115 days, 8200km and 11 countries later - Part 3 - Impressions per country

To be honest (why we say so? As if it's an exception and not a norm🙂) I wanted to make a summary for each country of my longest trip ever after finishing with each one on the go but my days were more hectic than I expected to do so. Search for places to stay, edit pictures and videos, write texts, publish, keep an eye on bike's needs, cook, shopping were only some of the things I had to do in my "free" time when I was not riding or walking to collect the content I shared with you. Only when I was house sitting in France and Netherlands I had more time in my hands and even then not as much as you might think as in the latter I had to take care of 3 chickens, a diabetic cat and a garden.

No bad thing occurs without some benefits though so now the memory is less fresh but it's more settled which can lead to more objective conclusions. Ladies and gents, in order of time visited, here's a few words about each country I crossed on my way:

NORTH MACEDONIA:

Unfortunately not much to say about the smallest country of this trip cause I just crossed it on my way from Greece to Serbia without overnight. So NM was a small yet pleasant parenthesis. The guy at the border was kind friendly and funny, cracked me up when he called me "Jimi Hendrix" and switched to speaking Greek even though I started talking to him in English. Maybe he knew better Greek anyway but still... Fuel was cheap as chips compared to what I experienced later and the nice weather allowed me to enjoy the view of the scenic countryside. Felt like nice Greek spring around there:

You can have an idea about it in my video:

Only downside was that some parts of the toll road heading North to Serbia were VERY bumpy making my camera willing to fly away and some roadwork deviations slowed me down quite a bit but that can happen everywhere.

SERBIA:

This was my first time in Serbia and this was when the weather decided to go nuts. I stayed at Krusevac first (near Kosovo) and I must say that it was even more poor Balkan than I expected. I won't forget a store downtown which looked to me as if it was selling dirty second hand clothes and as I got closer I realised it was just a casual store selling clothes. After my first visit to the local supermarket I started wondering how all these people driving those older than stones Zastava and Yogo cars can afford living since the prices are similar to what I experience in Athens. I guess most grow their own stuff. I must mention at this point that accommodation was the cheapest I found during my whole trip. By far.
Crazy weather went on and even worse as I moved to the Serbian North. Imagine that I stayed outside Belgrade where I have a good friend and we managed to meet only one (1) day in 2 weeks to walk part of the capital together. My 2 week stay had to do with the weather as I extended my Serbian time waiting for conditions to get better. However, North is better by all means. Both the capital and Novi Sad are nice cities (or at least cities with nice parts), Fruska Gora is a wonderful mountain which offered me one of my best rides ever and near Novi Sad there's wonderful attractions like Sremski Karlovci and Petrovaradin.
Take this stairway to heaven if you're near the latter:

Though the North looks more neat and rich than the South of Serbia by a mile, it was still cheap making Serbia the cheapest one of my whole trip.

CROATIA:

My second time in Croatia but this time I stayed in the heart of the country and not at its West seaside like the previous one. Absolutely different as you can imagine here in the mainland where you can't fit a Dubrovnik anyway, but I must say it was much more cute than I expected. Very green and so many cute little houses around. I did a lot of house spotting around the village I stayed which resulted in images like this:

Clean neat and quiet, even though I was staying next to the main road, still cheap fuel, weather sucked at times but that's not the country's fault. Also Croatia wins in the "Weirdest WWII monument" contest with things like this:

Unfortunately weather was not good enough to visit Zagreb which would give me a more complete opinion about the whole country but...we have to leave something for the next time right? Sorry!

SLOVENIA:

Well, sorry for this one as well cause not only I crossed this narrow country to make it straight to Austria but the weather was so terrible that I didn't even had a slice of joy as this country can offer not only it was raining but it was so dark that when I was riding through dense forests (casual in Slovenia) it was the first time I saw my phone's display dimming due to lack of light. This country is one of the most scenic ones, a biker's heaven and very reasonably priced. And while there's obvious lack of input about it from this trip as I couldn't even stop for a picture, you can browse my previous trips around there. Absolutely recommended for road trips, the capital is small but among the most beautiful ones.

