Romania, Hungary and Slovakia | Season 20 | Episode 2

But how do you keep the roads in such a nice condition? It's made maybe 10 years ago. And because here is a lot of villages and it's important for them. The local... It's the same for us in Bulgaria, but our roads are crap spot holes everywhere. I don't know. Maybe our manager... Yeah. What a place. This down there is Kluchna Poka. I like the view from here. I'm gonna stay with friend that I stayed in the last 2 or 3 years. I don't know exactly. Great guy. Filician. So far so good as I said. I'm already in Kluchna Poka and stayed with Filician. Fantastic guy. So we're gonna have a barbecue down there. Talk about motorcycle stuff. And tomorrow morning we're going to ride here in the area. Beautiful roads on my way to Hungary. But let me tell you something. The first 2 days of my trip I've done almost 1200 km. And the original plan was not like that. I thought that I'm gonna ride just to Bucharest which is 250-260 km and then relax. But my host in Bucharest said let's go around and ride a little bit. And we've done it. 350 km. And we went back around 10-10.30 in the evening. It was just too much. And today when I sat on the motorcycle my ass was soaring. And with this soaring ass I've done almost 550 km to come here. But from tomorrow I'm gonna take it easy because I still have so many km to cover. And this is not the right way. Anyway, I'll continue tomorrow. I'm on the way north from Cluj-Napoca with my friend Cici. We're gonna ride for a couple of hours here on my way to the Hungarian border. Gonna enjoy some beautiful roads. Maybe have some food or drinks. What a wonderful stretch just 5 minutes away from his place. Fantastic. Nice, isn't it? Unknown Romania. Looks like Alps. Fantastic region. We were riding in this area for let's say like 40 minutes. Absolutely pleasure. Thank you very much Cici for showing me this part of Romania. I have to admit that in Bulgaria we have many roads like this. Many around the villages, around the mountains. But our roads are terrible, a lot of potholes. But here, see by yourself, perfect condition. In any direction you decided to ride, the road surface is just great. Alright, it has some sun here because probably from the winter. But no potholes, nothing whatsoever. I'm on the way to Hungary. And instead of going straight road, Cici offered me a nice ride around. To feel even more Romania. And this is what I do with pleasure. I want to explore every country from within. Not from outside, not the most popular places, not the touristic places. I want to see the real life, the real country, the real people. The real roads, the real locations. I want to talk with people, meet locals. Eat with locals, drink with locals, everything. And this is what I really enjoy. Today is the third day of my trip. And I already have got so many impressions. And when I know that I've got like 3 months ahead. I feel so good. I cannot even tell you how good I feel. Of course, you cannot cross Romania without seeing cows or cars with horses. It is just part of the infrastructure. So guys, you can see that every road that you can take in this area. Every road, doesn't matter left, right, straight, back. It's always like that. Once you move from the main road, where the traffic is, all the trucks, buses, cars. It's terrible to ride Romania, but if you go on the side, it's fantastic. This wooden house. I believe that I know where this road is going. We have been here last time with Cici. We climbed like a hill on the top. It was a nice view on the lake. Yeah, I'm sure it is the same road. Thank you very much, Cici. I recognized this road from the last time. It was just brilliant. You got the lake, the mountains. Yeah. See the villages over there. Looks like Alps, Cici. All these villages around, they look like Alps. Look at this. Oh yeah. Lucky you. But it's much isolated because usually bad roads. But how do you keep the roads in such a nice condition? It was made maybe 10 years ago. And because here are a lot of villages and it's important for them. It's the same for us in Bulgaria, but our roads are crap spot holes everywhere. I don't know. Maybe our manager of the money. Yeah. What a place. Cici. Last time when I met Cici, we went to a third road ride. Nothing special. Around Klitschny Pog. But with hours of riding, he made it harder and harder and harder. At the end, we finished with a lot of mud covered from everywhere. And since then, he always tried to excuse. Oh, Pavel, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So yesterday when we discussed where we're going to ride, he said, no, no off-road, no off-road, no off-road. I said, Cici, I don't mind. If you show me something, I'll ride. But if I can't skip it, I won't, because I still have many kilometers to cover. And I guess that now he feels so bad that we're on dirt again. No worries, Cici. Oh, good, I enjoy it. The reason I said to him, don't show me dirt roads, because if you show me dirt roads, I will go to these dirt roads. And yeah, when you're on the trip, it's not really a good idea. But this is fine. It's just simple gravel. It's all right. And I have the chance to see another side of Romania. Anyway, somewhere over there is Hungary. Another wall. I'm always impressed how tough these constructions are. To hold here hundreds of tons of water. The road to here was amazing, and I thought that I was filming, but then I realized that the SD card is finished. Well, anyway, I'll have a nice road on the way up. We were here, exactly on that corner. This is the wall. And the dam. Fantastic spot. What a nature. It will be nice to fly with a drone here. Maybe one day. This actually is a very fancy hotel. Wonderful location. The lake over there. I'm going to sit on this terrace. We have something to drink. And probably from here I will hit the road, and Cici will go back. Approaching Hungarian border, and of course the trucks. Every time when I see them, I feel