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First stage Switzerland - Thailand
Part 1: Along the Danube river to Budapest, Mai 2008
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After
months of planning and preparations I started with great pleasure
my bicycle tour to Far East on the 5th of May 2008. Roughly
17'000 kilometers of vast deserts and high mountains were
waiting for me. I was riding from my home village Altreu along
the river Aare to Koblenz at the German border.
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Picture:
The city of Aarburg.
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On
the second day I crossed the river Rhine and continued through
the beautiful landscapes of the Black Forest in Southern Germany
to the village Donaueschingen.
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Picture:
Cycle track through the Black Forest.
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Picture:
Dawn in the center of Donaueschingen.
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In
Donaueschingen is the source of the river Danube and the beginning
of one of the most beautiful cycle tracks in Europe. The Danube
cycle track leads on vehicle-free roads from the Black Forest
in Germany trough Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania
to the Black Sea in Eastern Europe.
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Picture:
Blooming flowers in one of the many national parks along the river.
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Highlights
on the way along the upper Danube were the national park "Obere
Donau", the christian monastery Weltenburg, the old towns
of Donauwörth and Straubing and several catholic monasteries.
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Picture:
Catholic church in Donauwörth.
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Picture:
Old city center of Straubing.
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Picture:
Catholic monastry "Melk"in Austria which was inhabited
for the first time on the 21st March, 1089 by the Abbot Sigibold
and his monks.
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Picture:
Bridge over the Danube in the dawn.
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The
Danube - in Donaueschingen just a bigger brook - has grown
until Vienna, the capital of Austria, into a large river.
From Vienna the cycle track continued trough one of the many
national parks to the city of Hainburg, Bratislava (capital
of Slovakia), Komarno, across the Danube to the hungarian
side to Esztergom with its impressive basilica. I left the
Danube river shortly after Esztergom and rode through Hungary
further east towards the Ukraine.
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Picture:
Danube river in front of the skyline of the UN-City in Vienna
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Picture:
Basilica of Esztergom in Hungary
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Picture:
Departure from the Danube river on the ferry between Tahitofalu
and Vac (roughly 30km north of Budapest)
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