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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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even though we were entering the inner Schengen zone of the EU within which no border stations of any kind exist. Since Italy we had been in the EU, with the exception of Croatia, but outside the Schengen zone.
AUSTRIA
We had been plotting a course to a small town close to Vienna, but right after the border the Danube bike path (called Donauradweg here; the Danube is Donau in German) starts. It took us right to the edge of Vienna downtown. Most of it is on the Danube dike, and very well paved. We were riding on the top of the dike, and there were forests on both sides. There were a lot of other cyclists, but no car traffic anywhere near. It was very relaxing to ride here; this was how I was expecting the Danube bike path to look like. In fact, almost too relaxing - the path went on and on, the miles flew by, and there wasn't much else to look at than the perfectly straight path and the forests.
When entering Vienna, the path widened and actually ran at the shore of the Danube, which we hadn't seen much of before. People were sitting in the grass here, or barbecueing. We took the second bridge across the Danube (actually two in succession; the second has helix-shaped bike ramps) and shortly afterwards found ourselves in a large park, which got us to the edge of Vienna downtown. Another very scenic way of entering a city, opposed to how we got into, say, Zagreb. As any good tourist would, we first went to Vienna's main square, Stephansplatz, which was packed with people. At a newsstand we got a recommendation to try the nearby Kossek Pension, where we indeed got nice rooms for a reasonable price, Am Graben 80m from Stephansplatz. If we had windows to the front, we would have been able to see the Stephan's cathedral (Stephansdom). Quite a stroke of luck that, June is high season for Vienna, and here we found such a convenient place within fifteen minutes just by walking in without a reservation.
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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
