I am still in athens...

Here some pictures...

(the parthenon)

(view from acropolis)

(syntagma square)

Already last week i obtained the iranian visa. But with the indian visa i didnt have luck. They didnt want to give me a 6 months visa, only a 3 months That were of course too short (it counts from the day of issue). I will try it in teheran again or else in islamabad.

I'm lovin' it...yes i really love McDonald's! I often went to my favorite restaurant in the last days...but i better dont tell you how many Big Macs i have eaten;-)...



Last saturday was a big bike demonstration in athens. They protested again the car drivers. Because it is almost impossible to drive in athens by bike, it is just too dangerous.


Soon i am leaving athens...i will take a ferry to the south of turkey. From there i am driving to the iranian border.

Big break in athens

Hey! After 2000 km i arrived in athens. My bike and i really need a break for some days. Just 2 days after the first breakdown, the second happend - a spoke on the backwheel broke...poor, poor bike...

The last days i cycled on the big island, penepolese. A long bridge from antirio to rio (not rio de janeiro!) connects the island with the mainland. The prices to drive over the bridge were written on a sign. For trucks, cars, motorbikes. And bikes? It was free :-)



Very impressive was the corinth canal. It is more than 6 km long and about 25 m width.



I am not only here for sightseeing, no, no...i need 2 visas - for the iran and for india. So it depends on the embassies how long i will stay here.

mythical mitikas

The way from paleros (south of preveza) to mitikas is so beautiful to cycle. the view from the street to mitikas is very special. It looks like this small town is in the water. actually the entire town is on a long, but narrow half-island.

a bit further from mitikas i found a good place to overnight. it was in a not-finished-built house. if i had enough money i would just buy it!

so far i had to take care of cars and trucks. here were goats, cows and even pigs on the road!

yesterday i had the first break-down on the front wheel. unfortunately the pump was defective :-(. somebody took me to the next petrol station where i could pump the wheel. so, today i went to a bike shop in messolongi to get a new wheel, pump and other things. they had everything i needed, even a bike-mirror! the service was great and it didn’t cost a lot.

greetings from greece

after 12h and not much sleep i arrived in igoumenitsa. fortunately the sea was pretty calm...
the landscape is beautiful and it has a lot of cute white beaches. it is not flat like it was in italy. the streets go always up and down and up and down...but once on the top it is a lot of fun to drive down...so far i haven’t got a speed ticket ;-)
on the first day i camped just on the beach. luckily, here is no tide...else i might have waked up in a wet sleeping bag ;-)
i really don’t like driving through tunnels. it is always narrow and the light is very bad. from preveza to aktio is a long tunnel under the sea. i was driving towards this tunnel with a bad feeling. suddenly a worker stopped me and took me with his pick-up car to the other end...in the tunnel is written that bikes are not allowed ;-)

arrivederci italia

after driving about 1500 km i arrived in bari. from here i gonna take a ferry to igoumenitsa, greece.
on the last day in italy i stayed at a friend's house in rutigliano. thanks dominga that i could overnight at your family's house. i very enjoyed the great hospitality...mille grazie!

dominga is not on the picture, she is still working in cervia.
well, i have to go...i don’t wanna miss my ferry...

ciao, ciao...italia

figs and pasta

my former math-teacher traveled also by bike in italy. he told me that he always looked out for fig-trees. i found some figs. they are very delicious and don’t cost anything ;-). thanks for this hint, peter!

yesterday i was surprised by a strong storm. i couldn’t drive on and went to the next hotel. it was almost empty because holiday in italy are over. i met there a swiss family. thanks for translating. without your help i probably didn’t get a second portion of pasta ;-).

going to loreto

why to loreto? that is a long story. it started in rimini. there i met young people who were on the way to loreto (is about 20 km south of ancona) by bike.

i joined them and we cycled together to loreto, where a big catholic event took place.

after 3 great days we arrived finally in loreto.
about 400'000 people, mainly from italy, participated in this event. the pope was one of the highlights.

mille grazie for everything...especially for the t-shirt with the signatures! i very enjoyed cycling with you...hope to see you once again...

meeting ueli, priska, alain, janine, vreni and peter

i enjoyed having a break in cervia. this resort is just great for having beach holiday. it has beautiful sand beaches and a cute old town. i stayed in the hotel fiorella, which is only 50 meters from the beach away. i can really recommend it to you!

at the same time my uncle and his family were having holiday in lido di classe. it is just 10 km away from cervia. i visited them there...thank you for inviting me for lunch. i felt like at home...

going swimming in the adriatic sea

after driving five days on the po-plain (first img) i arrived today in cervia, it is a little resort on the adriatic sea. it was very fantastic to drive; nature here is beautiful and the cities are very nice. the entire way was flat like a pizza! (second img) my next destination will be bari, from where i will take the ferry to greece.

leaving milano

ciao a tutti

i stayed 3 days in milano. unfortunately it was raining most of the time, although i enjoyed it there. jungmin, terry’s cousin, and my brother chris stayed also for 2 days in terry’s small flat. mille grazie for your great hospitality, terry!

when i was leaving milano, i thought that it won’t be easy to get out of this big city. i just knew my next destination, but not the way. i was withdrawing money when a man asked me, where i am from. he told me that he has travelled half of europe by bike. if he knew the way to pavia, i asked him. yes, but it is a bit difficult to explain, just follow me on my motorbike, was his answer. within 15 min i was out of milano. thank you dunkan!

for the following night i found a nice place between two cornfields. i cooked the corresponding dinner - polenta. my favorite meal to cook, just boil water, put polenta inside and it is ready in 2 min. buon appetito!

the first experiences

The first big surprise came already after half a hour. Some people were standing on a small junction and were waving with swiss flags. How are those people, i was asking me - it was my working team from adiuvo informatik. Thanks very much for that!! By the way, if you are looking for a modern cashbox system, have a look at http://www.adiuvo.ch.

My first destination was luzern. After about 90 km i arrived happily on a camping place in luzern. I spent the four following days in switzerland, after 340 km i crossed the italien border in chiasso. The first milestone is reached! Judihui!!! To find the way in italia was not as easy as in switzerland. It took my a long time to find a way to milano. Even once i was driving and suddenly i was on a kind of motorway. After driving a few km it was to dangerous and i had to look for a local streed. Finally i arrived in milano and after one hour i found my friends house.
She cooked one of my fovorite korean meals - kimbab. It is similar to sushi, but not with raw fish. Thank you terry for this delicious dinner, i havent eaten kimbab for a long time.