Well I've just returned from a 3000 mile trip to Holland, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. I'd never been to Poland Slovakia, and the Czech Republic before and as I've already done every single European country ( before the wall came down ) I decided that it was time to move east, so I booked up the ferry and my mate came with me. We took the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, this is a lot better as you have a cabin and wake up the next morning and if you want the overpriced breakfast, you can depart the ferry with a full belly. Well off we set towards Germany for our first stop, the main thing about Germany if you use the motorways is the amount of roadworks, they really do maintain their roads, unlike the UK who don't maintain them at all.
Our first stop was at the headquarters of the SS in the 2nd World War, at Wewelsburg it's a nice castle and you can see it from the road, we had a short walk around the place, and as it was so hot, we decided to have an ice cream at the cafe, which went down a treat. We then made our way to our first stop at Zierenberg, at a brilliant Pension called Erpital, look for it on Bookings.com, it's a great place to stay.
Day 2 came along will glorious sunshine, a pattern that was to continue for 2 weeks, my mate wanted to visit Nordhausen camp, so we did this along the way. We were on our way to stay near Colditz castle, the hotel we stayed at wasn't the best, or the worst, but enough said about that. We went out to get something to eat and the heavens opened up, it came down in torrents, so we pulled over and waited a bit, we landed up going to Lidl's, they're everywhere. Anyway we rode back into Colditz and we decided to take a look around the castle, we were amazed to find the castle was still open. You can book a night in the castle if you fancy it.
Day 3 and it was time to take a tour of Colditz, the tour we decided to take was the €18.00 it was a brilliant tour that lasted well over 2 and half hours, the lady guide was brilliant, she took us all over the castle and we giving us detailed information about the escape attempts, and all the hassle that the British were causing the Germans, we led the escape table attempts that's for sure. If you do decide to go to Colditz take the €18.00 tour it's well worth it. We spent almost all of the day in the castle, it's that interesting.
Day 4 came and it was time to make our way to Dresden, staying at the Achat comfort hotel, we chose this hotel as we could park the bikes at the hotel and walk into the centre of Dresden.
Day 5 and it's time to walk into Dresden, it's an interesting place to visit, take a trip to the top of Dresden Frauenkirche it's the famous church, it's worth the effort to get to the top. The views are great. The buildings in Dresden are black in some parts, I take it that this was due to the bombing raid many years ago.
Day 6 and we're off to Szprotawa Poland, this is close to the location of the Great escape camp Stalag Luft 3
Day 7 came and it was time to take a tour of the camp itself. Marek was our guide, and he knew his stuff, he was so enthusiastic, hes been to the US, UK, and a few other places doing research for the museum.
We walked to the sight of the Harry tunnel, you can see the entrance and exit and just how long it was. It was an amazing achievement of how they done it. The down side is of course the lives lost, something that is not lost in the museum. These guys were and are true hero's, a word that is sadly all too easily used for sportsmen these days.
If you're in the area it's well worth a visit.
Day 8 and we're now making our way to Auschwitz- Birkenau to see the notorious camp. We stayed at the best hotel in all the trip, it was the hotel Zajazd Ryszkówka which is in Bestwina. This hotel was fantastic, and as an added bonus the room was air conditioned, which was great as the temperature was averaging 35 on a daily basis. The food was great too. Look on Booking.com.
