It was a year in the planning which seemed like forever, but it finally materialized in Sept 2015...our bicycle trip from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary along part of the EuroVelo 6 biking trail, or as this section is better known as 'The Danube River Bike Path'.
With only a small backpack and a carry on each, both filled with on and off the bike clothes, bike helmets and some bike gear, a few toiletries, passports, cash, a credit card, one computer and a cell phone, we boarded Ethiopian Airlines and headed to Europe.
We chose Top Bicycle (see link below), as the bike company to use, as it was recommended to us by a couple we met last year on the bike trip we took in Italy. We actually chose 2 bicycle trips, back-to-back...the 1st from Passau, Germany - Vienna, Austria and the 2nd from Vienna, Austria - Budapest, Hungary, to make it one continuous journey. 12 actual days and 450 miles of cycling in total, with an additional 12 days exploring (at the beginning, middle and end), walking and sight seeing (without the bikes). What a FABULOUS trip!
http://www.topbicycle.com/BTPassauWien.htm
Top Bicycle provides you with everything you need, a top notch bicycle, 2 panniers per bike, 1 handlebar bag per bike, bike locks, GPS, cyclometers, terrific maps (all in English), tools for repairing flats and even a local cell phone, just in case you need to call the company with any real emergency to report. We never used the tools for any repairs as we were lucky not to have a single bike problem nor did we ever need to use the phone...but it sure was nice to know that we could reach someone in case of a true emergency.
The way you do it is, you choose the dates you want to travel with Top Bicycle, and they call and make all reservations for your hotels along the way. Distances and evening stops are all pre-arranged by the company you choose (there are lots of bike companies who do this, not only Top Bicycle and even though everyone is riding in the same direction--mostly--some companies choose other villages or even the other side of the river to ride or sleep). Once it is all confirmed, you pay by credit card and meet their representative on the scheduled day in the pre-arranged town. (If you check out their website, they have a number of bike trips and all of them meet in various towns/cities).
We took our own helmets, saddles, shoes and clip pedals and their rep fitted their bikes with our personal gear. After gearing up the bikes and a short briefing, we left Passau, Germany on a cloudy, overcast, drizzly 6th of Sept, Buddy's 67th birthday! We left our luggage with their rep and off we cycled, beside the river, to our next destination, 30 miles down stream. We chose the 'self guided tour' and just followed the map meandering our way down the river, through villages, stopping when and wherever we wanted, sometimes passing or being passed, by other cyclists along the way. Every morning, after quite the luxurious breakfast (always included in the hotel and really, really scrumptious) we would leave our luggage at the front desk of our hotel and cycle to our next destination where we'd find our bags, already in our room! During each day, we'd ride, stop for breaks, visit various sights and even take time out for the occasional mid-day beer, before reaching our evening destination. We'd be in the saddle usually 3-5 hours each day leaving plenty of time at the end of the day to sight see in each evenings town/village.
The hotels were lovely, mostly 3-star and were usually smaller and quainter than the big ostentatious places. The hoteliers were very friendly, the water hot, beds comfy, and, like mentioned before, breakfasts was delicious...Camembert, Brie, and many local cheeses and meats, fruits, breads, eggs, coffee, tea, juices...everything...always a highlight of the day in preparation for cycling.
The cycling was superb...the 1st 6 days, Passau - Vienna, is probably
THEE most popular cycling route in Europe (says all the books). It's almost completely FLAT--lovely German/Austrian countryside with a plethora of small villages, historic castles, statues, churches, abbeys, museums, historic memorials and even ice cream! Depending on the day, there were sights to see, events taking place, we'd cross the river by ferry or bridge, it was different every day. We're sure July and August is a bicycle highway, but Sept seemed fairly tranquil, with fewer numbers of cyclists and mostly adults as families with kids were already back in school. The cyclists seemed to come from all over the world as we heard numerous languages being spoken along the trail and in towns and villages.
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| Part 1--Passau to Vienna |
The daily trip directions included the daily mileage (normally between 25-55 miles/day) and always included interesting sights along the way. We tried to stop in most of the small towns and villages and took advantage of as many of the recommended sights as possible.
The cycling from Vienna - Budapest, is much less traveled and Hungary's bike paths aren't quite as sophisticated as those in western Europe, at least those we just experienced in Germany and Austria. Hungary felt a lot more eastern European and it was the 1st time for both of us to visit this lovely country...and what a way to visit it, by bicycle.
