We enjoyed riding around Europe for about four months again this summer. Our trip started in Heidelberg, where we store our Kawasaki Versys 1000 motorcycle, then focused on three areas that were new to us—the east (Poland, Baltic, Balkans), France, and Ireland. We finished by riding to Munich (or München) Germany to participate in d'Wiesn.

Pictures from the trip and the ride route.

Here's a brief summary of the trip highlights.

Arrival in Germany and Netherlands

We landed in Frankfurt, were shuttled to Heidelberg where our motorcycle is stored, spent a day cleaning and packing then were off on a cool rainy day.

Our first target was to visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. In 2023 we had intended to visit here but learned just how difficult that would be. Tickets are sold out months in advance. They release all the tickets for a given day about 60-days in advance. They all sell in minutes. We tried to get tickets for 2024 but failed. I already had hotel reservations nearby so off we went anyway.

Apollo Hotel Veluwe De Beyaerd in the Netherlands is a unique hotel in a forest featuring support for many outdoor activities. We choose electric bicycles and spent a day riding the bike trails around the area. The Netherlands is the most bicycle centric nation on earth so experiencing it for just a day was very pleasant and instructive. That gave us an understanding of what it would be like if our own country put such a premium on bicycle transportation. From our Netherlands stay we headed off to the east, which was the target for the first half of our four month ride in Europe.

Hamburg Germany was our host to visit the many times recommended Miniatur Wunderland. This place is a giant collection of miniature recreations of important locations—most in central Europe but some elsewhere including Las Vegas. Each location is as detailed and automated as it can be. Hamburg airport has buses taking passengers to planes that taxi to the runway and actually take-off and land. The whole experience is amazing in the degree of detail. A highly recommended stop.

Poland and the Baltic States

We continued to just over the Polish border and a stop in Szczecin. We liked it so much we stayed an extra day. With this as our first experience in Poland we really welcomed conversations with the locals. One such exchange lead to the suggestion of staying in the city of Sopot rather than our intended destination of Gdańsk. We took the suggestion and revised our booking. This turned out to be a great idea. Gdańsk, a coastal city on the Baltic Sea, is maybe most famous to this westerner as the home of Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement, a successful pro-democratic effort started in the shipyards, which in 1989 ended Communist rule in Poland. But Gdańsk today is an industrial city. Interesting historically but not particularly pleasant to visit. Sopot, just a few miles north along the coast is known for its health spas, sandy beach and its long wooden pier that extends into the Bay. A resort city with a wide main walking boulevard lined with restaurants, cafes, clubs, and shops. A fantastic visit.

A brief stop in Toruń lead us to a gingerbread museum where we participated in making gingerbread as they did in this building back in the middle ages—and all in Polish. Then, an overnight in Malbork Poland let us tour a 13th-century complex that is the largest castle in the world by land area and the largest brick structure in the world. This castle was created by the Teutonic Order and was their capital for many years.

Our travels through north-eastern Poland reinforced something we were seeing everywhere, Poland is building. Construction was everywhere. Buildings, roads, and every form of infrastructure. Poland appears successful and prosperous. No wonder the people have every desire to defend themselves from forced influence by other counties. They are proud and hard working people. It is a modern and impressive country.

We road east along the Kaliningrad Oblast and through the Suwałki corridor, which is the border between Poland and Lithuania along a narrow gap between Russia and Belarus. If you wish to attack Poland from Russia, this is where you will first enter the country.

Entering Lithuania, our first Baltic country, we spent a few days in Kaunas including their military history museum. Putin dressed as a criminal behind bars greet us at the museum. This display was reflective of the opinion we found to be almost universal in the Baltic countries.

We visited Riga and Tallinn both capitals of their respective countries Latvia and Estonia. Tallinn was quiet picturesque with many old structures (castles and towers) along with a very active central square filled with cafes and shops.

Reversing course we road south back through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stopping in cities like Vilnius along the way. Riding south back through the Suwałki corridor this time very close to the border with Belarus, we re-entered Poland.

