Hi,

Just thought I�d make a contribution to the website with my tour of Eastern Europe. I had originally made this report for Advrider but it has not appeared on there since submitting it.

In all the tour was just under 2 weeks long, we crossed through 13 countries (one for only 10km) and had 9 overnight stops. Total distance was about 5,000km. I guess Turbo Tour is an appropriate name for such an adventure!

Hope you all enjoy this, comments/criticism/feedback all welcome!

Day 1: Zurich to Bratislava

OK, nothing special here as it was a day on the Autobahn (highway/motorway). Only the first night�s accommodation was booked well in advance and although it was a long distance we arrived in Bratislava with enough time to walk around the city that afternoon and have some goulash.

First things first, buy a motorway vignette for Austria!



Bratislava. Nice place.






Day 2: Bratislava to Krakow, via Czech Republic and Auschwitz

We leave Bratislava and head north-east, quick motorway blast and then we turn off into the hills and cross through the Czech Republic on our way to Poland.

Quick stop in the Czech Republic:






We arrive at Auschwitz and attempt to walk around. It is 30+ Celsius and we�re melting in our motorcycle gear. Not a hope in walking around in this heat so we decide to leave and return in the morning when hopefully the temperature is lower. We head for Krakow and go find our accommodation for the evening. Great hotel, if a little on the expensive side but the staff are great and helpful and we venture out into the city to explore.








Krakow is a beautiful city.

Day 3: Krakow to Kosice via Auschwitz

Early morning visit to Auschwitz and we�re practically the only people there. We have a chance to photograph the place and really take in the scale of what happened here.

















We�re able to pick up the original route that I planned and we cross the border into Slovakia only to cross back into Poland 5 minutes later to then cross back into Slovakia some minutes later. It�s a small farming community and I manage to take a few pictures with my left hand whilst riding through.




We have a stop at the border and we�re joined by a guy returning home from a Trabant meet. He�s almost got a spare car in the trailer! We stop and chat for about 20 minutes then get back on the bikes and make our way to Kosice.




We get to Kosice, we find the hotel we booked about an hour before and decide that the location is not the best and there�s no parking for the bikes. We ride around looking for another but we park up in a small square, looking at the lodgings list on the GPS for inspiration. We�re greeted by a Swiss German man on a bicycle, totally unexpected to be greeted with the Swiss German dialect in Slovakia. He have a chat and he recommends one hotel nearby and we manage to find a room, they also have parking which is a plus.

A quick walk around the city:











Day 4: Kosice to Debrecen
Short ride to Debrecen, mainly on small roads through small towns and villages. The villages we are going through have purpose built structures on top of the poles for Storks! This was a common sight through Hungary and some parts of Romania.

We stop on a country lane and take in the moment.



Note the storks in this picture:



Another stop somewhere in the Hungarian countryside:



After a short ride we arrive in Debrecen.




Small town and I have a quick walk around but don�t find much with the exception of the Cathedral near our B&B.




Day 5: Debrecen to Sebes

Nothing dramatic to report � from Debrecen to the Romanian border there were a couple of straight roads. We cross the border into Romania, no problems with the border crossing with the exception of a poster about corruption. Old habits die hard I guess.





This was my first experience of Romanian roads and we travelled mostly on 2 lane roads which happened to be packed with trucks and more trucks. We ride to Cluj-Napoca and stop for lunch. Looks like a nice town from the short ride around.





Quick break for a coffee break and check for accommodation for that evening. Perfect timing as we avoid a heavy downpour.




We arrive in Sebes and head straight to the hotel.

That�s Transylvania out there!

Day 6: Sebes to Drobeta-Turnu Severin

I made the decision to ride the Transalpina rather than the Transfagarasan. Maybe this was a mistake and I guess I�ll only know when I go back and try it. The road itself is a mixture of tarmac and gravel in parts. There was no consistency to the road surface, you never knew what to expect around the next corner. In the end we only did half of DN67C as the time taken to do the first part was long enough and we would probably not make it to the next city in time to find food and accommodation.



















We pulled off onto road 7A and headed towards Petrosani and then stopped for lunch. Parked up on the pavement and thought nothing of it, until the bikes attracted the attention of the local police. I�m summoned over for a brief informal chat, ahem, they tell me that they have us on video/CCTV parking on the pavement and it�s not allowed. We�re almost finished our lunch and they�re ok with us leaving within a few minutes. No real worries here.

Post lunch destination is Drobeta-Turnu Severin on the banks of the Danube. The road to here was uneventful, nothing really stood out, except if you�re the owner of a blue Ford Transit pick-up, registered in Cork Ireland � yes it�s still on it�s Irish number plates and was up for sale.

Our hotel:



Theatre in the process of being renovated.



A church near the hotel.




Day 7: Drobeta-Turnu Severin to Berane

We leave our former communist hotel and head in a northwest direction to cross over the Danube and into Serbia. Another drama free border crossing � something�s not right here!





