Austria and Slovakia
Reverse culture shock in Austria
After spending months in sometimes chaotic and disorganized Turkey and the Balkan, we entered Austria. It was like entering a different dimension; suddenly there were signs everywhere. As in everything was suddenly forbidden (verboten!). And there are dedicated cycle paths. Carefully curated and boomer-proof cycle routes (mostly revolving around wine). Perfect houses with perfect gardens in perfect little villages. Urgh.
Suddenly it felt more like holiday and less like traveling, if you understand what we mean. So for a couple of days we followed EuroVelo 9 (Adriatic to the Baltic) that follows first the Murradweg (nice and flat!) and then the Thermenradweg in Austria. No navigation was required, as we just followed the million signs. At first we made fun of the all the people in neon clothing on e-bikes, but on our second day we switched from nice and flat to sometimes very steep hills, and we were suddenly jealous.
Wildcamping is forbidden in Austria (verboten!), so we spend our first two nights on a campsite. Also here we had to get used to the notes telling us how to behave in the bathroom and how to do our dishes. It’s not that we think rules are bad, I mean, we both lived in student houses for years and have seen first hand what happens to hygienic standards when there are no rules. But after months of pitching our tent where we pleased, and with nobody around, we had to adapt again.
Secretly we also liked to take it easy. No brain power was required, and even in Vienna it’s just a matter of following the EuroVelo signs until you hit the Danube. There we made a detour (by following the EuroVelo 6) to the West. An old friend of Julia lives there, and he recently became a dad! Perfect timing, so that was 2 days of catching up and spending quality time with his lovely wife and adorable son. Oh, and showers and laundry and bike maintenance. Obviously.
Then it was back on the Donauradweg, but eastbound. It’s a classic, and there were plenty of cyclists around, although their strategy was a bit more easy going. It looked like most of them were a bit older, and had packages booked, including luggage transport. Most people cycle the path eastbound, as we did too. Apparently most day the wind comes from the west, so that makes perfect sense. Even with a small hangover and a late start from our friend’s place, we easily got in 130 km and we crossed the border into Slovakia.
Slovakia: we prefer the North over the South
For two days we mostly stayed on the shores of the Danube. Slovakia is less popular, most people stop when they hit Vienna. There are definitely less signs or infrastructure on the Slovakian part of the Danube cycle path. But around Bratislava plenty of locals were cycling on the warm Friday evening, stopping for beers at the many “Bufets” along the route. We thought that was an excellent idea and when in Rome, do as the Romans, so we also found a spot in the sun with our beer. For our two nights along the Danube it was easy to find a spot to camp, because hurray, in Slovakia wildcamping is allowed again!
That was mainly the only positive point we could find of the cycle path. Because honestly, Southern Slovakia is a bit of a snooze fest. Sorry Slovakia. Cycling along the Danube gets boring quickly, as the scenery does not change much. Besides, you hardly see the river anyway, as it’s mostly covered by trees. Even after we left the river, 2 days of cycling through fields of corn and wheat were not much more exciting.
It’s was only when we saw the Lower Tatras on the horizon that we started taking pictures again. No matter how much we bitch and moan when climbing, hills and mountains are our favorites. So we made our way up, slept in an old wooden shelter in the Muranska Planina National Park and were happy again. In Poprad we quickly raided the Decathlon, before settling down just before the High Tatras on a camp site. This is more like it! High peaks! Some snow even! Mountain pastures and pine forests! And about a million other tourists, almost all of them hikers or mountainbikers. We took it easy on the campsite and the next day we crossed the border into Poland. This must have been the tiniest border crossing ever, it was basically a cycling path. So Poland it is for the next week, we will make our way north in the eastern part of the country.
