Upon leaving Vienna we met up with another tourer called Endi who is from Bilbao, Spain. He too is cycling towards Istanbul.

The three of us breezed into the Slovakian capital of Bratislava by early afternoon, which was only 45 miles away, with the help of a ferocious tailwind!

We then had a beer in the town square to celebrate another country entered. As we sat chatting the unicyclist we had seen a few days back strolled past! I bought him a beer for his efforts.

The next day was quite pleasant riding on endless straight and flat cycle paths. Progress was good and fast. However the scenery has been quite unspectacular. Apologies for the lack of landscape shots!

We wild camped next to the river and made our second camp fire of the trip.

In the morning we carried on a further 20 miles and into Hungary.

The route is poorly signed here but our maps are very detailed thankfully. The official signs pop up every 10 miles or so, unlike Germany or Austria where they are at every corner.

We are now out of the countries that use the € Euro. So at the first bank we came across I withdrew 20,000 Forient!!! About £50.

The day ended just 25 miles north of the capital city….

We are staying in a boat hotel near the centre of the city. It looks out onto Margaret island, in the middle of the Danube. A place which contains parks, a zoo, swimming pools and a sports/music venue, historic ruins and a colourful water fountain that moves to music.

Our boat hotel from the island.

The fountain by day…

and night!

Heroes square

The highest view point over the city.

Parliament building, the largest building in Hungary.

… and the inside. Plenty of gold around!

St Stephens Basilica

and the interior….

On Sunday night we went for a night river boat cruise, the city looks magical from the river all lit up!

Our journey now heads in a southerly direction into Croatia and then Serbia. Our next capital city is Belgrade.

We had a rest day in Passau to celebrate our the first country cycled through following the Danube river. The weather was nice again and we had a meal in a restaurant, then visited the Cathedral and local markets.

2 other rivers join the Danube in Passau the Inn and Ilz.

The end of the trail in Germany 😀

The Cathedral, ssshhhh no talking inside!!!!

We caught our first sight of Austria a few miles later across the river.

The weather started to close in and it was raining for about 5 hours. We managed to get a few photos in under cover of trees.

By 6pm the sun came out again and we found a spot to camp, not exactly wild but out of the way.

Whilst we were relaxing a unicyclist tourer rode past!
I managed to get a couple of photos and I think the back of his shirt says

http://www.worldunicycletour.com

We carried on heading towards Vienna for 3 more days, unfortunately the weather was really poor so photo opportunities were far and few between. However I would say Austria has been nicer to ride through as we have been meandering through the forest valleys.

Beard selfie #2, it grows really slow!

Upon reaching Vienna we found a great campsite to stay in for 3 nights, giving us 2 full rest days to enjoy the city.

Lots of tourists chose to view the sights on horse drawn carts.

We then visited the natural history museum. I found the groundfloor of fossils and gems fascinating, however the first floor taxidermy collection was so vast it did make my stomach turn.

15 million years old…..

The museum entrance staircase

In the evening we treated ourselves to an authentic classical Mozart concert. The musicians were incredible and performed 2 hours of the most well known pieces. Very happy we went to this. It is a city of music after all!!!

The music theatre as we entered…

and left…

On the 5th May we headed to the Schonbrunn Palace.

No photos were allowed inside but here are a few snaps of the gardens and the view over Vienna.

They also had some pretty fun mazes and challenges along the way 🙂

So now we head further eastwards. Over the next 3 days we will be cycling on the border of Slovakia and Hungary before heading south to Budapest.

The knee is feeling good but I’m still keeping it strapped up to be extra safe.