The roads in this part of Serbia are a complete contrast to Romania. Fairly quiet with very little traffic. We have a quick stop for a quick break, a car stops and asks which way to Romania � �That way� shouts Rob.




We are making good progress on these southern Serbian roads, no trucks on the roads and we do not have to go through many villages/towns. The route was roughly Kladovo � Zajecar � Paracin � Novi Pazar (via the Kopaonik National Park). The national park was nice but there was heavy rain on the way up which made the conditions difficult. There�s a ski resort up there if you�re interested.

On the ride through Serbia I am really surprised by the heavy police presence in the towns we went through and along the route. It was inevitable that we would be stopped, and this was by a biker cop. There was some discussion about a visit to the local police station and after a phone call with his boss we were allowed to go with a warning. After this incident the decision was made to ride directly to Montenegro.

Serbian border post looms into view and �.. we get through without any issues. Border control for Montenegro took a few minutes longer as they requested the vehicle documents too. Your passport gets a stamp with a little car to indicate you drove in. The road from the border heading south is fantastic. There are mountains all around and the first section is a mini gorge.





We ride down (road 2) towards Rozaje and onto our overnight stop in Berane.

Thank you Montenegro for this fantastic welcome:




Warm shower, food and some wine and the day was over.

Day 8: Berane to Dubrovnik.

At this point the planned/unplanned trip was going along nicely. There was the option to ride as far as Kotor and spend the night there with the possibility of riding around the bay of Kotor.

I finally remember to pick up a country sticker.







Dangerous road ahead:




It had started to rain heavily around the time we stopped for lunch. We had a look at our options and decided to push on and get to Dubrovnik for that evening. Kotor is a beautiful place though:




We had the smallest ferry crossing from Lepetane to Kamenari to deal with which cost about €2 (if memory serves me correctly).




After that it was an easy ride to Dubrovnik. The accommodation we found was a simple apartment within walking distance of the old town. It also had a washing machine – why am I getting so excited about this? Well after being on the road for 8 days it was time to have something clean to wear. It had been an unbelievably hot week with temperatures always around 30 Celsius and packing was relatively light.














Day 9: Dubrovnik to Split

I must admit that I was looking forward to this day; a chance to ride the southern part of the Croatian coast rode. I had ridden the northern part in 2013 from Rijeka to Zadar. We had plenty of time as the ferry crossing to Ancona was in the evening. There was another border crossing on the way along the coast – that small section of coastline that belongs to Bosnia, about 10km of it.

This is a shot I took whilst riding through the small coastal section of Bosnia.



I was considering going to Mostar, maybe I should have gone, but I’m thinking that I can always go back next year.

Split – what a chaotic mess just trying to get down to the port area. Too much traffic and it’s baking hot. Find the office for the ferry company and book a crossing to Ancona Italy.

Evening ferry crossing.




Day 10: Ancona to Frosinone

Not sure who the captain of this ferry was but I think he needs to consider a career change. We got into port on time, great you say, but somehow docked the wrong way so most of the trucks and cars on board had to reverse out. We thought we would be first out as we were parked right in front of the door. It was of course like a sauna in the car deck and it was nice to start the day sweating!
First stop on the road was to get a new front tyre for the T�n�r�. The thread was wearing out and I was not certain it would make the trip back to Switzerland. On went a new Tourance for the rest of the trip.



Post pit-stop we ride down along the coast to Civitanova Marche and then start to head inland towards L’Aquila on a route I’ve loosely planned without really knowing what’s ahead. There are some quiet roads on this route. There’s a small village ahead, just on the hill top.



And then we have this sight


And then further on we have a view over the valley below:



It’s all a bit short-lived though as a short time later the heavens opened up and we get soaked through. It was raining so hard we had to find some shelter under some tress as it seemed we had the formation of rain clouds on the inside of the visor too. We arrive at the destination and we spend the next two days being fed by my relatives and we really don’t do much else.

Final day was a 950km motorway ride all the through Italy back to Zurich. The T�n�r� was running at 130km/h (indicated by the GPS) but man was that tough going for me. The bike can do it but fully loaded it becomes a bit tiring.


Would I do another trip like this? Yes, without even thinking about it. I loved every minute of this trip and I would jump at the chance to go on an even longer trip. Wanderlust, you’re a disease.


Hope you’ve enjoyed the read and get out there and ride your bike. Explore the places that are not on the tourist trail.


If you want any information on the trip, information on the route the bike or whatever please let me know and I’ll try and answer it for you.

Gio

Thanks for sharing!

Cool trip. Thanks

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Yamaha XT 660 Z Tenere

amazing thanks for sharing

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Plough on

Thanks for that - nice report.

Reminds me of a similar trip I did back in 2008, particularly seeing the stork nests in Hungary. They certainly make them in some bizarre places! I met a chap in B�k�scsaba who had deliberately erected several unstable looking wooden towers in his garden, when I asked him why, he explained it was in order to attract storks to nest and which would bring him good luck.

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