We are back home!

After cycling through 10 European countries, meeting numerous helpful people and enjoying unique landscapes of all the wonderful countries we made 9.000 km as we arrived in our hometown Görlitz. In the past year we learned a lot about different ways of life, different kinds of food but also about agriculture, painting or taking care of animals.

Let's turn time a little back and go on with the story where we stopped last time:
After visiting Steffens sister in Vienna we cycled through the hottest days and experienced the most horrible night full of mosquitos. In the past weeks it was raining a lot around the boarder of Austria, Slovakia and Czech Republic so many mosquitos had the chance to reproduce in huge amounts. After all day cycling we looked for a place to sleep. Since We were close to the Austrian village Hohenau an der March where are numerous lakes and rivers we decided to cycle away from the humid area up north to have a mosquito-free night. We cycled half an hour and found a nice place. It was an abandoned sandy parking place right next to some mining region. We sat down and relaxed because we were very exhausted from the heat of the day. It was so abandoned here that we saw rabbits and a deer jumping around. They looked at us and walked calm away. As it started to get dark suddenly Mosquitos appeared so we decided to cycle further. We packed all our stuff together and went on cycling until we found a hunting lodge. Behind this lodge it was a perfect  place for the night but a few minutes later even here mosquitos came so we cycled on. It was crazy because everywhere we stopped we got immediately bitten by them. We cycled and cycled and it became late...than we came into a little village where we decided to find a place to sleep. We saw a beautiful church and behind this church was a big green meadow with a stone fence around. It was the perfect place to hide in a village. We unpacked our mattresses and sleeping bags because there were only a few Mosquitos. After we laid down we fall asleep immediately.
Around 2 o'clock in the morning Eva woke up because of bright lights. It took her a while to realize that there is a storm really close. The wind started so Eva woke Steffen up and we both started to pack very fast because the wind got stronger. We hurried in order to find a shelter. Luckily on the other side of the street was a big access to the fire brigade and it had a big roof so we were hiding here. It was such a crazy place to sleep because it was a passage for the fire department and for pedestrians so it had really bright yellow light in here. Luckily we were so tired that we fell asleep anyway and did not care about the fact that we felt like homeless people. We had some dry place to sleep that was the most important thing. We guess no one noticed us here even though we felt like living in a goldfish bowl...

Hot Summer Time

We are through Slowenia, had a fabulous time there, met many great people and learned a lot from them. Goga, Luco and their fox terrier Edi gave us a little home for the time being there. We slept in a little wooden tent in Trnovo, Nova Gorica. That place is quite away from the city, they live in the last house of the village - up in 800m right next to the beautiful forest. We went on many hikes, kayaking, swimming and helped also planting and weeding the greenhouse and beds, poured concrete and learned a lot about eatable plants you can find in nature. We collected different herbs and made oils, cough sirups and pesto. In order not to forget all the new knowledge about all the herbs and eatable weeds we made an herbarium which we keep safe deep in our luggage bags. I discovered that I'm very interested in eatable plants and herbs, I want to get more knowledge. Back in Germany we want to get some books about this topic.

Steffen went on a three day trip with Dejan, a tour guide, to Bovec where all the crazy activities like paragliding, kite surfing or LINe take place. They cycled hills up and down in order to discover new places for guided tours. Thanks Sasa, also a nice guy from Nova Gorica, he could enjoy these long trips on a fully suspensioned bike. Dejan took him also for kayaking in order to cool down. These days were like in heaven for him.

We also went to special places like Ljubljana, Pohorje or Salovce and we took an autovlak to The most typical touristic place in Slowenia called Bled. autovlak is a train that carries the cars and the drivers stay in the car during the journey. That is a great experience since the trip goes through a beautiful green valley and there are many tunnels through hills. Imagine you sit in the car, it is moving and shaking and the nature passes by and you just sit and enjoy. We will never forget this special adventure.

