Ruth:No wonder the Ottomans were determined to possess this area, it's a geothermal gold mine. Every town we pass seems to have thermal pools. None of them anything like the ancient Ottoman one we visited in Budapest, but all promising a range of medical benefits from...
Gordon: We have read that the Danube valley is not the most interesting area of Romania. As a result we made the decision to leave the Danube in Budapest and for the past two days we have been heading east towards Transylvania.The plains of Hungary have...
Ruth: I love Budapest. We have been enjoying the city and our little apartment just a few blocks from the Parliament on the Pest side of the river. After two busy days of walking, art museums and sightseeing, this afternoon we shifted fully into rest and...
Yesterday was Gord's 59th birthday and I wanted it to be special so we cycled for sixty kilometres in steady rain. The forecast kept being revised throughout the day, pushing the time back on when the rain would actually stop. We were mostly up on a dyke...
Gate in Hainburg AustriaRuth:As we said goodbye to Austria we were into Slovakia and Eastern Europe before even noticing a border crossing. Freedom of movement is now a reality in Europe and only traces are left of the Iron Curtain that cut of the Eastern...
Gordon: We are enjoying a "rest day" in Vienna, if resting is going to three art museums in 24 hours. We are staying in the Museums Quarter in the city, so we are within walking distance of a surprising number of museums ... and palaces. I cannot...
Gordon: Today we had a glorious ride through a hilly region known as the Wachau. It produces some of the best wine in Austria. And as we have found in the Douro, Burgundy and other areas, wine is a magnet for tourists. The Danube is now...
Gordon: The 320 km stretch between Passau, Germany and Vienna, Austria is allegedly the most popular section of the Eurovelo 6, and possibly the most used length of long distance cycle trail in Europe. We were warned that we would find this area...
Ruth: Today we spent the afternoon at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. It was built by its first prisoners shortly after Hitler annexed Austria. Its location was chosen for the granite quarries which would provide the much needed granite for new...
The river markers inform us that we are now more than half way to the Black Sea with 2,174 kms remaining. We parted company with Clair from New Zealand in Passau. She also started her journey in Nantes, France and became part of the tribe that we continued to...
Gordon: It seems that every town we pass through in this region has some modest claim on history. Some of them are quirky enough that I must share them.Tonight we are in Ingolstadt, a small city with an attractive historical centre dating to the late...
August 7, 2016Ruth: The camping on the Danube fits our needs much better than the crazy holiday campgrounds we first encountered in Germany. Now there are numerous municipal tent sites that are geared for cyclists and canoeists making their way down the river....