
Central Europe (June 2005)
3 motos, 1.800 kms, 10 days....
A trip to Central Europe.... Always a good idea, and with a good company.... a great idea!!!
With our friends Othon & Angeliki, Vana and I, embarked on the ferry from the Port of Patras, Greece to Ancona, Italy. We were underway for 21 hours. The next day we were driving in autostrada on the way to Milan, Italy. After a five hours on the road we were in our hotel in Milan. We had made a reservation for this awful hotel through internet, and the reality had nothing to do with the photos on the internet.... Unfortunately we had paid for it, and our two days in this hotel were.....
Anyway! Two days in Milan in Italy.... We spent the most of our time to explore the city. Milan's Duomo, or Cathedral, is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. We admired the art of this construction! We also visited Teatro alla Scala, or La Scala, which is one of Italy's top historic opera houses. Shopping in Milan? Is a must thing to do! Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was our first thought and after the streets around the Piazza del Duomo were the happiness of shopping!
After Milan we drove north to Como, Italy and afterwards to Lugano in Switzerland. We stayed overnight in an hotel by the lake of Como, in a village named Verceia. There, our friends Theo and his wife Fotini met us. The next morning we continued our trip all together. We stopped in St. Moritz, Switzerland for a snack and coffee. After St. Moritz we entered in Austria where we got a ticket.... We had decided not to drive in the highways in Austria, on our way to Innsbruck, to enjoy the nature using secondary roads. At one point there was a detour and we had to enter in a highway. The Police after the first kilometer stopped for overspeeding (90 km/h) and for vignette... We payed right away a ticket of 92 Euros! We arrived in Innsbruck in the evening. We walked into the Old Town, and everything was spread out before us – the beautiful Medieval buildings of the Old Town, the famous Golden Roof glinting in the sunlight and, towering above it, the 2,000 metre-high peaks of the Nordkette mountain range. Right next to the Old Town, was one of the stations where we boarded on the „Nordkettenbahn“ funicular which took us in just 20 minutes from the city centre first to the Hungerburg plateau and then up to the Seegrube. We were, at an elevation of almost 2.000 metres! We took a breathtaking view of the city below and the surrounding mountains peaks! It was perfect!!! We also visited the villages around Innsbruck and we had very good time!
After a two days stay in Innsbruck we left for Salzburg, 185 kilometers away from Innsbruck. The mighty Hohensalzburg Fortress with stunning views over the valley was our first pick in Salzburg's attractions. The Salzburger Dom Cathedral was our next visit and after the house which was the living place of the famous musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. We spent two wonderful days in Salzburg and we left for Venice, Italy. We stayed just nearby Venice, in Mestre to reduce the cost of the high-pricing hotels of Venice. We enjoyed every minute in Venice! I had even a gondola ride in the canals of Venice!!!
After our visit in Venice we embarked on the ferry to return to Greece... Another one trip was over.... sniff...sniff...
But we had plans (always) for the next trip...!!!!