Old Continent Hotel Uzhhorod

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In the end I paid a Ukrainian Vauxall Carlton driver, 5 euro to half shove my bicycle in his boot. Oddly enough it worked like a treat and also being with a Ukrainian meant I wasn't required (as all non Ukrainians are) to bribe the border bullies.

I waved goodbye to my new opportunistic border-crossing associate and cycled off into The Ukraine.

The Ukraine, founding member of the former Soviet block had crumbling ...

... road I was invited to join fellow cyclists, Joesph and Veria on the road to Kosice. I accepted their invitation but was secretly thinking it would be a bit slow and tedious. How wrong I was.

Joesph knew the area, it was his hood. We crossed rivers, railway tracks, followed paths IŽd never have guessed existed and twice traversed train bridges. Train bridges, long train bridges, for trains not bicycles, train bridges where if a train ...

Vecer po velkom okruhu juhovychodom Slovenska mame este cas sa trochu poprechadzat po centre Michaloviec pred tym ako odideme do nasho penzionu na brehoch Zemplinskej Siravy v dedine s priznacnym nazvom Kaluza. Zajtra teda mame prvy den oddychu ked nebudeme robit nic len spat a lezat na brehu Siravy.

Z Ciernej nad Tisou pokracujeme do jednej z naslavnejsich a mozno aj najslavnejsej vino produkujucej oblasti Slovenska - do Tokaja. Cestu na Tokaj sme nasli v pohode, ale dostat sa do Malej a Velkej Trne bola vcelku zdlhava zalezistost, pretoze sme pobludili po chotaroch aspon troch obci a nasli niektore osady v okoli Slvenskeho noveho mesta, ktore sme teda rozhodne nehladali. Nakoniec sme sa ale nasli a stastlivo dorazili do pivnic Velkej Trne.

Vcera sme obsolvovali cestu severovychodom Slovenka a dnes mame pre zmenu na plane jeho Juhovychodny cip. Vyrazame z Humenneho a nas prvy ciel je Cierna nad Tisou. Do Ciernej so sa chcel uz velmi dlho pozriet. Neviem ci je to preto, ze je to uplne na hraniciach alebo ze ked sa clovek pozrie na mapu Slovenska, tak z Bratislavy je len malo miest tak velmi vzdialenych. No tak ci onak dnes ideme prave tam!

Z Medzilaboriec sme pokracovali dalej cez Sninu. Cestou nam takmer podvozok zostal na miestnych rozbitych cestach, ale nakoniec sme stastne dorazili do Humanneho. Ubytovali sme sa nedaleko niekdajsej fabriky Chemlonu Humenne znameho po celom Slovensku ...

... Spent an amazing time in Slovakia, which has great mountains and countryside, not to mention the people! of course im still skipping a HUGE amount, but its so much to write, perhaps when I have a whole day with a computer alone to myself I can add more, although this might not happen for a time, since we dont have net access where we are staying in Budapest,

... per day and per trip. The time in elektrchka was just a laughing and making jokes about everything we saw on the way. But I guess we felt sorry for the place we were leaving, for the weeks spent there:"( We got in Ujgorod (because there we were in western ucraina), but the train was leaving close to midnight, so we had few ours to stay more. We bought some beer, and nuts, and we sit down on the ground in the front of train station ...

... Austro-Hungarian empire up on a promontory near Mukacheve with great views. Had a quick look round town and then down cycle sized pot holed main road past another Hungarian war monument. Had some food and beer in a small religious park. Onto better but busier road and Lehel complained he preferred the other side of the river where it was quieter. I just wanted to kill the k's and find a ...

... It was mighty impressive for such a small town, but I guess with the location of the town it would historically make sense to have a fortress like that here. It had a big wall around it and a ditch which I guess would of had the moat and the dragon back in the day ;) Inside it was like a little palace, complete with a courtyard in the middle. The Castle is now a museum of, well, everything from the area; trees, animals that have been stuffed, traditional costumes and of course many ...