After the great time in Slowenia we cycled through Hungary and met friends from our hometown at the lake Balaton. We spent some days with Miska & Marko and their three lovely children Adelka, Jergus and Gerda. We were very glad that the kids remembered us since we were gone almost one year. The time with them at this flat lake was incredible, we talked, relaxed and swam a lot since the weather was very hot.
After Balaton we cycled up north towards the Neusiedler See, Austria. Since it kept on being incredibly hot (around 40 degree) we started our cycling trips very early in the morning: around 4 o'clock we woke up, packed all things together and cycled a while, than we ate some breakfast (usually polenta with bananas) and cycled on until 11 o'clock. After this time it got so hot so we hid in shade until 5-6 p.m.and cycled on again. This is our way to survive these hot summer days...
At the Neusiedler See we spent a few days with Steffens sister Kathrin and her family. Kathrin announced us that she is pregnant and the second child will be born in January. What fabulous news we thought! Lets celebrate!

Edi

Bye bye Italy - Hello Slowenia

Italy - it's a marvelous country but we do not really fit in here. We enjoy being here but not as much as we enjoyed Spain. Maybe it is because there are only two months left of our adventure. Now we often speak about our future plans, who we want to visit, where we want to go for a hike or what new things we want to learn or discover. I guess we are not anymore that much on this trip, with our thoughts we seem more and more home.
Nevertheless we make every day new and beautiful experiences. Today we met an Italian senior that cycles along the coast - he is 77 years old and has still power like a young man, he cycles around 80-90km a day (flat coast). Wow
Or yesterday evening we sat at the beach while reading our books and an Italian senior came to us and started talking to us. In 1969 he was skiing at the World Championship in Czechoslovakia and before he went on his bike and a huge backpack to the North cap. Only a few minutes after this sportsman left came another italian to us and he offered us right away a place to sleep and an ice-cold shower. We were very happy about his offer so we went to his holiday house. He explained to us that a year ago he went on a cycling trip to Sicily and many people offered a place to sleep to him and his friends so he wanted to give something back as he saw us. How perfect!

Since we arrived to the east coast of Italy we cycle also many kilometers per day but we also try to enjoy the Adriatic Sea. It gets more hot than ever and we are constantly sweating, never had such experience before. We try to drink a lot and have breaks in the shade of trees but sometimes we long for an icecold drink or ice cream. This weather is crazy for cycling. We try to start very early - yesterday our day started at 5.30 am so we could cycle with fresh air and a bit shade.

Saying goodbye to Spain - after 6.400 km

It's been a while that you have heard from us, that is because we enjoyed the last weeks so much. We made the right decision not to go to Galicia but to cross Extramadura and Castilla La Mancha. Since here is a lot of nature and only a little population lives here (compared to the Spanish east- coastline) these regions are the paradise for bikers. We had so much special moments here, enjoyed the beautiful and fully green landscape with all the colorful flowers around us and the empty streets, cycled along the footsteps of Don Quichote and met such wonderful easygoing farmers. In these regions are still many shepherds with their sheep or goats, it's such a beautiful thing they do! Unfortunately they are getting fewer because of economy and constructions that destroy the marvelous landscapes. But we were told that there is a program for Spanish youngsters to become shepherds. Since in Spain there are way too many unemployed youngsters this might be a good thing :)
Furthermore we visited Valencia again, we spent a whole week there with our old and new friends Miguel, Sonia, Laura and Raoul. We discovered all the nice places in and around this green city and were pretty amazed about this vintage shop, that Sonia and her friend are running. Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/lacasitadepapelvintage?ref=stream
Now we are in Barcelona because we want to take a ferry to Livorno, Italy. Unfortunately we had to cycle back on the east coast which is not so quiet and peaceful anymore as it was in winter time as we headed towards the south. Now it is full of tourists and traffic jams. Especially in Salou we decided to cycle very fast through, too much stress and way too touristic for us. But the more we went inland the more quiet it was so we tried to get to Barcelona through the mountains. Also the way to Barcelona from south along the coast line is way too dangerous to go so if you decide one day to go by bike to Barcelona never take the coast way from the south. Despite steep hills the streets are way too narrow and there are many cars and trucks which might be too dangerous.