Our east and north bound trip through Poland kept us close to the northern coast so our south and west return was south along the eastern border then west in the south of the country in the Tatra mountains. This part of our visit included the death camps of Treblinka east of Warsaw and Auschwitz in the south near Krakow. These visits were as expected very depressing but filled with powerful historic experiences. Treblinka is particularly challenging as the Nazis put substantial effort into completely obliterating the camp after they were done. Much is still being discovered by archaeologists in recent years with a lot of work to be done. Auschwitz is huge made up by three camp complexes. You can only appreciate the scale by visiting.

We did spend many days in Krakow, which was definitely a highlight of our visit. This city is filled with fantastic architecture and art. We really enjoyed exploring it. And, just outside of the city is an extensive aircraft museum with a good collection from the former USSR.

We left the Baltic/Poland area riding south and west through Slovakia where there were more castles to tour. A short ride took us from Bratislava Slovakia, where we rented an apartment for a few days, across the Danube river into Austria for a multi-day stay in Vienna.

Here we stayed at a most unusual hotel called The Social Hub Vienna. This place is designed to service visitors conducting formative businesses. It is youthful in design and provides many small to large meeting spaces that are largely impromptu venues. There is a restaurant from which you can take drink and food to your meeting space. Innovative play areas keep the kids busy. Rooms are provided with ping pong and other games setup and community TV rooms. Laundry services are also available run via an automated app on your phone. Their rooms are simple yet functional. All the services are included or at very low cost as is the room for such a high cost city. We enjoyed staying here.

Vienna is filled with architecture, music and art everywhere. A very beautiful city.

Balkans

From Vienna we road south into the Balkans countries including Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. In total we spent about two weeks exploring these countries.

Bosnia has many mountains running approximately north to south and we road south through these mountains encountering many small villages and lots of empty country. The roads here are rather narrow. While mostly the roads were sparsely occupied with other vehicles, when we did encounter farm equipment or other cars they often choose their share of the road from the center. In no other country did we need to dodge so many vehicles.

A very interesting visit in Bosnia was our stay in Sarajevo. We both remember clearly the 1984 Olympics held in this city. Then watched in horror as the city was held under siege in the mid-1990s with constant artillery shelling and sniping. The effects are still here with visible damage, museums, and people that lived through the experience. We spoke with people that had first hand experience with the siege of the city including an interesting artist at his shop in downtown. Nijaz Gojak's art shop, GojakArt, has many unique and beautiful pieces. We purchased some small magnets with his prints on them. "Small" is a key word as we cannot carry much more than a few very small souvenirs in our limited motorcycle luggage. His larger original oil paintings are fantastic. I'd like to own one someday. He described to us living through the siege as a youthful 15 year old boy.

And, Sarajevo is unique as a cross-roads where western culture meets eastern. There are many mosques and practicing Muslims are numerous in the narrow streets of the city. All mixed in with Catholic and Protestant churches. Food shops serve food influenced by the surrounding cultures mixed together with Turkish and other Mediterranean items common.

We spent a few days right on the Adriatic Sea in Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia. This area has a well deserved reputation as a summer beach resort.

With many islands off the Croatian coast, and easy to access ferry routes, we choose Hvar and took the ferry to the east end of the island. Riding the length of the mountainous island was great stuff delivering us at a mountain tunnel that dropped us nearly off a cliff down a steep switchback road to the very small beach village of Zavala. Our two days there were fantastic in a family run B&B. Their food was amazing and we were across the narrow street from the beach. So nice! We even watch fire fighting aircraft pickup water from the ocean and drop it on the hill top we had ridden through to get to the village.

A very early morning ride back up the mountain to Stari Grad got us to a bigger ferry that delivered us hours later back to the mainland at Split Croatia, the site of Diocletian's Palace. This Roman emperor built a palace here around the 4th century. It is on the waterfront and huge! Most of it still remains. It is a small city. Many thousands of people have homes there now. And it was used as a backdrop for many scenes in the fourth season of the HBO show Game of Thrones.

From Split we road north along the beautiful coast to Slovenia where we stopped in Postojna to visit Predjama Castle. This one is unique as it is entirely built into a cave. By the way, Slovenia surprised me as the entire country is mountainous. That made for fantastic scenes and great riding. I need to return and take better advantage.