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| Part 2--Vienna to Budapest via Slovakia |
There was so much to see and so much to do--remember this was a month of sight seeing. We have broken down the photos by 'segment' of our daily rides from the town-to-town where we spent each night. We tried to give you a feel of the daily routine and hope you enjoy this photo montage...you can do internet searches yourself on any city or interesting photo you see below. The daily mileages are estimates from Top Bicycle and we often rode more miles per day with the various sight seeing trips--all said and done our cyclometers read 450 miles when we reached our final destination in Budapest. There are a lot of photos, it was hard to cull them, as we wanted to give a feel of everything we saw and did. Click on any photo to enlarge it, and click again to get back to the explanations. Go as quickly or slowly as you wish, and we hope you enjoy the ride...
Passau--We took a train from Vienna to Passau and visited for a couple of days before our bike trip.
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| waiting for the train in Vienna going to Passau |
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Our hotel in Passau, was also an old glass museum with
over 30,000 pieces of European glass |
Interesting read about the glass museum: click on the link:
http://www.wilder-mann.com/en/hotel/passau-glass-museum.html
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| panorama from the Veste Oberhaus Fortress |
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Passau is at the confluence of the Inn River
(upper half of the photo) and the Danube (with the ship)
and the Ilz--a bit more downstream (not pictured) |
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| Passau's Rat haus (with clock tower)--aka City Hall! |
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| beautiful countryside around Passau |
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| narrow streets of Passau |
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| St Steven's Cathedral |
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| the largest pipe organ in the world with over 17,000 pipes |
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| a downtown statue |
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| one of many street cafe's where we stopped |
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high water marks in recent years....the 2nd from the top is
from the flooding in 2013 |
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| 'singin' in the rain'... |
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| our last night in Passau |
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having fitted our bikes, we're ready to head down the Danube
rain or no rain! |
Passau - Schlogen ~ 27 miles--day 1 of riding
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| wooden mermaid sculpture |
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| small villages along the river |
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| short rest |
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| Jochenstein Lock |
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| and damn along the river |
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| small villages with small river crossing Ferry's (Fahre) |
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| a gnome garden along the path |
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| we skipped lunch but stopped instead for local flavor |
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| that's our hotel in the distance on the other side |
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| wow! Hotel Donauschlinge |
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| loading the ferry to get to the hotel |
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| bike and people ferry only |
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| the hotel bike garage--imagine this place in July! |
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The Danube Bend (view from hike we did from Schlogen)
the path we cycled is on the left inner side of the river |
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| many choose the cruise ship way to tour the Danube |
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| Buddy's 67th bday complete with sparkler and apple strudel |
Schlogen - Linz ~ 35 miles--day 2 of riding
An old river boat which used to haul salt (white gold), wine and fish...these boats were pulled up river by teams of horses along the path we're riding today
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| Ottensheim Palace |
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| the ferry to cross to the other side--we are crossing |
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| after a cold and drizzly morning, a hot chocolate stop |
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| colorful row houses before Linz |
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| our hotel on the main plaza in Linz |
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| our lovely room |
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| main plaza and the Old Cathedral circa 1678 |
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| walking street in Linz |
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| new age trams |
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| main plaza |
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the New Cathedral circa 1862-1924, which seats 20,000
Austria's largest church |
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| with beautiful stained glass |
Linz - Grein ~ 41 miles--day 3 of riding
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| saddling up to depart Linz |
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| just a few of MANY swans along the river |
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there's no place like home, no place like home....
no, we didn't stop, but the photo was a must |
Late morning, we took a recommended side trip to the last liberated concentration camp and largest labor camp from WW2 -- Mauthausen...the following photos are somewhat disturbing...attention...
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| the road up to Mauthausen |
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| the camp from the outside |
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| thank you America! |
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| from 1938-1945--the only way in |
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| memorial wall |
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| one of many memorials of the atrocities which took place here |
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'Stairs of Death' from the quarry to the camp--186 stairs
inmates were made to carry rocks up these stairs and
often died falling backwards creating a domino effect |
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| the crematory ovens |
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| 1938-1945--the only way out, said most |
This is a HORRIBLE part of our world history, but a part of which we all should know. If you are interested in reading more, click on the following link:
https://www.google.rw/search?q=mauthausen&oq=m&aqs=chrome.1.69i60j69i59l2j69i60l3.3500j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8
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| a castle down the roa |
This side-trip was a bit of a downer, so the best thing to do was get on the bikes and get moving down the road.
