The ride from Bratislava to Budapest was an uneventful 125 miles that was still wet but our spirits were lifted by being able to leave the dump of a Slovakian capital behind. Our GPS took us down a road that was blocked by a barrier that was in sight of the highway (don’t you just love it when that happens?). Thankfully we could manouver our bikes round the barrier so we didn’t lose a lot of time.

We had booked the Carlton Hotel congratulating ourselves at getting such a high-end hotel at such a good price. We should have known better, I am sure it was not part of the Carlton group and was situated in a back street a block from the Danube. The service was surly but the beds were clean. The bonus was a bar outside that sold 67 varieties of beer, the strongest being 14% alcohol (where I come from we call that wine).

Bar from the street outside our hotel in Budapest

Budapest is an historic city with many wonderful sights and a lot of history, they were one of the countries that stood up against the communists in the ’60′s. We took a boat ride down the Danube from where you can see a lot of the city’s history.

Hungarian PArliament Building Budapest

After two nights (and a lot of strange beers) in Budapest we hit the road to Zagreb, the Capital of Croatia. The 215 mile ride was a pleasure after we crossed the border. The roads in Croatia are not the best but the scenery is stunning. We arrived at our hotel and were met by a crowd of approximately a thousand people (no kidding) at reception. It seems there was a conference centre across the road  that had a prayer meeting attended by some 25,000 people and a lot of them had used the hotels parking lot and had come to pay. Thankfully we were ushered to the front and got checked in without too much bother. Because of our laksadaisical ride we arrived in the late afternoon and really only had time to shower and go out to find a hostelry. We ended up in a local pizza place where we received excellent service from the owner and his wife together with some free beer whilst we related the stories of our travels. I promised to recommend this hostelry and will now do so, the place is called DG Pizzeria and is just around the corner from the Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb. We all agreed it was the most awesome pizza any of us had tasted, if you are ever in the area it is really worth trying it out.

We left Zagreb just in time as the rains we had experienced so far had caused flooding over this part of Europe and as we left Zagreb the water was threatening to overflow the bridge that forms the exit to the city.

Flooding just outside Zagreb

The ride from Zageb to Salzburg via Ljubliana in Slovenia was awesome, the rain had stopped, the sun came out and the highways were in first class condition. In the final part I will revisit Austria and Germany where bikers know their bikes.

Between Zagreb and Salzburg

Austrian Roads

Dear HarleySocial Family -

We’ve decided to begin posting a quick morning update, every so often, to give a quick and dirty glimpse of what your HarleySocial friends and family are up to.  This is the first one

MadDog, is a 32 year old, single Navy Man who’s done four years in the Navy onboard submarines and continues to serve in the Navy reserve force as part of a fleet hospital unit has been a member of HarleySocial for about a years now.

MadDog has uploaded a lot of quality stuff, videos, audio etc…  here’s a video he added over the summer (photos from rides and parades he and his crew rode in):

Give MadDog a shout!

IronCowgirlMissy is new to the HarleySocial family, but has already added a lot of her music.  Be sure to give some of her songs a listen and spread the word about the Cowgirl.

Listen to Chasing My Dreams:

Daddy’sBabyDoll has also been a member of the family for over a year now and has recently updated her profile.  Give it a read and be sure to friend her:

From Daddy’sBabyDoll: “I am damn near 44..divorced..three kids & a granddaughter..and ready to begin the second half of MY life…it’s about babydoll having some fun this time around!  Always had a little biker chic in me..in a long distance relationship with a wonderful man..harley riding..veteran from Texas..I’ve learned it takes even more dedication to survive a long distance love..it’s been a year..and more in love today than we were a year ago…heartbreak or heaven..who knows how it will end..right now lovin the ride!  A couple of frogs on a hog lookin to land the perfect hippo..lol” read more: http://my.harleysocial.com/daddysbabydoll

CrossboneTony: If you haven’t met Crossbone yet, give his profile a visit.  Crossbone is out of Colorado, owns an Italian restaurant, rides a ’09 Crossbones, and a ’10 Road Glide and shoots some hot photos.

A few from his collection:

flatlandriderUK is a family member from across the pond who has been a member of the family for about 2 years now and added a new video and some tunes a few hours ago.

From flatlandrideUK: “Hi my name is Martyn, iam from Lincolnshire England.

Iam a member of HOG and an active member of my local chapter “Rutland Chapter” based in Uppingham,Rutland (which is the smallest county in the uk) my wife and i do many runs out with the chapter as we can.

After our road trip out to the states in 2007 we would love to do more especialy the Sturgis rally,and see the sights around the area…one day i guess ? take care all and keep the shiney side up !”

Because we had more than just one really great entry we decided to award three prizes (Billet Flag Poles w/American Flag) to the following HarleySocial members:  Freelander, JDub and PeteLeClair.  Congrats!

Thanks again to the contest sponsor American Motorcycle Accessories who is kindly giving 15% off all items at https://www.americanmotorcycleaccessories.com/ to HarleySocial members exclusively on their website.  Simply type “HARLEYSOCIAL” in the coupon code when you checkout.

Stay tuned for an upcoming contest and be sure to tell your friends and family about HarleySocial.com.  If you’re not already a member, then be sure to join (It’s Free!).