from Italy to Czech Republic and beyond [mostly photographs]

[Daniel Kalal]

This would be a looping trip north from Italy to the Czech Republic, then east and then south to Croatia before returning.


spending two nights in Como to get aclimated to the timezone shift.





Pick up the Stelvio NTX at Agostini in Mandello del Lario


Switzerland
Bernina Pass and a perfect day for riding.




Austria











When the Alps end; they end.




Germany




Czech Republic





















Slovakia




















Poland






Hungary












Croatia












Slovenia






Italy








Mandello del Lario




Milan

[DanPez]

Daniel
Amazing ....... simply outstanding pics.

Cheers

[oldmanjob]

Thanks Daniel for another great trip report, to more countries which I will never get to in this lifetime

Bill

[jamileh]

Hey Daniel -
Simply fantastic pix, once again!! You really know how to capture the flavor of a place with your combo of natural scenery, roads, city scenes, food - and drink, etc... (That turquoise color of that one lake in Slovenia looks like NZ!!) just awesome. How long were you there? Looks like you did some gravel riding? How did you like the Stelvio?
Thank you for sharing, as always. More inspiration....

[DerekSolomon]

I just wanted to say thanks for posting those beautiful pictures! What a dreamy collection of scenery, history, cultural expressiveness and exciting curves. That was a nice break for me this afternoon. Thanks!

-Derek

[Daniel Kalal]

Hey Daniel -
How long were you there? Looks like you did some gravel riding? How did you like the Stelvio?

About two weeks.
Some gravel; nothing really challenging; but, about right for a Stelvio.
The new NTX Stelvio is terrific. The larger fuel tank makes all the difference.

If you want to see all the photograph they're here: http://www.dankalal.net/2011trip5/trip.html

[jamileh]

Working my way thru the rest of the photos.... just stupendous.
Did you find any actual relatives in Jetetice?
Was the ice cream universally delicious there, or does your camera just make it look like that? (was that a double scoop of choc/mint choc chip? nirvana....)
Totally sold on the one-soft-tail-bag plus tank bag system.
What maps did you use for this trip? Riese, as you mentioned before, or something else?
ok, back to the album.... Thank you.

[Daniel Kalal]

Working my way thru the rest of the photos.... just stupendous.
Did you find any actual relatives in Jetetice?
Was the ice cream universally delicious there, or does your camera just make it look like that? (was that a double scoop of choc/mint choc chip? nirvana....)
Totally sold on the one-soft-tail-bag plus tank bag system.
What maps did you use for this trip? Riese, as you mentioned before, or something else?
ok, back to the album.... Thank you.

I've no idea what flavor ice cream I was eating. I generally pointed to what looked good (and it always was).

tank bag? No; I only used the single small duffle-bag.

For maps, I use
Reise for: Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Italy (laminated)
Borch for: Germany, Austria (laminated)
Michelin for Hungary (not laminated)
Freytag & Berndt for Croacia (not laminated)

I wish Reise maps were available for all countries.

[jamileh]

Funny, as I wrote that comment about the tank bag, I started questioning whether I had actually seen one on your bike, but didn't bother to go back and look..... That is really travelling nice and light.
It definitely looked like chocolate and mint choc chip to me (which i think is the most heavenly taste combination ever created); maybe I was just projecting... Haha.
I'm assuming you researched and got the various maps before you arrived in Europe? And without a tank bag, i'm assuming you don't mark them up with hi-liter or scribbling, or otherwise turn them into tattered shreds with various folding configurations by the time you get back home? (of course, laminated maps help to combat that....).

Great trip, Daniel. Can't wait to see your next ride report.....

[Holt]

Switzerland
Bermina Pass and a perfect day for riding.

Pfaff!

Shouldn't that have been Bernina?

You've been riding my favourite route! So happy to see the pics!
Ah! - and the Czech knödel and gravy; what memories!

I may have a week or so at the end of summer to spend on something like this, excluding Croatia. Will be fun!
Thank you for the pics!