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| back at the river and to the town of Grein for the night |
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| our hotel in Grein |
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| cute downtown Grein |
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| before dinner drinks in Grein |
Grein - Melk ~ 32 miles--day 4 of riding
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| leaving Grein--we crossed the river on a nice big bridge |
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| small villages along the river |
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| beautiful castles |
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| arriving in Ybbs, home of a very cool bicycle museum |
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| downtown Ybbs |
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| Aly on one of the 1st bicycles ever |
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| Buddy riding a Penny Farthing |
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| childrens' bikes |
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| more Penny Farthings |
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| police, military and postal bikes |
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| old fire fighter bicycle |
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| another cute small village with its church |
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| and another |
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the grand daddy of them all--the famous Melk Benedictine
Abbey--seen from miles (even in the rain), over 1000 years old |
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| the narrow streets of Melk |
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| our hotel in Melk |
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| walking up a narrow path to the Abbey |
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| a photographer photographing the Abbey |
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| one of the smallest Bibles on display |
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| an old chalice |
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| in the glass room |
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| ceiling fresco painted in 1731 by Paul Troger inside the Abbey |
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| views of Melk and the surrounding area from the Abbey |
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| looking downstream on the Danube |
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| panorama of Melk and area--the Danube is in the distance |
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| the church |
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| inside the Abbey Church |
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| the ceiling fresco inside the church |
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| the Abbey garden over looking the town and countryside |
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| beautiful and Massive |
To read more about the Abbey, just click on this link:
http://www.stiftmelk.at/englisch/
Melk - Tulln ~ 45 miles--day 5 of riding
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| Ruine Aggstein Castle |
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| looking down into the Wachau Valley (wine country!) |
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| small village of Willendorf |
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Venus of Willendorf--thought to be over 25,000 years old
female statuette made of limestone ~ 4.5" tall |
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| small village of Spitz |
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| wine country |
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| St Michael's fortified church |
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| Wosendorf |
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| Durnstein and vineyards |
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| a winery/distillery where we stopped, sampled and purchased |
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| all homemade |
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| village of Unterloiben |
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| small village of Fothof |
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| beautiful flower garden |
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| bike path through the grapes |
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| village of Stein |
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| Our hotel in Tulln--right on the river |
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| celebrating our 12th anniversary with Gin we bought earlier |
Tulln - Vienna ~ 24 miles--day 6 of riding
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| one of those great breakfasts...in Tulln |
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| Greifenstein Castle |
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| a flower field before reaching the outskirts of Vienna |
Seems like shortly after we left Tulln, we were in the outskirts of Vienna...so we've saved most of those photos for the next segment, Vienna.
Vienna, Austria--we spent 3 days where we parked our bikes, walked, took public transport, visited museums, churches, palaces, government buildings and other sites, played tourist before setting out on the 2nd part of our bicycle journey.
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our lovely hotel in Vienna--we stayed here when we 1st arrived
from Rwanda, in the middle and before returning to Rwanda |
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| walking street downtown |
The following few shots are of the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Austria, St. Stephen's Cathedral, 1st constructed in 1147 and added onto throughout the years. Today stands a beautiful Medievil, Romanesque and Gothic structure located in the heart of the downtown walking district of Vienna, one of Vienna's top tourist attractions.
A nice internet site to visit if you are interested:
http://www.stephanskirche.at/index.jsp?langid=2&menuekeyvalue=2
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| outside the main doors |
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| Capistran Chancel |
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| inside the cathedral |
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| the organ |
We walked up the spiraling 343 stairs (212 ft) of the South Tower for beautiful views of the church roof and the sights of the city.
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| beautiful church roof tile work |
We descended the spiral stairs and continued on our city tour journey.
