A Little tour of Europe
Early September 2019, weather mostly dry and warm, GS12 plus GS1150, Old guy and older guy (I'm 74).
Route - Harwich - Hook of Holland - Wurtzburg - Vienna - Budapest - Sibiu - Satu Mare - Poprad - Krakow - Magdeburg - Utrecht - Hook
Budapest is wonderful and fully deserves its reputation, full of art deco, and the one hour riverboat trip well worth it. But avoid the ring road (traffic jam, hours of delay, folk partying in the road). Hotel Chesscom very good and handy for the metro to town (and Tesco if you need some oil)
Sibiu is great and very tourist friendly. A local guy runs an off road bike school from the yard of the Ibis hotel - worth hearing his views. Bears are becoming a prob in the mountains. A Scottish biker we met was lucky to be alive to tell us of his close encounter. Countryside very rural - horses & carts widespread, hay cut by hand, beasts pastured along the roadside etc. Satu Mare not on tourist trail - a sad concrete place with neglected historic parts but picking itself up. Deserves to be visited to encourage the youngsters who seem to be keeping the bistros alive. Hotel Astoria is great if faded.
Poprad, and whole of what we saw of Slovkia, is delightful, the High Tatras are very dramatic. Hotel Satel parks bikes under cover right outside the main door.
Krakow is beautiful but over-run with tourists (not us, obviously!). Suburbs are a battleground though. Magdeburg needs a visit on its own. Utrecht is very attractive and again warrants more time. The Ibis, which appears to be in a residential suburb, is only 20min walk along the canal side from the bustling centre, but beware of cyclists - never seen so many.
Two weeks was not long enough - or so my Wife said.
Health warning - be aware that the east European driving style is somewhat individual - ignore all road signs, overtake on either side, just get in front at all costs, stay on the offside until one metre from the oncoming juggernaut, and so on. But stop at all costs if someone looks likely to use the pedestrian crossing ahead.