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This blog post I write in a beach restaurant on the Greek Mediterranean. And because it's over 40°C hot here right now and I can hardly think straight, here are just a few keywords and plenty of pictures of the last weeks. Countries since the last blog post: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece. -Germany is a very "comfortable" country by bike. -Berlin is worth seeing -Dresden I liked almost better -Prague is probably one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, but not recommended on Saturday afternoon of a long weekend (unless you like gigantic crowds of tourists) -Czech Republic, for the first time since Finland half an eternity ago, I climbed something that was more mountain than hill. -Otherwise, the Czech Republic was so unspectacular that I have almost forgotten a lot of things... -Vienna is beautiful -It's great to sleep under the bridge in Vienna during thunderstorms:) -There are in my opinion more beautiful cities than Bratislava. -The Tatra Mountains between Slovakia and Poland are beautiful! -There I climbed the highest mountain of Slovakia (Gerlachovsky Stit, 2654m) and of Poland (Rysy, 2503m) with a mountain guide in one day, but the tour became a bit too long for the mountain guide :) -In Slovakia I worked a little bit in a pizzeria one evening, could eat for free and stay in a hotel. -In the first 10 minutes in Hungary my sunglasses were stolen. -The highest mountain in Hungary is quite unspectacular, but the capital Budapest is even more beautiful! -Romania surprised me very positively! Beautiful landscapes, incredibly friendly people and numerous really worth seeing places... -The road quality in Romania was worlds better than expected, but the street dogs were as feared the pure horror! - A highlight in Romania was definitely the drive over the Transfagarasan Highway - known in certain circles as the most beautiful road in the world... - And also the highest mountain in Romania (Moldoveanu, 2544m) was definitely one of the most beautiful country highlights so far! - I saw a bear and passed it by 3 meters :) - To call Bucharest "beautiful" would be a lie, but "interesting" is the city for sure -Poverty, which is found in many places in Romania, has engaged me more than I would have expected... -Bulgaria I was just passing through to get to Turkey. Will be back to the country soon though. -Turkey is an incredible country! -8 nights I spent there, on 7 of them I was invited! -Turkey also has a lot to offer on a culinary level. I tried a lot of Turkish specialties. -You can get a kebab there for the equivalent of less than 1CHF. And with a little luck you get food poisoning for free... -If you combine food poisoning with sunstroke, it becomes rather unpleasant... -But I'm feeling better now. -Istanbul is a very lively, beautiful and interesting city! -In Istanbul I was ripped off by a scammer :( -When the temperatures don't drop below 25° even at night and it's swarming with insects everywhere, sleeping outside is quite exhausting... -The sea in Greece is beautiful! -Olympus (2918m) is one of my favorite mountains! -On the Olympus I met Toni from the Tyrol. He is 66 years old, cheese master and has never been traveling in his whole life. Since he was a child, he has dreamed of Mount Olympus because that is where the gods are at home. So he recently sold a few cows and drove with the money through the whole Balkans to Greece to climb Mount Olympus in 4 days. A wonderful story! -It is quite hot on the road at 40°+! -Athens is a great city! -The vast majority of people here in the south are incredibly friendly and the food is excellent! After more than 30'000 kilometers through 36 countries in almost exactly 5 months I am quite tired by now and I am looking forward to arriving back in Switzerland in a few weeks - probably between the end of July and the beginning of August! Until then, however, my journey still leads me criss-cross through all Balkan states to Croatia and from there then still on the highest peaks of the Alpine countries:)
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