Slovakia

Slovakia, 08-12.09.2025, 1500 km 

08.09.2025 Mo

 

 

We took off early and ate breakfast in Bialobrzegi. We took a highway. This part is the most exhausting and boring. Also, it started raining quite heavily although due to the forecast it was supposed to be sunny. So we put on our rainsuits. 

We stopped at the store with motorcycle clothes, just to browse a bit. Then, ironically, shortly after we left the store, the zipper of my jacket started to cause troubles. I could barely zip it properly. Annoying. 
We ate lunch at Cafe Bistro Botanica in Nowy Targ.

Then we put on our rainsuits again and drove to Slovakia. It kept on raining badly. I experienced another issue - my pinlock failed, my visor got foggy. Awful. The views were amazing, though, these huge dark mountains right next to us. We got to the accommodation. It was nice and comfy, there was a patio where we could drink tea and a friendly cat snuggled against us.

09.09.2025 Tu

Today was sunny, luckily. We drove a nice curvy road to the Depo Cafe Telgart and drunk a delicious coffee in nice surroundings.

 

Then we drove another curvy road to the Demanovska Cave of Liberty. The cave itself was beautiful. Just a shame it's all so expensive, the ticket was 14 Euro per person and you couldn't make pictures unless you paid 10 Euros! How can they charge for taking pictures with a smartphone? Also, the parking was very expensive. It's 15 Euro for a car. For each bike we paid 5 Euro. There were a whole lot of stairs in this cave. Our legs, especially calves were killing us for the rest of the vacation. We bought a souvenir - a 0 Euro bill with the cave on it.
Next, we drove to eat something in Salas Dechtare next to the Liptovska Mara lake. We took smazony syr, like most of the time. We don't eat much meat. Part of the terrace was closed for some reason, like so that the waitress wouldn't have to walk that much? Weird. 

In front of the restaurant, we met another motorcyclist from Poland. We got into a short conversation with him. We told him how impressed we where with Slovakia, but he wasn't that captured with it, he said "it's not it". He looked surprised when we said it's our first time here. We asked him if he was going to the restaurant too and he denied, but then he walked into the restaurant while he was stuffing his face with a sandwich and a candy bar, walked around the restaurant a bit and left. I found this guy a bit embarrasing and off-putting.
We drove to the view point next to a little church. We passed a lavender field. The views were amazing.

At the view point, there was another paid parking. It's really annoying, like everywhere in Slovakia they try to rip you off for the parking. In this case, there was a way around it, people parked at the side of the road. The view point was spectacular. 

Then we took another nice road to the Szczyrbskie lake. Of course, another paid parking there. It was all very commercial there, like the lake wasn't even that important, we even had difficulties getting to the lake, there were barely any signs. The views were nice - again. 

Sadly, we didn't have much time before dusk. We bought a souvenir - Tatratea. It got dark on our way back. It wasn't safe. A fox crossed the road. The visibility wasn't that good. Also, my high beam was broken. Another problem I have to tackle after the vacation.

10.09.2025 We 

Today we went to the Slovensky Raj. It's a national park with beautiful trails. We picked the probably most popular trail - Sucha Bela. It's name is ironic, because it was wet everywhere. You need good shoes and gloves. And good physical condition. The ladder at the waterfalls were pretty steep. We met a German couple with a dog - I don't know how they imagined passing this trail with a dog, they must've returned because we met them later on another trail when we were walking back to the parking lot. I slipped once on a wooden horizontal ladder - my leg got stuck in it and I fell on the ground. Luckily I was ok, but my husband had to help me up as my leg got stuck. I somehow thought that the trail was gonna last 2-3 hours, but then I realised it was the time to get to the top, not counting the time to get back. We didn't bring anything to eat. On our way back to the accommodation, we stopped at the restaurant "U Hudaka" and ate smazony syr. 

Then we decided to use the rest of the day to ride the curvy roads to the viewing points. The forecast said it was gonna rain tomorrow again, so we won't be able to enjoy that much riding anymore.