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| other bicycle tourists |
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| many sidewalk cafe's |
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| our favorite ice cream shop |
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| just one of the multitudes of city transport |
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| a very cute teddy bear museum on one obscure corner |
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| one of the oldest cafe's in Vienna--Mozart Cafe since 1794 |
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| an old wooden toy shop |
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| dusk in the walking streets of downtown |
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| St Stephen's at dusk |
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| St Stephen's lit up at night |
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| Imperial Palace |
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| Hofburg Palace |
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Prunksaal (State Hall) - or center of the National Library
with over 7.4 million items in collections |
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| beautiful ceiling fresco inside the center room |
St. Augustin, is a famous church near the Imperial Palace where many of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty married and are buried. The Habsburg's monarchy ruled in these parts for over 6 centuries. Napoleon Bonaparte was married here, along with the Austrian Archduchess Maria Christina, the sister of Maria Antoinette.
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| Cenotaph of Maria Christina |
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| opera house |
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| city hall or Rathaus |
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| Parliament |
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| Kunsthistorisches Art History Museum |
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| the dome on top of the Natural History Museum |
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| Maria-Theresien Platz statue |
Buddy found a Viennese sausage (bosna) street food stand where we stopped on 2 separate occasions and became friendly with the Turkish vendor. He liked Aly so much, he invited her behind the counter, gave her a 'workers hat' while he served Buddy his sausage sandwich and beer. He felt sorry that Aly hadn't ordered anything and gave us a free meat sandwich (we didn't have the heart to tell him she is a veg). We ended up giving it to a local homeless man, of which he thoroughly enjoyed.
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| statue on the famous Graben St. |
We did manage a classical music concert in one of the 1st halls where Mozart played as a young boy.
Every Saturday in Vienna, year-round, the Naschmarkt is bustling with buyers and sellers. We found ourselves there on 2 separate Saturdays, bike miles apart! There are over 400 street vendors selling anything and everything, and is considered one of the biggest and best flea markets in all of Europe. A great place to people watch and possibly find that one treasure you are looking for. We found great photo ops and lunch!
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| street vendors selling most everything! |
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| masses of nuts and candies |
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| Kebap meat |
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| stuffed grape leaves, tomatoes, olives, peppers and more |
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| humus, babaganoush and other spreads |
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| all kinds of cheeses |
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| lots of veggies |
We spent the better 1/2 of one of our days finding, touring and walking around the most famous palace and grounds of the 4-sq mile, 18th century summer palace of the Habsburg dynasty, the Schonbrunn Palace. We did not tour the inside, as there were masses of visitors, but instead chose to walk about the beautiful grounds and gardens, which were just as spectacular.
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| the front of the Schonbrunn |
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| from the palace, looking up onto the grounds |
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| taken through one of the fountains |
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| on the grounds |
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| some of the local visitors |
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| a beautiful end to a lovely palatial visit |
The tallest ferris wheel at the time, built in 1897, owned by a Jew who was killed in Auschwitz, is a landmark in Vienna, was a perfect departing shot as we rode by, on our way out of town.
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| Das Wiener Riesenrad (Vienna Giant Wheel) |
Vienna - Hainburg ~ 32 miles--day 7 of riding
We rode the dykes of the Danube much of the way from Vienna to Hainburg and arrived just beating the rain. A night at an old 17th century building turned hotel was a warm welcome.
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20 more miles to our destination, Hainburg, one of
the last villages in Austria |
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| the southern gate into the village--our hotel on the left |
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| downtown Hainburg |
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| our post bike ride meal |
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| one of the old watch towers of the village |
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hiking Braunsberg on the NE side of Hainburg--looking
back towards Vienna |
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| Hainburg castle |
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| our hotel--Altes Kloster |
Hainburg - Mosonmagyarovar (via Bratislava, Slovakia) ~ 38 miles--day 8 of riding
Today would be riding in 3 countries, Austria, Slovakia and on into Hungary. Much of the ride in Hungary was NOT along the Danube, but instead took us through charming villages and beautiful countryside.
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| leaving Hainburg |
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| and it's beautiful flowers |
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lots of cyclists--they are heading towards Vienna
(probably the most cyclists we'd seen on the trail since Passau) |
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| Hrad Castle in Bratislava, Slovakia |
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a spaceship looking viewing tower at the Novy Most Bridge
taking you into Bratislava |
We took a short side trip into the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, crossing the Novy Most bridge. The old historic downtown was full of narrow walking streets, old buildings with cafes, shops, and tourists. Bratislava used to be a part of Hungary from the 1500s-1700s and became the capital of independent Slovakia in 1993. It's population is roughly 450,000. It is the only national capital in the world bordering two other independent countries (Austria and Hungary).