AUSTRIA:

Dear Austria, I can't praise you enough. Expensive as you are, you do your best to make it worth every cent. I was lucky to be hosted by a lovely family not far from Graz and this was the only time I was hosted during this trip. Super appreciated, not just because I saved a few euros but first and foremost because my hosts were as nice and hospitable as it gets. On top of it, Markus offered me a super tour around Graz for a whole day in his car during which not only I managed to get a very good idea about this wonderful city but we also did a mountain hut where I had the Goulash of Goulashes and later we finished with a hike up to the oldest castle of the area:

Some people are exceptionally fantastic persons like my latest Austrian Hivian friend @beeber who also contributed as much as she could.
The list of nice things about Austria is endless hence in an attempt to make things easier I'd say this: Except the cost and (sometimes) the weather there's nothing bad about it. Speaking of weather, when I passed Gaberl pass I really had the most effed up moment of my whole ride. Rain and visibility down to a couple of meters.
Don't put weight on negative comments about Austria based on being Hitler's birthplace and such. Through all these years I tour this country I had some of the most pleasant and kindest interactions with people and met some of the best ones too. Yes it is a tight ass country, it is the only country abroad where I was stopped by the police (OK, France too), but was never treated in a biased way at all though obviously I don't look like a native. And while the first time it was a traffic policeman who was more than happy to give me as many tickets as he could (he managed to give me two at the same spot), the other time I got stopped while walking by a police van and the guys were the kindest police I've ever met, almost apologising for a routine control.
See you next time Austria!

GERMANY:

It's a real challenge trying to squeeze just a few words about a country like Germany, given its size and diversity. The fact that it's the country where I spent the most time during this trip is not exactly helping either. Even now it impresses me to realise that I spent more than a month in Germany! To give you an idea about its diversity, even South Bavaria is different than North Bavaria and Bavarians are not necessarily the same with the rest of Germans neither their region is. And while I experienced the Agricultural side of things South of Munich with the help of my good friend Andrea (epic rides!), when I later moved straight to the NE end of this region at Bayreuth it was more about urban beauty. Besides, this is where I visited the Palace of palaces, the one and only Eremitage:
The amount of Greek elements in there triggered inside me once again a multitude of thoughts about the farm from uneventful relation between Greece and Germany over the years. Germany is probably the country with the most philhellenes despite the bloodshed of WWII. Greeks are not aware of this. And yes, it's not all white, during the Greek crisis a lot of BS was written in some populistic German media but the big picture is different. You should be there to see the guy working at the parking lot of Fichtel mountain near the border with Czech who once saw I come from "Griechenland" he stepped out of his way to find safe storage for my helmet etc. Even the place I rented at Bayreuth had an imitation of an ancient column outside. And what a super host she was. Like most of the German ones. Makes me think it might be the country with the largest gap between leadership and people, considering how nice and trustworthy the latter is and the corruption (mainly pro Russia) of the former.
I could praise so many places I've been around Germany, some really look like offering a trouble free living with all problems solved, with the only exception of Medard but even there I managed great rides around Rhine river.
Fun fact for petrolheads: German filling stations, at least the big ones, tend to sell all sorts of fuel available. With or without ethanol, various numbers of octane etc. It's like a petrolhead boutique. However, the density of fuel stations is not as high. Especially at rural areas.
Dear Germany, its only your North end that I have left unexplored by now. See you on my next North expedition!

CZECH:

What a nice surprise this country was! My first time there which makes me a first timer in 4 countries during this trip. I just took a day trip while I stayed at Bayreuth in Germany and did Cheb:

Karlovy Vary:

and rode back via Slavkov forest. OH. MY. GOD. Super scenic all of them. Czech looks to me like a reasonably priced gem and I can't wait to come back. Even the fuel I put just before reentering Germany felt like performing great except being cheaper than the German of course.
Highly recommended though I couldn't dig deep in such short time.

BELGIUM:

I have even less than Czech to say about Belgium as I just crossed it twice, first to go from a place near Bonn to Le Man in France and then from Le Mans to Eindhoven. The reason I didn't stay was because of the astronomically priced accommodation which looked even more expensive than France. In other words, more expensive than expensive 🙂 Fuel is cheaper than all of its neighbours though. The country looked nice from the road with cute houses and all and some of the best parking lots I found during this trip:

Would love to come back to the mother of some of the best chocolates and beers in the world!