Since my jacket couldn't get zipped anymore, my husband borrowed me his rain jacket so that at least I wouldn't get cold.

11.09.2025 Th

So yes, today was raining. We didn't want to stay and do nothing, though. It thought it would be safe to take the highway and visit some museums. Then I had a scary situation. As I was riding on the highway, straight road, steady gas, I suddenly lost traction and my bike started to dance. Luckily I didn't fall. My husband said I was riding along a streak of tar and it's slippery. I never experienced something like that before and I rode a lot in different weather. We arrived at the Double Red cars museum in Brezno. A lot of interesting cars there. 

There was a restaurant, too. We ate lunch. Then we rode a curvy road to Liptovsky Mikulas to the museum of nature. We spent time there until closing time. Then we wanted to go for some coffee and cake or something little to eat. There was a retro caffe with cars, but they had nothing to eat. So we tried another cafe I saw on  the maps, there were pictures of pretty cakes, but they were out of them. It seems that one hour before closing time you can't get a cake in the cafes in this town. At least they made me a delicious goat salad.

My friend called from Poland. Right now, when I'm abroad, there are Russian drones invading Poland's air space. I'm not that much worried, we have no influence on that, we'll deal with it if the worst comes. We drove back to the accommodation, it wasn't supposed to rain, but it did. It seems like we booked a house in some rainy district, because when we left it in the morning, the weather got better and when we drove back, it started raining again.

12.09.2025 Fr

Time to get back. We had a long road ahead of us, so not much time to visit anything. The host recommended the castle in Stara Lubovna. We rode there, it was supposed to be sunny and yet, again, there was a drizzle as we were riding. It got better when we arrived. Good, because the views were nice. 

 

We only had time to see the castle and eat garlic soup. 

Then we headed to Poland. It was sad to leave Slovakia, I enjoyed it there, I didn't even miss home. The views were lovely, the people were nice. I could communicate with them usually with no problems, in Polish or in English. In Czech somehow it wasn't like that. 

Before the vacation, we took courses in riding, it was very useful. I always learn something new in these courses.

 

Fuel filter replacement BMW F800R

With 50000 km on my BMW, I replaced the fuel filter.

And that's how the old filter looked on the inside after I cut it open:

Bieszczady

Bieszczady mountains, 17-22.09.2023, 1100 km

A very warm second half of the September. 

17.09.2023 Sun

It was supposed to be a very warm day and the forecast said that the highest temperatures would be in Sandomierz - exactly where we were heading. 

First stop was in McDonald's to eat some breakfast. 

We arrived in our accommodation exactly the minute the host called me to say that our room was almost ready. She let us park in front of the building so that the camera would catch our bikes. However, as it turned out later, some car parked behind us and we had troubles driving off. 

We ate lunch in "Bistro Podwale". I paid over 60 PLN for a burger which was a total rip-off as burgers usually cost around 30 PLN. I asked for rare and got medium. The food was good but not worth such money and service.

The restaurants and the old town were really crowded on such lovely day.

Then we visited the castle museum. The most unique exhibits were the chess and the replica of the crown that probably belonged to the Casimir III the Great.

My partner suggested a trip in a Melex and it was a splendid idea. I was tired and enjoyed getting driven around in a stylish electric vehicle. We saw the most important parts of the city and took a walk in the Queen Jadwiga gorge. A very nice young guide explained everything and she could handle the car really well.

 

We saw the museum of herbs "Czary napary" and decided to walk in. It was quite enjoyable.

 

We spent the evening in a very nice restaurant "Widnokrąg". The time passed slowly there, there was long waiting time for everyhing. But the food was interesting. And our accommodation was only a few minutes walk away from there.

 

18.09.2023 Mon

We returned to the same restaurant for breakfast. It was tasty, but fatty. 

Then we visited the Opatowska Gate. On top, there is a city view.

My partner really likes the striped flint that this region is famous for. Since our anniversary was in two days, I bought him a bracelet with this stone as a gift. 