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| Bratislava's theatre |
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| main walking street and Embassy row |
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| Franciscan church |
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| main square |
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| main square fountain |
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| 'Cumil'--the most famous statue in Bratislava, 'watching...' |
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| St. Michael's Gate |
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| outside the downtown area looking up to the castle |
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| business district in Bratislava |
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| one of the old trams in Bratislava |
We left Bratislava, crossed back to the other side of the river and pedaled on down river. About an hour down river we came to a nice rest stop with other cyclists...
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a Slovakian rest stop about 15 kms outside Bratislava
bordering Hungary |
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| the old border patrol between Slovakia and Hungary |
Entering Hungary--wow, we're not in Kansas anymore Toto, we think they are welcoming us to Hungary!
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| downtown Mosonmagyarovar--our destination for the night |
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| our hotel, the Panorama |
Mosonmagyarovar - Gyor ~ 28 miles--day 9 of riding
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| an old cemetery along the route |
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| interesting Hungarian names |
This region is a renowned for thermal baths. We took advantage of one right along the cycle route, outside of the small village of Lipot. Very refreshing for a couple hour mid-morning break.
Back on the road again...
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| we think we're going in the right direction?! |
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| school is out... |
We made our way to Gyor, one of our favorite towns along the route, with a local population of ~130,000 and is 1/2 way between Vienna and Budapest. The old town is very bike and walk friendly with lots to see and do with shops, cafes, statues, old buildings, and churches.
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| our hotel in Gyor |
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| the Klastrom--a former Monestary |
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| with its wide hallways |
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| and comfy rooms |
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Gyor 'city hall', in German known as 'Rat haus'--seems
like a perfect name for a Gov't house--wonder why we
don't call our city halls 'rat houses'?! maybe we should start! |
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| a typical book store--not at all like Barnes and Nobel |
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| Szechenyi ter--Benedictine church |
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| main plaza |
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| old town hall statue |
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| man in the boat statue on the walking plaza |
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| one of many wooden doors along the side streets |
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| an old side street |
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Bishop Vilmos Apor saved many women and children
during WW2 and was killed saving others |
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Bishops castle, statue of Karoly Kisfaludy
at the Vienna gate |
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| Bishops castle |
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| our restaurant in this quaint square |
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| a nice outdoor restaurant |
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| Hungarian specialty--pork knuckles--which Buddy LOVED! |
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| roofing designs |
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| old, but... |
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| beautiful |
Gyor - Tata ~ 45 miles--day 10 of riding
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| much of today's riding was dirt track in the woods |
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| just keep following the bike path--Euro velo 6 |
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Fort Monostor--was the biggest ammunition storage
after WW2--the Danube borders this fort |
Arriving in Tata
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| the beautiful Lake Tata |
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| fresh water fountain |
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| Tata Castle |
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| our hotel in Tata |
Tata - Esztergom ~ 34 miles--day 11 of riding
This section of riding took us off the Danube and into the rolling back roads through small villages of the Geresce Mountains (highest elevation ~2,000 ft).
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| the 2nd of 2 days of hills! this was long and fairly steep! |
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an old vein of red marble in the hillside--famous
Hungarian red marble |
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| rolling on down the road |
Entering the quaint town of Esztergom--our last stop before Budapest...we spent much of the afternoon touring the Basilica after we walked through town...
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| Esztergom Basilica |
Taking a stroll through the old town, meandering through back streets
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| our hotel in Esztergom |
We then headed up to the Basilica, through the lovely grounds, into the chapel and all the way up to the viewing towers--the sights of the day were lovely. To read more of this beautiful basilica, click the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esztergom_Basilica
The sights from up on the outer dome...we are back on the Danube and across the river is Slovakia.
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| Buddy's buddy...a young Hungarian man who worked up here |
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| Vizivaros Parish Church |
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| Esztergom town, with the Danube and Slovakia |
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| Slovakian scenery |
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| Esztergom |
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| cute chapel on the hill |
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| delicious Hungarian wine, cold beer and dinner, ended our day |
Esztergom - Budapest ~ 52 miles--day 12 of riding--our last day of cycling
This would be our last day of riding, bittersweet. We left Esztergom and headed down river where we would cross 3 times back and forth across the river, before arriving in Budapest. It was fun being back on the river.
