4 weeks
7,916 km
4,948 miles
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At end of August 2008 Jayne
and I drove from Sinzig, Germany to Krakow, Poland,
from where we visited the city and the concentration
camp in Auschwitz/Birkenau. From there we went through
Slovakia to the Puzta in Hungary, then
east through Romania to the Black Sea.
We drove west through Bulgaria and Macedonia
to Albania. There we drove north along the
coast through Montenegro and Bosnia.
After we visited Mostar, we drove through Croatia,
Slovenia and Austria back to Germany.
Recommended maps:
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Marco Polo,
Polen Südwest, 1:300.000
Marco Polo,
Polen Südost, 1:300.000
Freytag & Berndt, Tschechische
Republik / Slowakische Republik, 1:400.000
Marco Polo, Ungarn,
1:300 000
Reise-Know-How, Rumänien,
Moldawien, 1:600.000
Reise-Know-How, Bulgarien,
1:400.000
Reise-Know-How, Albanien,
1:220.000
Freytag & Berndt, Serbien
/ Montenegro / Mazedonien, 1:500.000
Kümmerly+Frey, Slowenien/Kroatien/Bosnien-Herzegowina,
1:500.000 |
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General
information
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The best time for a trip to Eastern
Europe is May and September, because it is (with a
little luck) not too hot anymore, but still nice and
warm. It also is off-season and, therefore, there won't
be large tourist crowds while visiting a city or the
beach.
Camping is still rather underdeveloped in
Eastern Europe. Especially in Romania, Bulgaria and
Albania there are few camp sites, and some of these
close already in early/mid September. In Eastern
Europe, camping usually means to rent a cabin, like in
Scandinavia. Camping rough is not really forbidden,
but for safety reasons, not always recommended.
The road conditions in the individual
countries of Eastern Europe are very different, even
within one country. By far the worst roads are in
Romania and, especially, Albania! For these countries
I recommend a Dual Sport Bike / Enduro. But in the
other countries you can as well come across a bad
road, e.g. there are often very deep tracks in
towns at bus stops and traffic lights. When passing,
you need to be aware that a car or truck might
suddenly drive to the left side to avoid a pot hole.
On very bad roads one often feels like in the Dakar
Race: several cars and trucks drive next to each
other, and in a zigzag. Everybody tries to find their
own best line, with as few as possible pot holes.
Language is, ofcourse, an issue on a trip like
this. English doesn't really help, but German is
surprisingly widely-spoken. Russian would probably
help too. Then in Bulgaria, Macedonia and in the
Serbian part of Bosnia, one can't even read signs or
the menu, because they use Cyrillic letters. But the
locals are very helpful, and so you can get through
with sign language. I highly recommend the
WithoutWordsBook from Langenscheidt, 500 point- to-
pictures for globetrotters
About safety: always lock the bike
and the luggage, e.g. with a break disc lock and, in
addition, lock the bike to something stationary if at
all possible. The locals are very helpful, but there
are plenty of thieves too, and I don't only mean the
many Roma kids. Hotels and guest houses usually have a
place in the back to park the bike safely, but you
have to ask for it. In Bosnia and in the back country
of Croatia there are still minefields,
and unfortunately there are plenty of idiots that take
the minefield
warning signs as a souvenir with them.
There are no traffic rules in Albania, or at
least it seem this way. One way streets are always
used in both directions and a red traffic light is no
reason to stop. If you stop at a pedestrian crossing,
you will cause an accident, because nobody expects you
to stop there.
I read that the police in Albania has order not to
stop tourists, and it is obviously true. A traffic
control, all vehicles get stopped, but we get waved
on. A speed trap, the police men look in the opposite
direction, thanks god ;-). Wherever we drive, the
policemen look away!
On nearly all roads in all of the countries you have
to expect cows, sheep, dogs and horse drawn carriages
without any lights. Because of this, and because of
the pot holes, I advise you not to drive at night.
I don't want to scare you, or to only say how
bad it is there, because we had a wonderful
trip! But be aware of the risks. This trip is
definitely not a trip for a traveling or motorcycle
novice.
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