Thanks to a mix of luck and some planing, I managed to never ride in the rain so far. Today was no exception. I use an App called RegenRadar, which shows how the rain clouds move across the country. The standard weather forecast announced rain throughout the day but the App showed that the clouds were supposed to be gone by 1pm.
As an old Norwegian say goes:
There is no bad weather, only bad clothing!”
I had already walked around most of the city center soaking in the culture but the Špilberk Castle was still on my list. It’s up on a hill, where even the e-scooter sometime had to catch a breath.
Everytime it was raining, I could get cover somewhere in the castle. Around 1pm the rain stopped. Time to jump on my horse and change country. Destination: Slovakia 🇸🇰
On the road everything was going as hoped, except for the usual detour that added about 10 Km to the route.
Destiny was playing again with me: the new route sent me through Lednice, a town whose name rang a bell. I saw more people, restaurants and parking lots than usual but I didn’t stop.
While leaving town, it started to rain. More and more. I turned around the bike and stopped under the roof of a petrol station at the edge of the town, waiting for the weather to get better.
I pulled out my phone and searched for Lednice… It turned out I had it on my list but didn’t expect to drive nearby.
The rain suddenly stopped. The sun ☀️ was hot and shining. If this is not a sign?
I found a parking in no time, locked my jacket on the bike and went for a walk. That’s what I saw:
Again an UNESCO World Heritage site. The most magnificent sight in Lednice is the chateau which is a combination of Baroque, Classical and Neo-Gothic styles. The surrounding park is laid out in an English garden style. Wonderful!
Happy I took the chance to see Lednice. Thanks destiny / luck / god.
Few Kilometres later, the road became more straight, announcing the border to the next county. The blue roadsign with the yellow European stars was approaching and I giggled a bit cause I’d never been to Slovakia.
The sign read “Republik…
Österreich”. I was in Austria 🇦🇹
WTF! 😂😂😂 I laughed for a good minute in my helmet. I was so sure I was riding into Slovakia but I didn’t count in the detour.
Actually I wanted to explicitly avoid Austria, as they have a new law against loud motorcycles!
You know the situation when you really try to behave so that the police doesn’t look at you? I was doing that: low revs, low noise. But Lollo, my Ducati, is Italian. Have you ever met a quite Italian? 🤣
Everytime I changed gear the pipe was shooting air like a gun: Wrrrr bom-bom! No matter if upshifting or downshifting. Usually I like it a lot but when is make this noise but not in Austria, come on 😳😅
I’ve crossed borders on wheels in the past but it always shocks me how life changes within few hundred meters!
Suddenly I could drive faster (the speed limit is 100 vs 90 km/h), pay in Euro, read everything as it was in German but also pay about twice as much for most of the same goods!
Half an hour later I reached the Slovakian border. This time for real 😆
The army was checking the border and allowed me to proceed.
Before reaching Bratislava, I wanted to visit Devin Castle an ancient castle destroyed by Napoleon’s army. It stands atop a hill located at the confluence of two rivers: Danube and Morava. It was also used by the Roman Empire to control the border but it is most famous for a single standing tower, almost suspended in the air.
It was time to try the Slovakian national dish: Bryndzové Halušky. Very similar to the Spätzle but with sheep cheese and bacon.
While dressing up for the last 20 minutes ride to Bratislava, a man called Ledislao approached me and asked if I was satisfied with my Ducati. Very much indeed, I replied. We had a chat and I invited him to have a photo.
One of the things I like most of this travel is to have again a feeling of normality, meeting and talking with people, even strangers.
Here is today’s route through Austria!
