RTW 2008-2015

dear all,
we wish you merry X-mas and happy new year 2010. for the first time in many years (for darius) and for the first time ever (for jane) we'll celebrate WHITE X-MAS in bloody cold europe.
we had - 15 degrees just yesterday, its snowing permanently and jane is thinking of using cramp-ons for walking in the streets...
well, for now we're busy decorating our christmas tree and shopping for presents, which fit underneath the tree, hehehe.
right after X-mas we'll finish working on our bike and hopefully make a test ride... it depends on the weather though...

Ever since we approached Venice by ferry last year in November we knew that we have to come back and take a closer look. November was just too cold and we were far too weary of travelling as we would have enjoyed the magnificent place.

May sounded much better. Luckily we’ve got the key to a beautiful apartment from our generous friend Gerhard and could enjoy Venice without using up all our savings for accommodation…

Venice welcomed us with blue sky and T-shirt temperatures!!!

first blue spots "upstairs" giving us hope for a great weekend

AT's in different colours and variations

africa twins everywhere

kozjak falls in kobarid

napoleon bridge in kobarid

Thanks to our friends Irene and Stefan we were able to see Vienna at its best. Here at the HAWELKA CAFE.

gulasz and beer in hungary

and I thought german language is difficult to spell...

impressions from the hungarian puszta in BUGAC

bojnice castle

at the spissky hrad castle

Despite all warnings we decided to visit Poland. I've been told by various people (who possibly never been to Poland) that I'd be robbed, my wife would be raped and, for sure, I'd have to leave Poland by public transport...

Well, the fact is that a complete stranger paid our lunch on the very first day in Poland, as soon as he realised that I haven't got any Zloty on me (no Euro in Poland sofar). People are absolutely friendly and helpful and nobody is really interested in our old bike!

entering poland

It should have been Serbia in the first place... well, after receiving an email from serbian ministry of foreign affairs stating that Jane doesn't need a visa for serbia, we were refused at the border. Apparently this people don't know their own rules!
Luckily enough Jane really is allowed to enter Croatia without a visa.KRAPJE, UNESCO protected village in northern croatia

jane with local woman in krapje

View of Innsbruck, 27th of october 2010

According to the French, every decent person should speak their language... well, our french contains of: citroen, renault, baguette and sante...
Sorry, completely forgot about PEUGEOT...
Again, not many days "wasted" in France. We liked the Cote Azure as it was deserted this time of the year, stayed few days in Argeles, the former Pope city and got wet again at the Spanish border in Argeles.

It's sunny but cold and windy as we're hitting spanish border South of Argeles. The road is twisted and strong winds almost blow us of the bike. Still, it's fun!
With every Kilometre its getting warmer though...
Not really interested in big cities we still manage to take a few pics at the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona before we continue our ride south.

We've choosen the fast ferry from Tarifa to Tangier City against all odds. Apparently the Customs in the Tangier City port would try to extort some money on the arrival and we were told that the procedure would take anything from 2 to 4 hours, deppending on the "bakschich" given.
Strong winds let the waves rise up to 2 Metres in the Street of Gibraltar and, both of us, didn't like the idea much of travelling 3 hours on a slow boat to morocco considering the weather conditions.

Taking the direct route through the Nomansland gives us the advantage of being the First at the Mauretanian side for Passport control and Customs. Half an hour later we're ready to go!

welcome to mauretania

and here are the results of sand riding...

We arrive early at the very quiet border in Gogui, get the passports stamped and proceed for the Customs to Nioro. It only takes few minutes to stamp our carnet and we're free to go. No one is asking for "presents" or any fees.
As we're crossing the border everything seems to be more easy than in Mauretania. There is petrol in every small town, one can buy vegetables in the market and even beer is freely available.

at the fetish market in bamako

Arriving at a border in the dark is never a pleasure but arriving at the Niger border after sunset seems like a nightmare. Well, we had no choice but to cross the border. The security situation in this part of Mali is more than questionable after the disastrous rescue attempt of the 2 french hostages and the police wouldn't like us to camp anywhere near them... At least the procedures on Mali side don't take long - go with god but GO to Niger!
Its a 30km ride to the Niger Immigration. Here, even its dark and the border closes anytime soon, they want to play some games with us.

at the cameroun border