sights along the way, many of which will stay with me for a long long time. Having said that it’s fair to say that I met a couple of interesting characters when I stopped for a cold drink at a roadside cafe/bar in Hungary – even though it was before lunch it was clear that they had been on the alcohol already … and it showed.
Early morning drinkers
It certainly made for an interesting stop, and although it was all harmless enough I was sort of glad to be on my way.
My stop in Slovenia was excellent and proved to be incredible value for money – I ended up staying in an apartment for four, shopping at a local supermarket for my evening meal and making use of the kitchen facilities that I had.
The only downside to the day was when I got a wasp like creature up the arm of my jacket. I had swapped to short gloves due to the heat and doubtless that how the critter got up there and I felt the sharp stings (four times) before I could stop and deal with it. Other than that it proved to be another interesting and wholly enjoyable days riding.
There’s a bunch of pictures from this stage of my trip below and clicking on any will open a scrollable gallery
