Author: Jane

Hungary-Kalocsa-feat

The Good, The Bad, And The EuroVelo 6

  • May 21st, 2013

2146 km so far. This morning as I was buying some fresh fruit and veggies from a produce store near the centre of Baja, Stephen was meeting some friendly Aussie bike tourists out in the square. They are a few days into their 3-week trip from Budapest to Istanbul. It was hard to get our heads around the idea that you could get all the way to Istanbul in such a short time. It’s also good news for us, since we’re thinking of biking back south after we get to St. Petersburg, and we’d like to do it quickly, because winter is coming. It was great to chat…

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Hungary-Mohacs-feat

Strange Animals

  • May 19th, 2013

2071 km so far. Hours after Stephen finished writing yesterday’s post, we are still awake, listening to half a dozen 20-something boys sing along to classic rock that was recorded 40 years ago. I don’t know what is more infuriating: their complete lack of respect for other human beings or their complete lack of originality when it comes to music. In case you don’t know, classic rock is a special pet peeve of mine, with The Doors and The Stones being two of my least favourite bands (I know, sacrilege blah blah, but I hate them). I desperately wanted to go out give a lecture on the last…

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Hungary-Pecs-feat

2000 Kilometre Day!

  • May 17th, 2013

2024 km so far. We both woke up tired after our 100 km plus ferry plus flat tire ride yesterday. But, with only 47 km to go to Pecs, we figured it would be an easy day. The room rate included breakfast, which is almost never a good thing. We’d much rather eat our homemade muesli and the soy milk that we’ve been carrying around with us. This morning’s breakfast, which read bread, jam, and cheese on the menu came served with some bonus slices of 1970s sandwich meat. It had little chopped up bits of red and yellow peppers sprinkled through it and the meat was a…

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Hungary-Balatonfured-feat

And Then I Ate Some Meat

  • May 15th, 2013

1877 km so far. I awoke to sunshine, birds singing, and Stephen zipping and unzipping various zippers. Why do tents have to be so zippery? We set about our usual early morning routine of Stephen making coffee and me wandering around in a daze. As we were pouring our brew, a German lady came over to us and started talking. She spoke no English, but managed to convey to us that free breakfast would be served in the restaurant starting at 8am, with coffee! Oh yes, we had forgotten. This campsite has breakfast included. If ever in Lake Balaton, we highly recommend you stop by El Dorado, a…

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Hungary-Badacsony-feat

There’s No Place Like Home

  • May 13th, 2013

1795 km so far. I didn’t like today. There, I said it. I did not want to be on the bike. I did not want to be pedalling my ass off against nasty headwinds. I did not want to be in Hungary. I wanted to be at home, in my bed, snuggled up with a good book and a cup of coffee. There was no reason for it, no explanation, just a bad mood that I couldn’t shake and an overwhelming exhaustion. Most of the day, I listened to music and tried to get out of my head and shake my funk. Most of the day, Stephen tried…

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Hungary-Lenti-feat

Through The Woods To Hungary

  • May 12th, 2013

1721 km so far. This morning we said goodbye to the family Guilloteau, who, it turns out, met up with David and Collette back in Postojna (touring cyclists of the world unite!) and we headed out of Ptuj, towards Hungary. Just outside Ptuj, Pocket Earth was telling us to go one way, and the road signs were clearly saying to go another. I have become used to this because when PE is set to bike routing it sends us on the road less travelled. Often, this means a longer route, but fewer trucks flying past. It also means we tend to see things most car tourists miss. Riding…

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Slovenia-Ptuj2-feat

Hot Tubbing And People Watching

  • May 11th, 2013

1646 km so far. It rained all night last night, and it was still coming down when we woke up this morning, so that made our should-we-stay-or-should-we-go decision much easier. There’s nothing better than a thermal spa to take the rainy day blues away. Before we could relax though, we spent a few hours at the Hotel Primus getting our work done. This involved drinking a lot of expensive coffee as financial planning professionals attended a conference all around us. It was strange for me to see all these people schmoozing, talking business, and drinking coffee to get them through their sessions, since I have attended so many…

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Slovenia-Celje-feat

Youth Art And The Young At Heart

  • May 9th, 2013

1575 km so far. We had a slow morning this morning, visiting Ljubljana’s daily market for some fresh fruit and vegetables and fresh pasta, and snapping a few more photos of the plentiful graffiti in Ljubljana. We also made a quick coffee stop at Cacao. We had the most delicious pistachio cake there last night (seriously, maybe the best cake we’d ever eaten), so we assumed their soy cappuccinos would be worth the stop. How wrong we were. The coffee was worse than the coffee in the hostel, which was brewed by youths on work experience. So, Cacao, we give you the award for the best cake and…

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Slovenia-ValikaPlanina-feat

Day Tripper

  • May 8th, 2013

1500 km so far. We are loving Ljubljana so much, we decided to spend one more night; we are not yet tired of great beer and great food. We don’t really go in for churches and museums, however, so we decided to take a day trip to Velika Planina, a plateau-ish area 1600 m up in The Alps, which, it turns out, are only 30 km north of Ljubljana. Riding out of Ljubljana was a minor drama. Pocket Earth, in its infinite wisdom, routed us along a ‘cars only’ freeway during rush hour, even though we had asked it for biking directions. We got stuck on the freeway…

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Boats on Lago Trasimeno

Italy vs Croatia: International Smackdown

  • May 8th, 2013

It’s probably a terrible idea to compare countries, especially ones in which we’ve only scratched the surface. Our Italian friends will protest, our Croatian friends will groan. Even so, we decided it would be fun and helpful to other travellers if we highlighted the best and worst of each country by comparing it to its neighbour! So here we go. Just two travellers’ opinions, based on limited experience and less knowledge. Food Sorry Croatia, but I think we all know that Italy is the Food Capital of the World. In Italy, you have to work pretty hard to get a bad meal – especially in Tuscany and Umbria,…

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