Then we took a few pictures in the armoury.

It seemed like the whole city didn't accept payments by card - except for our accommodation, surprisingly. This city should be called "Cash only".

We left the city and it turned out that my partner had a friend nearby, so we stopped for coffee. He has the same bike as my partner. They haven't seen each other for over ten years.

Then we took off to Sanok, where we stoppped for lunch. We ate a local dish called proziaki, but I didn't like it. It was like a plain sandwich.

 

Another nice viewing point in Sobień with the castle ruins and the San river view. 

Before dusk, we arrived at our accommodation in Lesko at Zielona street. The first disappointment was that the house was located at the end of a very steep, slippery and potholed road. There was a high risk of falling off the bike. Of course, the host didn't inform me upfront about this difficulty. He also didn't offer any solution other than parking in the middle of a meadow. Like I booked an accommodation with a parking spot in order to leave our bikes overnight in the middle of some meadow I couldn't even see from the window. We took the initative and talked to the neighbor, who offered that we could leave the bikes next to his house. It was a construction site, but I thought that maybe they had a break now for a few days.

I was quite disappointed by this situation, but we had no other choice than to leave our bikes on a steep hill. The host took the rest of the payment and we never saw him again.

19.09.2023 Tue

In the morning, it turned out that our bikes were in the middle of the construction site and the workers were drilling holes right next to them and covering our machines with dust and dirt. Perfect.

It was supposed to be a rainy day, so we drove to Sanok to visit the castle museum. They had a whole bunch of pictures by Beksinski, who left his heritage to them in his last will before he was murdered. 

Then we ate in the "NoBo Cafe". My tart turned out to be a portion for two people.

The weather wasn't getting better, so we returned to Lesko and left our bikes in the meadow. It seemed better then leaving them in the middle of a construction site.

 

20.09.2023 Wed

The morning on the beautiful terrace with nice view on the mountains. Sadly, due to the construction site, it was noisy and the radio was playing.

The weather was supposed to be only good from now on. We took off to explore Bieszczady.

The dam in Myczkowice.  

 

The heart of Bieszczady.

 

The dam in Solina. We took the cable car to the viewing tower.

The views were breathtaking.

We wanted to have a coffee, but the POS was out of order.

 

We went back down to eat in the restaurant "Karczma Jawor".

Then we took a stroll on the dam.

We drove further down the curvy roads.

We drove to Stuposiany to look at the wisents.

 

Nearby was also an awesome viewing tower, but it demanded a 25-minute stroll up the mountain. But it was totally worth it.

21.09.2023 Thu

Our first goal today were the famous Słonne serpentines, beloved by all motorcyclists. We drove four times through these lovely curves. The more we drove, the better we turned and the more we tilted our bikes.

 

Then we drove to the monastery ruins in Zagórze. We had to walk 15 minutes there, it was warm and sunny. Surprisingly, we could drink a coffee and eat a cake there. Then we visited the viewing tower.

 

I really liked the view, the atmosphere, the Otława river. I could stay there for a long time.

The next stop was the upside-down house in Uherce Mineralne. It was a really funny feeling, being inside this house.

We didn't visit the handcars nearby since that place had bad reviews.

For lunch, we visited Gospoda pod Monastyrem. It was a good choice. There was a bonus: a cat that jumped on my lap and followed me around. It felt like three years ago when I met my partner on vacation and I met a similar cat back then.

We drove to the museum of Bieszczady in Czarna Góra. It was late, but they welcomed us and let us explore the museum as long as we wanted. We also purchased some pretty souvenirs.

On our last night, we made a campfire.

22.09.2023 Fri

Bye bye mountains...

I was hoping to talk to the hosts upon our departure, but they weren't home. They haven't asked during our whole stay if we were fine. 

The drive home was fine, the cars let us drive through. But my right wrist really hurt like it had enough.

We grabbed a bite to eat at the palace in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.

We got pulled over by the same policemen who we met during our vacation in the Beskids in June. I remember, because the policewoman said that her daughter and I had the same name.