France

Leaving the Balkans behind we spent a few days in the Alps mountains of Austria then Switzerland, including a multi-day visit to Luzern, as we transited into France.

We entered France near Chamonix, a mountain town below Mont Blanc a 4,807m (15,771 feet) peak. This area provided fantastic riding and our stay for a few days in Chamonix was a picturesque as it comes for a mountain town.

We continued to ride west through the mountains and small villages of southern France finding the area thoroughly enjoyable. This area offered good riding, scenery, pleasant villages and welcoming people in spite of my poor French language skills.

We stayed at a B&B in a local house so that we could tour Oradour-sur-Glane. This village was highlighted in the British documentary The World at War, which was first shown in the USA in the mid-1970's. I watched it then and saw the village in the beginning of the first episode. A few weeks after the WWII D-Day landings in France, a German Army unit killed everyone in this village and burned it. It was left as it was in 1945 and never cleaned up or repaired. So you can visit it today and walk though it to experience in some sense what devastation was delivered in that war. It is a monument to what happened here. Such a sobering visit. I remembered it from TV and always wanted to see it in person.

Off to Paris for a week long visit and up the Eiffel Tower at night. Then down to Le Man France to visit the race track and their museum.

We finished France with a stay on the coast before boarding an overnight ferry to Ireland. Brittany Ferries provided an overnight trip of some 15 hours so we reserved a cabin and thankfully slept through most of the trip.

Ireland

We arrived in Ireland at the port of Cork in the morning then immediately headed for our rental house in Dungarvan. Leaving Cork put us back on a ferry although this time a very short one across the river from Gleenbrook to Carrigaloe. A 30 minute ride east on the N25 brought us to our rental house—home for the next three days.

Dungarvan, a coastal village, was a very pleasant introduction to Ireland. Our house, located within easy walking distance to everything in the village, had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and full services. An expansive space compared to the many hotel rooms and B&Bs we had stayed in for the previous two months. It proved to be a great spot for us to rest a bit and catch up on laundry, haircuts, medical supplies, and other necessities. We visited Dungarvan Castle founded in 1185 where we not only learned about the castle but also the history of the town.

From Dungarvan, we road back south around Cork to Skibbereen in the south-west corner of Ireland. The village is the site for an important history museum Skibbereen Heritage Centre. They host a very well presented history of the Irish famine. As always, we learned a lot about the great famine that I was unfamiliar with from my school history classes.

We headed north along the western coast and through the low mountains in this area. Many beautiful sights and stops along the coast and from the mountain heights.

Killarney was our next stop in Kerry county. This town is a tourist center so was filled with people, restaurants and hotels. The town is the base to tour Killarney National Park and the Ring of Kerry tour route. We found the town and area simply spectacular with its natural scenery.

After a night pampered in a hotel in Killarney (there were rose petals on our bed!) we were off to ride some of the Ring of Kerry, specifically the Gap of Dunloe. This single lane road follows a creek up and through the narrow mountain gap, into a high valley, then down to the coast. Most visitors take a bus to the north end of the road then disembark and get in a horse drawn carriage to make the trip. Thankfully we left early so only encountered a few carriages and could explore largely on our own.

After a ride along the coast out to the far western edge of the island to visit the Telegraph Field Valentia Island location for the first Atlantic undersea communications cable near Foilhomurrum Bay, we made our way to the north coast. Using another ferry from Tarbert to Killimer, we arrived at Keanes Oyster Bar for the night. This stop was a traditional Irish pub with food, drink and rooms at a crossroads far from any village. It could not have been more fun. Besides having a rather large two room spot for the night with a small kitchen, we of course went to the pub for dinner where everyone that entered the pub introduced themselves and told us their story. This place is what you expect a pub to be, basically a large family living room.

Then, on the next day, we were off to a famous stop called the Cliffs of Moher. Our assessment was unique and worth a look but no need to stay very long.

Our next night was at the Great National Hotel Ballina near the border with Northern Ireland. While a very nice hotel, the real highlight here was the event at the hotel. They were hosting a classic Irish dance competition with most participants younger than 15. We learned from the parents how serious this is for them. A bit like organized "travel" sports team in the USA. Quite interesting to see all the costumes and practice performances.

