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Tour date: 1-17 June 2005. Total distance: 1400 km.
Bicycle Tour: Eastern Europe (Italy - Slovenia - Croatia - Hungary - Slovakia - Austria - Czech Republic)
Thomas Driemeyer2005-10-16 14:37:51
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us away from traffic. The road is rather hilly; not steep but one is always either climbing or descending, never level. The Balaton is a very large lake, almost 100km long, but very shallow, only 4m at the deepest points. The south shore is basically one long narrow town with a major road running through it, so we decided to ride the north shore, which is less densely built up.
In Keszthely we stayed at the Bacchus hotel, which has affordable apartments with four beds. Everybody seems to speak good German and often English as well here. Like in Slovenia and Croatia, we could pay with euros or EC (European ATM) card.
There is an excellent bike path along the north shore of the Balaton. Mostly away from the road, quiet, well-paved, and with meticulously labeled signs at every turn. This must be the best bike path I have ever seen. We only ignored the directions at Balacsonytomaj, where the bike path turned inland, but after a couple of km on the main road another similar bike path began. The path is mostly flat, no hills here. Unfortunately the path (and the road) do not often afford views of the lake, but we found a quiet place to stop. Swimming is very limited because the lake is so shallow, and one has to wade a long distance on gravel. All the beaches are on the southern side.
We planned to ride to one of the towns at the northeastern tip of the lake, and expected to easily find a hotel there because there are lots of them all along the way. I suppose I should have become suspicious when the language on all the signs turned from German to Hungarian. The towns at our destination were not built for tourists, they are basically ghost towns where everything is locked, shuttered, or for sale, and there are no accomodations and very few restaurants.
Eventually we gave up and rode north to Veszprem, which involved climbing some 200m. The town looks real ugly when entering, and the
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See photographs from:
Slovenia Gallery
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Slovakia Gallery
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Italy Gallery
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Hungary Gallery
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Czech Republic Gallery
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Croatia Gallery
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Austria Gallery
