Got an early start from Camp Alfa and headed towards Slovakia and the capital Bratislava. The plan was to reach lake Balaton in Hungary later in the day.

Slovakia is a nation of 5,5 million people and the capital Bratislava is one of the smallest in Europe with a population of only 500.000. I headed straight for Bratislava Castle, situated on a hill (the Little Carpathians) overlooking the Danube river. I am not big on museums, but when I saw a sign indicating “seniors half price” I couldn’t resist, and bought a ticket. The very first time I would benefit from reaching the ripe old age of 65. I fully expected - and certainly hoped - that the dear lady issuing the ticket, would ask for some ID! Needless to say, she didn’t bat an eyelid! I spent almost 2 hours at the castle. Lots of special temporary exhibitions as well. Having been in the graphic business for many years, I particularly enjoyed one called “reklama” which dealt with printing and advertising in Slovakia over the past 50 years or so.

Back on the bike, and heading for Lake Balaton along some smaller and very picturesque roads. My new gps has an “adventurous” option, which creates a route along secondary roads with lots of bends and turns. Great to be away from the congested main roads.

The camping site Balatontourist Fured, is the biggest I have ever seen! Space for tents, caravans, mobile homes, auto campers, huge tents for rental, bungalows, restaurants, shops, pools, wakeboard and the list goes on. At reception I got a list of 15 sites I could choose from. A mission in itself to check them all, on foot in 35 degrees. I quickly decided on one right next to the pool! Pitched the tent in record time, changed to swimwear and ran down to the lake for a swim. Heaven!

Many countries in Europe use the “vignette” system, where you pay a fee or road tax on entering the country. It means queuing up to pay and get your vignette. Fortunately, both the Czech Republic and Slovakia have made the decision that motorbikes can use their roads for free. What a pleasure. Hungary on the other hand, are not quite as biker friendly, although the fee is only half that of cars. I wonder what they use the money for - certainly not for maintaining the roads!