Day 9 Today's the day that we'll take a look at this camp, I've heard lots of people who've been to this place, and all of them have said that nothing can prepare you for what went on here. Well they're dead right. No one can ever come close to imagining what went on here. Hell on Earth could be the closest comment that I could come up with. Terrible that one human being could contemplate such inhuman treatment towards another person. If you do go to this place, make sure that you do Auschwitz first, this is because when you pay the entrance fee, assuming you want a guide that is, the guide will take you to all the relevant buildings and then when the tour is done, you'll make your way to Birkenau by bus for the tour to continue. I did this back to front and went to Birkenau first and then the Auschwitz museum.It didn't matter really as I still saw everything that I wanted to see. Be prepared to queue for up to two hours to get the tickets, and make sure that you take some ID with you as you'll need this to get the tickets. The exhibits, are there to remind you and the world of the horrors of just what went on here. The shoes, artificial limbs, hair, are a prominent reminder that these once belonged to a living person with hopes and dreams, just like you and I. I tend to take lots of pictures, but drew the line at taking any of the pictures here, also you walk through the gas chamber where countless poor souls were murdered, and then on to the ovens where the bodies were burned, again taking pictures here, just seems so inappropriate. It's hard to imagine that some people these days still seem to think that this never went on. Well I feel sorry for their brain cell. This place puts into perspective any problems that you think that you might have.
Day 10 and now on our way to Slovakia, now this was a one night stay as we were making our way to Prague to visit where Reinhard Heydrich got what he deserved at the hands of the Czech resistance. We wanted to do the Tatra mountains but somehow due to massive traffic jams, we didn't really get to see them in all their glory.
Day 11, making our way to Prague now, and boy what a day it was too, we first visited the site of the mass murder which took place in Lidice, the grounds are immaculate, if you do go, go to the museum and pay the entrance fee and go into the museum and watch the film, then read about the people who lost their lives. It's an eye opener. After about 2 hours walking around and taking pictures, it was time to go and see the memorial to the Czech hero's that took this monster out. I don't know if we were unlucky or not, but the traffic in Prague is something else, nothing seems to move that much. We eventually found the memorial, and thought about how brave these hero's were. So the next obvious destination was to the church where these hero's made their last stand, that's easier said than done, it was grid locked and nothing was going anywhere anytime soon. We eventually got to the church, only to find that the basement where they held out, was shut. Oh well the brown stuff happens now and again, so I took what pictures I could, and then we started to make our way out of Prague, I'd like to say it was fun, but it wasn't. It was 37 degrees, and in full leathers it was a challenging time indeed. God only knows how much water I drank over the 2 weeks away, it must have run into gallons that's for sure.
The V Strom did just shy of 3000 miles with no trouble at all. If you've not done the eastern side of Europe, give it some thought, it's not that frightening. I have posted a few of the pictures that I've taken here, but if you fancy looking at 400 more, then PM me and I'll send you a link to the rest.
Our first stop was at the headquarters of the SS in the 2nd World War, at Wewelsburg it's a nice castle and you can see it from the road, we had a short walk around the place, and as it was so hot, we decided to have an ice cream at the cafe, which went down a treat. We then made our way to our first stop at Zierenberg, at a brilliant Pension called Erpital, look for it on Bookings.com, it's a great place to stay.
Day 2 came along will glorious sunshine, a pattern that was to continue for 2 weeks, my mate wanted to visit Nordhausen camp, so we did this along the way. We were on our way to stay near Colditz castle, the hotel we stayed at wasn't the best, or the worst, but enough said about that. We went out to get something to eat and the heavens opened up, it came down in torrents, so we pulled over and waited a bit, we landed up going to Lidl's, they're everywhere. Anyway we rode back into Colditz and we decided to take a look around the castle, we were amazed to find the castle was still open. You can book a night in the castle if you fancy it.
Day 3 and it was time to take a tour of Colditz, the tour we decided to take was the €18.00 it was a brilliant tour that lasted well over 2 and half hours, the lady guide was brilliant, she took us all over the castle and we giving us detailed information about the escape attempts, and all the hassle that the British were causing the Germans, we led the escape table attempts that's for sure. If you do decide to go to Colditz take the €18.00 tour it's well worth it. We spent almost all of the day in the castle, it's that interesting.
Day 4 came and it was time to make our way to Dresden, staying at the Achat comfort hotel, we chose this hotel as we could park the bikes at the hotel and walk into the centre of Dresden.
Day 5 and it's time to walk into Dresden, it's an interesting place to visit, take a trip to the top of Dresden Frauenkirche it's the famous church, it's worth the effort to get to the top. The views are great. The buildings in Dresden are black in some parts, I take it that this was due to the bombing raid many years ago.
