K und K bike trip

Pécs, Hungary

Sun, 13 Aug 2017 18:30:24 +0200

Skoro kod kuće....

Last day...

The circle is now complete. The Earth is round. Our Rob or Ross.

Vienna, Austria

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 12:07:46 +0200

Joyride...

Neptun brunnen

Nitra, Slovakia

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:40:00 +0200

Next stop - Bratislava.

Usput...

Jejjej

Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 20:00:00 +0200

Poprad, Slovakia

Wed, 02 Aug 2017 20:10:00 +0200

Leaving Poprad...

Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia

Tue, 01 Aug 2017 20:20:00 +0200

Košice, Slovakia

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 18:30:00 +0200

Nyíregyháza, Hungary

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 17:00:00 +0200

Debrecen, Hungary

Sat, 29 Jul 2017 17:30:00 +0200

Border crossing

Uzvodlyuk

Cyclists track by the road

Debrecen

Reform church

City centre

Oradea, Romania

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 16:30:00 +0300

After seeing how busy the main road to Oradea is, I welcomed my hosts suggestion to take a detour. It would add some 15 kilometers to the trip but this leg of the journey was short anyway. Also there would be some hills and forest! Finally, a change! The revised route would take me through the village of Tinca. The road till there was a typical country road, through fields and obviously used by mostly tractors and combayns..in Tinca, the road took me to the hills, with one big rise even in the village. The climbs were just a few and not too hard. There were more parts where I went down hill and I was quickly back on the main road, entering in the village Leš(!!). After that, you know what. Trucks. Sun. There were some hills but nothing too hard. I arrived in Oradea easily, the entrance was a bit tricky because of traffic but I got to my hosts eventually... Oradea is a beautiful city, the centre has been newly renovated and in the night looks really amazing. Next day I went to spa in Baile Felix and saw a bit more of it. Definitely a discovery, a place worthy of a visit of a couple of days...

Tko se sjeća trajvana...

City centre Oradea

Kupanje

Dodjes u Debrecen naći još veće luđake...

Gdje sam ja to stigao? Janoš Brunjai Denes Madzar Kocis

Salonta, Romania

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 17:10:00 +0300

I started out of Arad s bit late, after meeting a local guy and having a quick coffee. He recommended I take a different route, a bit more kilometres but less traffic. Since I really didn't want to get hit by a truck, even adding 10 km more to the trip sounded ok. So I headed in the direction of village Curtici. It's a border village and has the car customs parking lot. I saw a lot of new cars waiting to be sold or shipped to new owners. I also passed through a part that Gypsies have built up. They don't have houses, they have elaborate mansions which more reseble palaces. I did not dare stop and take pictures though nobody was actually paying me any notice. From Curtici it's a ride through fields back to the main road. There was little traffic, but you have to be careful, especially nearing the connection with the main road - the road there had many potholes and it had meant a bit of a slow drive... On the main road, I was once again surrounded by trucks and the ride was interesting. The clouds totally cleared and it was almost hot... I made a stop in Chisineu Cris, where I had a cup of coffee. The rest of the ride was more of the same - fields, trucks, flat scenery, sun...I crossed over into Bihor county and was soon in the small town of Salonta...

Gypsy village

Town park Curtiçi

Fields outside of Curtici

Break

Salonta

Arad, Romania

Tue, 25 Jul 2017 17:40:00 +0300

When I woke up, the storm was still passing the city and there was occasionally a shower. So I sat in a pub, drinking double espresso for two hours before it settled and I was able to do some sightseeing. I walked around in the centre, drawing curious looks from people. I guess they are not used to cyclist in the city. I didn't stay long because I wanted to hit the road before the rain started again. Getting out of the city was really hard, I cycled on the sidewalk most of the way. There was heavy traffic in the streets so I switched to it only after I ran out of sidewalk. There was a lot trucks and vans in the road, till I got to the highway exit...some trucks went to the highway but some were en route Arad or Hungary and they stayed on. And they didn't pay me much attention, I guess they don't care about cyclist or don't how to swerve to avoid...there were a few situations which could have been very bad for me... The rain was going on and of, raging between a few droplets and almost a drizzle but I had to get to Arad and this didn't stop me. I made a few rests, and eventually got there around 5 pm. Just as I came in, the weather cleared and there was even some sunshine. So I parked in the park, had a change of clothes and I put my cycling gear to dry out. Arad has a really interesting centre, the main boulevard is really wide, there's a double treeline in the middle with trams running between. The trams are the same as Osijek used to have, which was curious. There are the sites as well, the city hall, the theatre, some churches... everything is well kept, and as we saw later in the evening, well lit up. Unfortunately, the city isn't much of a tourist spot, looks like they aren't really interested...