The last days we had very strong wind so cycling up north was hard and slow. Since we wanted to obey being pushed by the wind into the cars we had to use the smallest ways we could find. Before Hospitales D'Infant you could decide whether to go by autovia (forbidden for us), use the national street (mucho traffico) or the barely smaller streets so we used also walking paths which were not made for cycling. That's why once we had to walk - steep ways up on rocky grounds so we pushed together one bike after another. Wind was blowing, sometimes it helped us pushing the bikes up the hills but mostly we had to fight against the north west wind. This part of way were only 11 km but it felt like 50km...
In the Ebro Delta the wind was so strong that Eva fell right into the rice fields so her shoes are still covered with all the mud, it's a nice memory ;)
Before Barcelona we visited also Lena and Ramon- we met them at the beginning of our trip. It was so nice to see them again. We had so much to talk about. They have a little holiday house in Bara and live in Barcelona. We were told that it is typical for Spanish people to have a little flat for the week and to go for the weekend to an own weekend house and to have sometimes a third house in the mountains or close to the beach.

Portugals Regenzeit

Neulich in Lagos auf dem Wochenmarkt konnten wir eine sehr interessante Situation beobachten, die uns zum Nach- und Überdenken angeregt aber auch zum Schmunzeln gebracht hat. Wie immer herrschte ein reges Treiben auf dem Bauernmarkt. Es war nicht einfach einen Parkplatz vor der kleinen, aber gut besuchten Markthalle zu finden, die vollgestopft mit Obst- und Gemüseständen, portugiesischen Leckereien, verschiedensten Wein- und Honigsorten und sogar Tieren in kleinen vergitterten Kisten war. Dazwischen tummelte sich eine bunte Schar an Touristen aus aller Herren Länder und die Einheimischen selbst. Wir wollten gerade in die menschenvolle Markthalle hineingehen, als wir ein lautes Hupen hinter uns vernahmen. Ein Auto parkte rückwärts aus ohne den wartenden Mercedes hinter sich zu bemerken. Der verzweifelte Mercedesfahrer drückte mit zornigem Gesichtsausdruck wild und verzweifelt auf die Hupe, um sich irgendwie bemerkbar zu machen. Als der Ausparkende bemerkte, dass die Straße nicht frei war, bremste er im letzten Augenblick, beinahe hätte es gekracht. Nun erwarteten wir eine heftige Flucherei zwischen den beiden grimmig dreinschauenden älteren Herren. Jedoch konnten wir kaum glauben, was wir nun sahen: der Ausparkende blickte durch seinen Rückspiegel in die Augen des Mercedesfahrers hinter ihm und beide lächelten sich an und grüßten sich freundlich. Sie schienen erleichtert darüber, dass sie so knapp einem Blechschaden entkommen sind. Es war einfach ein wundervoller Moment mit anzusehen, wie zwei adrenalingeladene Menschen einer brenzlichen Situation lächelnd entfliehen können. Da kann der Tag ja nur schön werden!

Nach dem chilligen 4-wöchigen Workaway bei Lagos sind wir von der Algarve über Lissabon, wo wir einige erlebnisreiche Tage mit lieben Menschen verbrachten und sämtliche portugiesische Leckereien austesteten, in den Osten Portugals, in das Gebiet Alejento, abgebogen. Wegen der ungewöhnlich kalten und nassen Tage änderten wir unsere Pläne und beschlossen ein weiteres Workaway zu erleben, um den unangenehm nassen Tagen, die sich zunehmend häuften, zu entfliehen und endlich ein trockenes Dach über den Kopf zu bekommen.

Da sind wir, in der Quinta Alfaval, die ein aus dem 17. Jahrhundert stammendes Landgut mit traditionellem weißblauen Anstrich ist ( http://www.quintaalfaval.nl ). Diese gilt es nun saisonfertig zu gestalten, so sind wir momentan den ganzen Tag am Malern. Die Außenfasade braucht dringend einen frischen Anstrich und im Interieur sieht es nicht anders aus. So sind wir mit weiteren 3 Helfern, einem holländischen Mädle und zwei witzigen Briten, über den ganzen Tag lang beschäftigt. Abends sitzen wir gemütlich mit einem Gläschen Wein vor dem offenen Kamin und genießen die Abendstunden.