FRANCE:

I stayed only at Le Mans during this trip but it was one of my longest stays in one place lasting 3 weeks. My first impression (or better say surprise) at Le Mans was the fact that it is much less fancy and flamboyant than I expected it to be after all these years of racing fame there. Quite the opposite, most of the houses around are rather modest and you barely see any high buildings. Reminded me in a way how the suburb I live in Athens used to be before the invasion of tasteless multistory POS. This way Le Mans keeps its population at low levels and I never felt cramped by crowds anywhere.Even the center is not so "Grand" though it has one of the largest churches I've ever seen, if not the sole largest one. It was a challenge trying to fit in one picture even parts of the Cathedral of St. Julian:

Plantagenet is an absolute must at Le Mans with all these cartoon like buildings around the center:

I managed to grab a bite on rural French beauty during a day ride North of Le Mans and unsurprisingly the French countryside can be sweet and cute as it gets:

The disappointment about France was its supermarkets. Coming from Germany where I found some of the best ones and value for money ones, in France my choices where basically limited to the Carrefour chain. The small Carrefours are VERY expensive so you go there only if you have one near and you don't wanna go farther. The larger ones, though they are cheaper they are still not an attractive deal and I must say they lack variety in some products. For example all their peanuts and such were crap. Only 1-2 brands, all crappy. The only nice deals were on those lovely Belgian beers where they are sold in real prices and not in crazy ones like in Athens.

Other than that, I like France. I think French are often misunderstood by the rest of us Mediterraneans. Yes, they look kinda snobby at first because they are less expressive/extroverted than we are but that doesn't mean they are indifferent or unkind. Quite the opposite, they are very kind and respectful people. That said from someone like me who doesn't speak French says a lot - you can imagine my struggle every time I visit the non English speaking France 🙂 I gladly come back every time!

NETHERLANDS:

This was my 3rd time in Netherlands and every single time makes me love this country even more. Even though it is very expensive and has become even more now that they face a food inflation of 12% (my first visit to the local supermarket almost gave me a heart attack as our inflation is single digit). Fuel? 2.2 euros per litre! Dutch drivers try to fill up in Belgium where it's half a euro less. At least their supermarkets are better in overall quality than French Carrefour. I mean, for example there are so many amazing cheese in there that they could be an attraction at a gourmet store in other countries. And they are just casually placed at the local X supermarket.
I love this country even though the weather was totally effed up while I was there. My first August ever without any summer at all. I had a pool at my disposal for 2 weeks and I managed to use it only once (one time, 1). But if you take these out then it's all so nice. Superb cities, picturesque towns, a heaven to cycle and let me tell you the Dutch people are some of the coolest guys on earth. I don't think I have found anywhere else a better combination of relaxed and friendly people. I was greeted everywhere from locals though I was a total stranger by people from all walks and ages. Speaking of ages, you can see grannies in their bicycles pretty often around. Gives an idea how civilised drivers are while in Athens even at half their age only to walk around the center feels like parkour. Doesn't mean that accidents don't happen even there though:

If it wasn't for the lack of sun I'd be like "Dear Sanda, a nice girl in Holland please!". I mean, with the love of your life who fucking cares about the weather anyway...

ITALY:

One more large and diverse country, the most revisited country by me but this time I just did a place at Veneto and one more close to St. Marino. The latter was just an indifferent place up in the mountains but the former was a cute farm at a very scenic location in a valley. This visit hasn't changed my opinion about Italy over the years. I comment on it as "a country designed for leisure time". Offers endless pleasure for your eyes and stomach. Italians have everything it takes to conquer the world. They have food, history, design (the best one), industry, you name it. They just can't be serious. It's the Berlusconi effect. That's how they failed to invade Greece at first in the Mussolini years.
I have a special love for Italy also because it is the country related to Greece more than anyone else. Sicily is a copy paste of Greece, the way people talk and behave at some Calabrian villages are exactly the same as the ones in Crete, middle Italy's mentality is almost identical to the Greek average. But while Greece has only a few nice cities Italy, especially North, has so many of them. The advantages of skipping the historic accident of being under the Ottoman empire...
Here's a slice of heaven from my recent stay at Veneto:

Well, the truth is that since my trip included 800km in my motherland I could have said I did 12 countries. Don't expect me to comment on Greece because I will start writing an encyclopedia. I can gladly answer your questions though, if you have any, about Greece or any other of the countries above. And don't forget you can still ask me about other aspects of my trip. I still have more to talk about so I'll put your request in the pipeline.

Thanks for reading!