Art park in Timisoara

City fountain

National theatre

Pit stop

Vinga

Old trams - same as in Osijek

Town hall in Arad

Timişoara, Romania

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 19:00:00 +0300

I started with a hearty breakfast in Zrenjanin. After packing I went through the city once more, said goodbye to my host, and went the way they showed me. The road was ok, I crossed over the river Begej several times. I started a bit late so I got the best midday heat, and was again drinking a lot of water. The border was totally empty so I was quick to pass. The guards were wary, they probably don't get cyclist there and were very curious where I was going and why. The Romanian was surprised that I want to be a tourist I'm Timisoara... The first place in Romania is Jimbolia, a small town. I couldn't find a change but there were many banks so I got some lei there...I had a pizza and coffee and I thought that I only had 40 km more to go and that would be easy. I could relax a little and I can still make it in time to meet my host... After some time, I checked my cell and saw it is one hour more than it should be - that's when I remembered that Romania is in a different time zone!! So I lost an hour of cycling already. I was quick to start then, but these 40 km proved to be very hard... The sun was blazing in my back, and the road was all flat. The scenery was flull or dulat, any combination of flat and dull you can come up with...nearing Timisoara the traffic got heavy, many cars and long trucks returning to the city and that was really hard on me. Every milestone closer to Timisoara was a welcomed sight till I finally came to an unimpressive board before a bridge, saying Timisoara. It was still a good sign to me... In order to get to my host, I turned on Google with the navigation, so glad I got coverage here because he was on the other side of the city. I could never find it on my own... I waited for him for a while but eventually he came and I finally was able to rest a while.. We went out with his work buddies, to a local pub and it was great. Everybody was really interested in my trip but also about Croatia, the history and the evening was really great with them. Outside there was a big thunderstorm and we even got wet on the way back home. But it didn't kill the evening, it still felt great...

Serbia Romania border crossing

Motel in an old castle near the border

Dull roads

Entering Timisoara

Just one fountain

Skoro cijeli spomenik :))

Kroz kišu i vjetar...

Grad Zrenjanin

Sun, 23 Jul 2017 17:40:00 +0000

Started at 0720 with a friend. He turned for the river Drava and after that back to Osijek. Border crossing was ok, some traffic but it was quick. The ride was ok, the road weren't so good, mostly local but there wasn't much traffic. Just on the main road Novi sad - Zrenjanin there was some cars but that was just in the last leg of the journey. I tried to get my Telenor account charged at several places, only managed it in Ratkovo. I had a break for lunch in Temerin, a pizzeria in the city centre. I was really hungry by that time...the weather was hot. In the morning, there were some clouds but they cleared soon and the afternoon had blazing sun. I bought water in almost every shop along the way, I must have drank 10 liters of liquid all in all. The scenery was dull, fields of corn, sunflowers, harvested wheat...all flat which is good as I got some speed on the road. Just before Zrenjanin there is a cyclist road through the village Aradac which I recommend. I took the main road which was under works so some stretches weren't paved... Total distance: 150 planned, add 5 for cycling in the villages, looking for shops or just browsing Bugs in face: 8 Raodkills: 2 dozen :( Soldering heaps of trash along the way: 3 Wedding parties: 1 Tractors, kombayns, other: 0 Moments of horror: 1 - a field full of crows, looked like a scene in Birds

Tisa

Ispred Zrenjanina

Prije 2.5 sata :))