FOTOS

In Spain we crossed the Pyrenaes at La Perthus in November 2012 

close to Cadiz, Spain we met Fran and Maria-Jesus, they helped us a lot...

drinking Sherry "Manzanilla" in Sanlucar, Spain

Maria-Jesus shows us the beautiful port of their city

Steffen is changing the chains, thanks also to Fran for great help!!!

By now we made almost 5.000km - we are in Lisbon, Portugal!!!

Steffen at the beach

Portugal statt Afrika

Nun ist es eine Weile her, dass wir euch wissen lassen haben, wie es uns geht und was wir so erleben...diese Reise ist das Beste, was wir tun konnten. Es gibt kaum einen Tag, am dem wir uns nicht über die wunderschöne Natur Spaniens und den lieben Menschen hier erfreuen würden. Wir sind nun über 4,5 Monate unterwegs, davon legten wir 1 Monat lang Siesta in der valenzianischen Provinz zwischen Oliva und Gandia ein, wo wir auf 7 Katzen und ein einsames Häuschen zwischen all den Orangenplantagen aufgepasst haben und die trockene Landschaft ringsherum kennenlernten. Aktuell haben wir 4.597 Km zurückgelegt und erreichten hierbei den südlichsten Punkt Europas (Tarifa - von hieraus konnten wir Afrika gut sehen - wir entschlossen uns, Afrika erst auf einer nächsten Reise kennenzulernen, da die Zeit für all die vielen Abenteuer nicht ausreicht) und machten endlich Bekanntschaft mit dem lang ersehnten atlantischen Ozean. Im Gegensatz zur spanischen Ostküste ist die Südwestküste ein Traum in Grün! -zumindest im Winter- hier entlangzufahren erinnert uns teilweise an das saftig grüne Deutschland mitten im Sommer. Was hinzukommt sind die frei lebenden Tiere, wie Kühe, Schafe aber auch Ziegen, die in den Naturschutzgebieten frei und ungestört grasen können. Ein herrliches Bild für Natur- und Tierliebhaber! Nur Pferde werden hier immer wieder angepflockt, damit man sich wohl den Koppelbau sparen kann.
So strampeln wir tagein tagaus durch das spanische Land und genießen die immer länger werdenden warmen Tage. Nachts und früh morgens ist es leider sehr kalt, so versuchen wir immer irgendwo unterzukommen. So nächtigten wir des Öfteren in Gästezimmern, auf dem Fussboden im Wohnzimmer, im Vorzelt eines Caravans, in einer Garage, im Wohnwagen und sogar in einer Kirche. Wegen der kalten Nächte konnten wir es kaum noch erwarten in Lagos, Portugal anzukommen, denn hier werden wir für ca. 3 Wochen auf einem kleinen Bauernhof für Kost und Logis arbeiten und viele neue Sachen lernen. Es ist eine kleine vierköpfige Familie aus Polen, die sich mit ihrem Reisecaravan in diesem wunderschönen Zipfel Portugals niedergelassen hat und nun hier ihr eigenes Obst und Gemüse anbaut.
Die ersten Tage waren wir mit dem Gewächshaus beschäftigt. Wir harkten die Erde locker, jedoch ist dies hier in Portugal nicht ganz so einfach, denn der Boden ist hart und trocken. Somit kostete es uns einige Mühe und Kraft ihn für die verschiedensten Gemüsesorten vorzubereiten. Schließlich hat es sich gelohnt, denn nach vielen Arbeitsstunden sind nun all die Leckereien eingepflanzt und können in aller Ruhe wachsen, bis sie eines Tages von den Farmkindern vernascht werden. Demnächst geht es ans Stützen der Oliven-, Mandel- und Feigenbäume, den Kompost umdrehen und weitere Projekte. Es tut gut, mal wieder andere Körperteile zu spüren, als immer nur die Beinmuskeln vom vielen Fahrradfahren.