We road across the border into Northern Ireland (aka the UK). But, you would not know there was a border. No markers, signs, passport checks or any other way to know. Our clues, besides consulting a map, was speed limit signs changing from metric kph to mph and currency from Euros to GBP aka Great British Pound or just pound sterling.

We stayed next in the country on a farm at The Cottage at Riverbank. A very large B&B with four rooms and an outdoor area. The farm had chickens (often at our door) horses and other animals. A nice place with peaceful sounds. Just an overnight for us but it would have been great to stay longer.

A full day's ride delivered us to Belfast for a multi-night stay at the Titanic Hotel Belfast. We were on the docks right across the street from Titanic Belfast where the ship was built. Our hotel was created from the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding company buildings. The entire area is Titanic themed.

When it was time to leave Ireland, a three mile ride brought us to the other side of the Belfast dock area where we boarded a Stena Line ferry bound for Liverpool England. Another overnight ferry where we had a cabin to sleep through the 8+ hour cruise.

England

Our visit to England in 2024 was less about a tour and more about a convenient transit back to France on the way to Germany as we spent five weeks exploring Great Britain in detail during 2023. But, we did miss a few things in 2023 so given we needed to get from Ireland back to the continent, I thought a few day stay while transiting England would be a good idea. Our first key stop after arriving in England was just east of Birmingham to tour the National Motorcycle Museum. Worth it as this place contains rooms full of historic British made motorcycles and a pleasant cafe to hang out in.

From the Birmingham area we were off to north London but along the way stopped at Harrold in Bedfordshire, my ancestor's home town.

From our stay in north London we visited Abbey Road Studios from Beatles fame, the Ace Cafe a historic motorcycle hang out and Motolegends (a motorcycle gear outfitter).

An early morning run on the British motorways brought us to Folkestone on the southern English coast to board the channel tunnel train. A brief 30 minutes later and we were back in France, once again riding on the right (i.e., correct) side of the road.

Oktoberfest

We raced across France in three days with the goal of reaching München or (English) Munich to meet up with our daughter, son in law, and German located friends to attend the festival (i.e., Volksfest) in Munich known as Wiesn, the most well known Oktoberfest celebration.

Oktoberfest in Munich actually takes place at the end of September. There are many fests in Germany with each town or village celebrating at different times of the year. The one in Munich is what most Americans think of when they say "Octoberfest". Locally it is known as d'Wiesn. It was Therese's marriage in October 1810 to the crown prince that was the purpose for the first Oktoberfest. So, the location of the event is known as Theresienwiese, which is German for Therese's Meadow, which today it is a fairgrounds. The local name for the event, d'Wiesn, which is just short for Theresienwiese.

It was an absolutely fantastic experience! Much could be said about the week we spent here. Ask us and look at the pictures if you want to know more.

From Munich we road up to Nuremberg for a few days to visit the WWII trials museum, including the actual courtroom where the events took place after the end of the war. We enjoyed Franconia foods and then were off to Heidelberg where our motorcycle is stored. Back to the Frankfurt airport and fly home via San Francisco airport.

Summary

Altogether we road some 8,800 road miles over 103 days through 18 countries in the summer of 2024. There were no tip-overs or crashes. No tickets (as far as I know). We purchased vignettes for Austria, Switzerland, and Slovenia.

Ireland, UK, and Bosnia are not members of the Schengen Area so by spending days in these three countries we were able to stay within the 90-day in 6-month visa limit.

Nearly all hotels were booked via Booking.com, one via Hotels.com, two were direct with the hotel, three home based B&Bs via Booking.com, and one at a pub. Via AirBnb, I booked one accommodation. Booking.com has the best coverage for accommodations in Europe and by consistently using it I achieved their top loyalty tier, which provides a significant discount.

$10,600 USD were spent on accommodations for two of us. $858 USD in fuel. And, $10,500 USD in cash (misc items, some food, museum fees, and sometimes fuel). Total trip expense was $21,958 USD excluding flights, bike maintenance, and food. I don't generally include food in travel costs. We eat about half restaurants and the other half groceries to make our own meals. Likely we would have spent this at home anyway.

Pictures from the trip and the ride route.