Day 6 and we're off to Szprotawa Poland, this is close to the location of the Great escape camp Stalag Luft 3
Day 7 came and it was time to take a tour of the camp itself. Marek was our guide, and he knew his stuff, he was so enthusiastic, hes been to the US, UK, and a few other places doing research for the museum.
We walked to the sight of the Harry tunnel, you can see the entrance and exit and just how long it was. It was an amazing achievement of how they done it. The down side is of course the lives lost, something that is not lost in the museum. These guys were and are true hero's, a word that is sadly all too easily used for sportsmen these days.
If you're in the area it's well worth a visit.
Day 8 and we're now making our way to Auschwitz- Birkenau to see the notorious camp. We stayed at the best hotel in all the trip, it was the hotel Zajazd Ryszkówka which is in Bestwina. This hotel was fantastic, and as an added bonus the room was air conditioned, which was great as the temperature was averaging 35 on a daily basis. The food was great too. Look on Booking.com.
Day 9 Today's the day that we'll take a look at this camp, I've heard lots of people who've been to this place, and all of them have said that nothing can prepare you for what went on here. Well they're dead right. No one can ever come close to imagining what went on here. Hell on Earth could be the closest comment that I could come up with. Terrible that one human being could contemplate such inhuman treatment towards another person. If you do go to this place, make sure that you do Auschwitz first, this is because when you pay the entrance fee, assuming you want a guide that is, the guide will take you to all the relevant buildings and then when the tour is done, you'll make your way to Birkenau by bus for the tour to continue. I did this back to front and went to Birkenau first and then the Auschwitz museum.It didn't matter really as I still saw everything that I wanted to see. Be prepared to queue for up to two hours to get the tickets, and make sure that you take some ID with you as you'll need this to get the tickets. The exhibits, are there to remind you and the world of the horrors of just what went on here. The shoes, artificial limbs, hair, are a prominent reminder that these once belonged to a living person with hopes and dreams, just like you and I. I tend to take lots of pictures, but drew the line at taking any of the pictures here, also you walk through the gas chamber where countless poor souls were murdered, and then on to the ovens where the bodies were burned, again taking pictures here, just seems so inappropriate. It's hard to imagine that some people these days still seem to think that this never went on. Well I feel sorry for their brain cell. This place puts into perspective any problems that you think that you might have.
Day 10 and now on our way to Slovakia, now this was a one night stay as we were making our way to Prague to visit where Reinhard Heydrich got what he deserved at the hands of the Czech resistance. We wanted to do the Tatra mountains but somehow due to massive traffic jams, we didn't really get to see them in all their glory.
Day 11, making our way to Prague now, and boy what a day it was too, we first visited the site of the mass murder which took place in Lidice, the grounds are immaculate, if you do go, go to the museum and pay the entrance fee and go into the museum and watch the film, then read about the people who lost their lives. It's an eye opener. After about 2 hours walking around and taking pictures, it was time to go and see the memorial to the Czech hero's that took this monster out. I don't know if we were unlucky or not, but the traffic in Prague is something else, nothing seems to move that much. We eventually found the memorial, and thought about how brave these hero's were. So the next obvious destination was to the church where these hero's made their last stand, that's easier said than done, it was grid locked and nothing was going anywhere anytime soon. We eventually got to the church, only to find that the basement where they held out, was shut. Oh well the brown stuff happens now and again, so I took what pictures I could, and then we started to make our way out of Prague, I'd like to say it was fun, but it wasn't. It was 37 degrees, and in full leathers it was a challenging time indeed. God only knows how much water I drank over the 2 weeks away, it must have run into gallons that's for sure.
The V Strom did just shy of 3000 miles with no trouble at all. If you've not done the eastern side of Europe, give it some thought, it's not that frightening. I have posted a few of the pictures that I've taken here, but if you fancy looking at 400 more, then PM me and I'll send you a link to the rest.
