Re-Cycling-Eurasia Teil 5 – Ukraine Moldawien Rumänien Ungarn Slowakei Östereich Schweiz Deutschland

3 Studenten fahren in 5 Monaten 8500 Kilometer mit dem Fahrrad durch die Türkei, Iran, den Kaukasus und über das Schwarze Meer zurück nach Deutschland.

A sustainable traveling adventure 3 cyclists, 5 months and 11 countries A bicycle tour across Eurasia From Turkey through Iran, Armenia,
Georgia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria,
Switzerland and back to Germany The whole thing as sustainably as possible Bicycle instead of plane Electricity only from solarpanels
or hub dynamos and never from the plug Water filter instead of one-way
plastic bottles and a detailed recording of everything
we buy and consume In this part we are riding from Odessa in Ukraine over Moldavia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia,
Austria and Switzerland back home to Germany. In order to get from Georgia to
Ukraine, we had to get off our bicycles to travel further along our route.
It was the first time we did that. The reason was that we did not want to
ride through the war zone of eastern Ukraine and we could not go through
Crimea because of Visa problems. So we spent 3 days on
a ferry boat, which brought us to Odessa,
passing by Crimea. Odessa appeared to be a
very nice, easy going city, where we always felt like
being on a relaxed holiday place. We did not notice anything
of the war that was happening in the eastern
parts of the country. Our friend Anastasia
explained it like that: Odessa lies at the Black
Sea, so people are always happy and therefore
do not need to be violent. We had a few
wonderful days in the beautiful city enjoying
open air cinema, staying in Cafes and walking
through the old town. Back to the street,
that was winding through kilometer
wide corn fields. We experienced something that we had almost forgotten: Rain. The water that runs
over my mouth still tastes salty. I
am not clean yet! Fortunately it did not
rain constantly and from Ukraine we went to the
small country Moldavia. All obstacles were
carried away for us, and we quickly crossed Moldavia
in 3 days, because we wanted to meet a
friend in Romania. Entering Romania meant
coming back to Europe for us after 4 months. However eastern
Romania welcomed us not modern at all. Here horse
carriages are still used to a large degree and life
seemed quite relaxed to us. But still we felt that
we were moving closer to home. In big towns
there were supermarkets again, the internet
connection became better and we could use our
cell phones again. Passing by old
fortresses we went to Brasov, the heart
of Transylvania. Here we met Niklas
from Germany, with whom Milan went hiking
and horse riding. Anja and me continued
cycling, after we did some climbing in the
Carpathian mountains. For both of us it was very
important to finish the tour by bicycle. That, however
involved cycling very much, because we ran out of time. Our mind was
motivated, but Philip’s knee disagreed. A ligament got infected
and did not heal while cycling. All the cycling
showed us the physical limits of our bodies, so
we had to rest. We did that in Sighisoara, the
birth place of Dracula. The small village is beautiful,
but the waiting became annoying. We wanted to continue cycling,
but our bodies were not able. After 4 days or regeneration we slowly continued cycling. This is almost the last mountain of Romania. Philip unfortunately has to go a bit
slowly, because is Patelaris Ligementis is infected. But he bravely continues
and we hope we can make it back home. Hungary was very flat. And it was
something like another step of our journey to home. One of our goals was
to cycle the whole distance. That included to make a compromise. Between
traveling, meeting people, getting to know places and cultures and on the
other hand to make some distance. Our plan from the beginning
of the tour had always been, that from Hungary on we were
going to concentrate on the later. We had already been
in this region and it also is easier to come back to
this region in the future. So we only spent a lunch break in Budapest. Well, we are about 50 km before
Bratislava, but already cycled 135 km today. But we do not like to put up
our tent in this kind of weather. So we decided to try cycling for
another 50 km so that we can find a nice, clean and dry bed in Bratislava.
Let’s hope it will work. In Bratislava we spent our last rest days.
And we decided: We are going to come back! We liked Bratislava and its
citizens very much, but we also heard stories about wonderful nature in the inner
country and a lot of climbing spots. Apart from that Slovakia was something
like a food highlight of our journey. In Vienna we again only had lunch. Passing by Munich, Landsberg and Allgäu, we reached
lake Konstanz. Not even 20 km more
to go until we reach Bregenz. We are really
excited about seeing the lake again. Best
weather, who would have thought? And the Allgäu
really is beautiful. After a few Kilometers in Austria
and Switzerland, we finally reached Konstanz on the 20th of September.
We were happy and tired. First time to read Konstanz
on a sign board! On the last 10 of 8500 km we
are having a broken tire. The tire obviously decided
not make it until the end.. Were were more than happy
about having succeeded. But we were also happy
about not seeing our bikes and tents for a while. But
in heads there already are plans about future bicycle trips.
Because this journey has been absolutely
amazing and wonderful. I personally appreciate
every little moment of the tour, even though they
showed my personal limits to me. But traveling is
not the same as vacation. We are also proud of having gotten
getting close to our goals concerning sustainability.
Only once we had to take the ferry for a
longer distance and we only used electricity
from the plugs two times. But most importantly
we realized that the bicycles on the one hand
allows us to travel the world, but on the other hand there are also
beautiful places just in front of our door. Thanks to our supporters!