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| lots of riders heading to Budapest--1st of 3 ferry crossings |
We stopped in one of the small villages and joined in their street fair and craft market.
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| treats made by the local ladies |
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| soon to be wine |
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| the winemakers |
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| the last ferry crossing |
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| Welcome to Budapest! |
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| our hotel on the right (white building) |
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| we did it! 450 miles later, we reached the Hotel Parlament |
Budapest, Hungary
Wow! This is one of
thee most beautiful cities in Europe. We tried to do justice to the history and architecture, the beauty, majesty and elegance of the city, the river and the life of this grand city. With a population of almost 2 million, it was a well run, well functioning city. Click on the following link for more Budapest info, or just enjoy the below photos.
http://www.budapest.com/
The Danube disects this historic city, separating the Buda, ancient hilly side, from the Pest, flat side.
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| looking at the Buda side from the Pest side |
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| the GORGEOUS Hungarian Parliament |
The ostentatiously beautiful Hungarian Parliament is the largest building in Hungary. Construction took over 19 years, employed over 1,000 people during construction, used more than 40 million bricks, 1/2 million precious stones and 88 pounds of gold.
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| Matthias Church in Castle Hill on the Buda side |
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| Parliament |
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| standing guard outside Parliament |
Shoes on the Danube Bank--a memorial to the Jews who were killed by the fascist Arrow Cross militiamen during WW2. Shoes were considered of value and the Jews were told to take off their shoes before they were shot and their bodies fell into the river and floated away.
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| Castle Hill |
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| Pest's walking streets |
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| beautiful architecture |
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| the Eye in downtown Budapest |
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| Chain Bridge and the Royal Palace |
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| Parliament from a far |
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| modern trams |
Last year we met a really nice German couple while on our bike ride in Italy. We have kept in touch over the year and when they heard we were going to bike the Danube, they planned their vacation around the same time as ours. Even though they weren't cycling, we planned to meet up in Budapest. We spent 3 fun days with Katrin and Heiner, walking around seeing the sights of Budapest together.
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| cooling off after a LOT of walking and sight seeing |
Central Market Hall--where one could get about anything one wanted....just take a look...
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| inside the market |
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| Hungarian lace |
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| traditional Hungarian dolls |
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| sausages and meats |
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| lunch food |
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| 3 weary cyclists! |
Heroes Square--beautiful bronze statues honoring Hungary's heroes
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| Chain Bridge |
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| view from the Chain Bridge looking towards Margaret Island |
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| Royal Palace |
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| Castle Hill Funicular |
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| traditional Hungarian snacks--very tasty! |
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| our chimney cake lady |
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| statue entering the Mideval Castle Hill |
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| up on Castle Hill |
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| National Archives |
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| beautiful tile work |
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| Fisherman's Bastion |
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| Pest view from Castle Hill |
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| the Parliament from Castle Hill |
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| Buddy, Katrin, Aly and Heiner |
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| boys and burgers--after a long day |
The M1, or Millennium Underground Railway, is the oldest underground in Hungary and the 2nd oldest in the world, 2nd only to The London Underground. It was very clean, very well kept and our timing was perfect, almost empty...amazing, as today, over 100,000 people use this line per day.
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| Buddy, Katrin and Heiner |
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| one of the 11 M1 stations late at night |
Other around the city shots
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| piece of art maybe? |
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| Margaret Island |
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| pork knuckle sandwich bar |
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| and Hungarian street food |
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one lunch, we settled on beer and Langos--a Hungarian specialty
--with cheese and/or meat |
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| the beautiful chain bridge at dusk |
When visiting Budapest, one of the most popular tourist things to do is take an evening cruise along the Danube seeing the city by night...just beautiful...you just can't get enough of the beautiful Parliament building...
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| Royal Palace |
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| Chain bridge with the Citidel lit up in the background |
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| Chain Bridge and Royal Palace with a lovely moon |
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| Buda (right) and Pest (left) |
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| a wonderful end to a wonderful trip |
After this fabulous trip, we have decided to do more exercise vacations as we had so much fun. The walk across England (Coast to Coast--check this out:
http://www.coast2coast.co.uk/ ) sounds enticing, or possibly another European bike trip might be in the books for next fall, or maybe something completely different...you'll just have to stay tuned. Until next time...
