It is as if the further north we get, the fewer cafés there are, or the worse we recognise them. In Greece and Albania, if you felt the need, you could always find a place where something was brewed (coffee/tea) or served. In northern Macedonia, they were already a bit harder to find. Small windows, … Cafés
At the border between Serbia and Hungary and also Hungary-Slovakia, we observed: slightly more prosperous again. We also noticed it in the shops, prices rose (in Slovakia) to almost Dutch levels. And besides that, Oscar already wrote once before, less contact/reaction on our tandem (often the first topic of conversation). The latter went so far … (overnight) culture
Is one of the categories we anticipated when preparing for blogging. After 2.5 months of cycling, we haven’t had cause to use it. Spain and Portugal have been unusually hot, and in Italy it rains exceptionally hard, but we have had very moderate conditions. It has not been unusually hot, dry or wet. The rivers … Climate
When we started our tour in Greece, we already had to try pretty hard to get by linguistically. True, we both learnt enough ancient Greek at school to be able to read the script, but modern Greek has converted almost all vowels including the H (èta) to e/i and, besides, being able to read something … Language
We have been in Hungary for a week now and have cycled along the Tisza for the beter part of 200km. Sometimes at some distance, but mostly on the dyke. The dyke is at least 5m high. To the right of the dike are the floodplains of the Tisza, which have been designated a protected … Waterworks (and what comes with it)
I wanted to write about the two cities we visited last week. About Belgrade and Szeged.About how we visited Belgrade by bus from Avala. It was May 1 – still a serious matter in Serbia – and Sunday. Apart from two demonstrations, we encountered a strange, disjointed city with diverse architectural styles – from art … Emotional rollercoaster
Near Belgrade, we cross the Danube and suddenly everything is different. It is flat. A lot of wetland along the river. But even after that it remains flat. There are no longer many villages and agriculture is suddenly large-scale: grain and rapeseed as far as the eye can see. We cycle long stretches straight roads; … Crossing borders
You can’t see the hills and valleys The snow on mountain peaks in the distance The vegetation on the slopes nearby. You don’t see how steep it is Or how bad the road Or how good How busy it is Or how quiet You don’t see the little monuments at the side of the road … What you don’t see
