August 2008, touring Greece with my best Aussie friends (part 1 Kissavos - Pilio)

I'm still impressed by how fruitful is the undusting of my unpublished travel content. Of course that's with some AI help making my 16 years old cell phone content viewable by today's standards. Boys 'n girls, brace cause we're back in late August of 2008 and I am leaving my office to chase tops speeds on the toll roads till I arrive at Ampelakia to meet my sweet Aussie friends, Pat and Bin:

115 days, 8200km and 11 countries later - impressions per country

To be honest (why we say so? As if it's an exception and not a norm🙂) I wanted to make a summary for each country of my longest trip ever after finishing with each one on the go but my days were more hectic than I expected to do so. Search for places to stay, edit pictures and videos, write texts, publish, keep an eye on bike's needs, cook, shopping were only some of the things I had to do in my "free" time when I was not riding or walking to collect the content I shared with you. Only when I was house sitting in France and Netherlands I had more time in my hands and even then not as much as you might think as in the latter I had to take care of 3 chickens, a diabetic cat and a garden.

The HIVE Tour - Episode 69 - Goodbye Italy!

My time is over here at Pugliano in Italy and I wake up to this view:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 67 - Bye Veneto, ciao Chioggia, hello Emiglia Romagna

I've written a lot about the farm I stayed here in Veneto but now that is time to leave it behind I have to praise it for one more time due to the generosity of its owner. Dear Lucia treated me with this really nice wine:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 66 - Morning hilltop walk becomes rather URBEX

The more I stay here at this farm in Italy the more I thank myself for that choice. Have a look at my bedroom view:

 

The HIVE Tour - Episode 62 - From South Bavaria to Veneto via Austria

I'm finally "privileged" to be treated with some proper summer by the weather here South of Munich so I load my bike to move on South more carefree than I did previously. You know you experience a proper summer when you aim your stops under the shade of a tree like here at Bruckmühl:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 59 - Goodbye Netherlands, hello (again) Germany

Last day here in the Dutch South and in some sort of irony the weather feels like summer for the first time but I'm not gonna be here long enough to enjoy it as I have my bike loaded ready to leave. My dear diabetic companion ill stay home of course and as far as I can tell he doesn't bother that much about my departure, despite the great times we shared:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 50 - Visiting the Acropolis (?) of racing @ Le Mans

Much less people around the globe would know Le Mans if it wasn't for its worldwide famous 24h circuit and I couldn't leave the city without visiting the place where the heart of racing beats:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 41 - One tower, one too many exceptional views! (Aussichtsturm Prinzenkopf, Germany)

In the previous episode I showed you around Klopp Castle and its wonderful view to river Rhein. Now I am leaving the castle behind to head West and visit other beauties of this region. After an hour plus ride, I get wowed to the view of the river Moselle and the town of Pünderich in the background:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 40 - Klopp Castle and (almost) vertical vineyards @ Bingen am Rhein

And the HIVE Tour just became 40! It's actually older if you also count the sub Episodes (more like 50) and time wise it's also close to the middle so yes, mid life crisis is a challenge at this moment 🙂

So I'm leaving behind Medard village to head for the beauties of Rheinland Pfatz region as proposed by my good Bavarian biker friend Andreas and after some riding here I am looking for some privacy to... pee:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 38 - Very Murhpy's Law on my goodbye to Essen and hello to Rheinland Pfalz

I pack my things here in beutifull Wittelsberg and get ready to leave this scenic region of Essen in Germany to move South West in Rheinland Pfalz. The weather is expected to be rainy (if not VERY rainy) so I keep my camera in my bag and wear my rain gear. I hate it but better dry than wet. I'm also low on fuel so I mark the closest fuel station on the map and set my route accordingly.

I want to say at this point that I found less gas stations in Germany than I expected. Though my bike has a very long range ( the pros of a large tank and a very efficient engine) there were a couple of times that I reached my limits as I tend to empty my tank before I fill it up.

I am on the same block with that fuel station here in Fronhausen where I face... this:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 32 - A 5km walk up to Bayreuth to visit its garden and palace

As my days here at St Johannis East of Bayreuth are not infinite I take the chance today to visit the city's center even though that's 5km away from the place I stay. However, it's a rather pleasant walk as it's a very pedestrian and cycle friendly route as you can see:

 

The Hive Tour - Episode 31 - NE Bavaria & NW Czech in one day

Knowing the right people is priceless and I couldn't have a better contact for my Bavarian days than my dear friend Andreas. I'm close to the end of my days here in Bayreuth and I will try to do as many places he has proposed around here as possible since who knows when I'll be back. Quite a challenge though as the whole area is an eye candy with endless sightseeing.

Number one on my way is Fichtel mountains. It's a nice ride up to there but the place is not exactly what I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, nothing bad about it, it's just that I thought I could ride part of it and then go back to my route for the rest while here you have to park your vehicle and continue on foot. And that's what I do:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 30d - The palace of palaces: Eremitage @ Bayreuth

Quite the walk around Bayreuth's Eremitage isn't it? 3 parts so far and not done yet. In the previous (sub) Episode I covered the pool of this complex and now it's time to continue my walk North East in the woods.

If nothing else these beautiful trees are tall:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 30b - The palace of palaces: Eremitage @ Bayreuth

In the previous (sub) Episode I left you in front of the New Palace here at the Eremitage of Bayreuth. Impressive as it is and as you might have already saw, the same goes for the statues surrounding it:

 

The HIVE Tour - Episode 29 - Taking my first steps East of Bayreuth Germany

The place I am walking at the moment is definitely among the best ones. What a lovely neighbourhood is this! And how Greek its name sounds "Sankt Johannis". I am told they even have the same custom as we do in Hellas when celebrating this Saint by jumping the fire. Small world isn't it?

There used to be a time that kids around here were evolving their talent in football but seems like it's been a while since the last time they did so:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 28 - Tasting Bavaria from end to end

This is my last night here South of Munich and I am lucky to wait for my friends Andreas and Tina to have dinner together before we say goodbye. I'm killing time picturing these beauties which are more than plenty around here:

The Hive Tour - Episode 27 - Riding with a local friend around South Bavaria & North Tirol

Picture this:

It's a beautiful day here South of Munich and I'm waiting for my local friend Andreas who is willing to ride around with me and later invite me at his place for a BBQ at his garden. Can it get any better? Probably not.

I'm killing time waiting for him to arrive by taking pictures of my neighbourhood on this sweet day:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 25 - From Styria to South Bavaria

All nice things come to an end and the top hospitality of the Wagner family at Knittelfeld Austria couldn't be an exception even though it was undoubtedly exceptional. One more long riding day ahead under questionable weather conditions for one more time.

Smokey Alpine peaks in the background, a dirty windscreen in the foreground (sorry guys will clean it later), and a sweet route as I head North West. In other visual words something like this:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 24 - First month of a 4 month motorcycle trip is over!

And what an end to this month it is! My previous 6 posts only covered the last day of it and this one is about the end of a longer than long day.

So my dear host Markus here at Knittelfeld Austria, despite an epic showing me around a radius of 100km he also wanted to show me one of the cutest roundabouts of the area as I didn't manage to walk it yesterday due to lots of rain. They tend to put as many flowers as possible here,