so sorry about them. All done. This took me exactly 5 minutes. I'm really sorry I went in front of everyone, but it is what it is with a motorcycle. People never wait. So, welcome to Hungary. I'm going to have like 70-80 kilometers to meet one guy somewhere in the area of Debrecen. And after that I will continue in direction Slovakia. Hungary, it might be nice, but to be honest, I have crossed it, I don't know how many times, in all directions. I haven't found something really interesting. And if we put on the top of this the language that I cannot understand, even the word. And this is how Hungary stays in the middle of Europe without knowing anything about it. And this time it's not going to be an exception. I'm going to cross it from south to north without even stopping. So I really need someone, a local guy, to show me the beauty of Hungary. At least I'm not going to take the highway, which is even more boring. Here I'll see the countryside, some villages, I might stop here and there, but on the highway it's a disaster. This is how the villages look like. Maybe it's a small town, I don't know. Very quiet, no people. Debrecen, second on the right. Not the first, the second. Debrecen. Another small town. And I'm surprised how little people they've got here, and little traffic. It is 5.30 in the afternoon. Supposed to be peak hour. Now just a few people. I still have like 100 km to Kosice. Oh, this is a nice neighborhood. Big houses, nice yards. Cool. This is the former border between Hungary and Slovakia. Now it's just a passing zone. Welcome to Slovakia. Bad, very bad. This is Kosice. I made it. Here somewhere is supposed to be the address. Good morning from Kosice, Slovakia. What an experience I've got here. I was invited by a guy named Peter to come and visit his place in Kosice. And because I came maybe two days earlier than I planned, than the original talk, he was not there. But when I said to him that I'm coming, he said, no problem, you can go and my mother will meet you. His mother is 75 years old lady, wonderful lady. She does not speak any English and I don't speak Slovakian language. But it was, what I have to say, wonderful experience to have. She made me a nice dinner. I tried a local handmade alcohol. Fantastic people. I cannot thank them enough. Yeah, wonderful. This is the experience that I was always looking for. To meet the locals, to taste the local food, to taste the local hospitality, to enjoy the moment. You can see where my motorcycle is parked, down there. Because last night I went to bed at about 9 o'clock. I woke up today at 5. And Peter came like 1 o'clock. So he's awake already, now it's 6 o'clock. And I can already smell the breakfast, which will be fantastic. So I cannot thank enough to these people. And the experiences like this are priceless to me. Just priceless. I can easily pay for hotel here. It's not that expensive. But in the hotel I'm not going to get anything. Here I will have the local experience. And the moment like this, just turn the terrace and talk with Peter for local staff. Just fantastic. I don't know how to explain to you, but when I have a really long day, many hours, I don't want even to see the bike. I'm tired, I have ass pain and everything. But then, when I wake up next morning, I cannot wait to start. And now, when I start on the bike, wow, it's so nice, so wonderful. It looks like I never sit on the bike before. It's so addictive, man, so addictive. It took almost like 30-40 minutes to come to this beautiful country road, even though we used partly highways. But now, the things are different. And have a look how green it is. Now, at the end of June, it's still perfect, but maybe July and August, all of this will be like dark yellow, it will burn from the sun. So now is the perfect moment to see all of this. In this region of Slovakia, during the Second World War, happened one of the biggest famous tank battles between Russia and Germany. And for a few days, I don't know, like 80,000 people lost their lives. So they named it like Dead Valley, this area. So we're going right now to this, the actual place where they fought, to show you what it is. More tanks here. See the sign over there? Podolia Smerti, the Valley of Death. And you can see one tank over there. And more tanks over there. So here was the actual location. Now, thanks to Peter, who is staying there with the bikes, I have the chance to remove my jacket, leave my stuff and go and walk around. Because, as you can see, it's a steep hill. And when you're dressed, and today is around 26 degrees, it's not really a good idea. But first, let's go to see this tank over there. I really like the idea to see the real battlefield with the real tanks. Here we go, another one. Imagine being a soldier and seeing a tank in front of you. Another one. And this is the actual level they stayed, the Russian tanks. One there, one over there, and one more. All pointed in this direction, where the German tanks were. Yeah, I'm really glad that they kept this history. This is the sign. Podolia Smerti, Dead Valley. This was a nice history lesson for me. I didn't know anything about this battle, but you can always learn something new. Honestly, I was so surprised to see so many Russian tanks well-preserved here in Slovakia. I don't think that I haven't seen more than this. There are probably around 10 tanks here. Anywhere. In Berlin, they've got two. So, yeah, very interesting. Okay, this must be the place. Let me share this moment, because it's special. This is tartar beefsteak with almost rare raw meat, with all of this bread and everything. And this is, what was this? Pierogi. Yeah, pierogi. So, thank you very much. Wonderful experience, wonderful food. Let's do it, man, let's do it. Ah, man, the meal was fantastic. I enjoyed it very much. Now Peter will go home, I'll go to Poland. Alright, so Peter told me about this famous water here, so I'm gonna fill my hydration pack from here. I'm gonna have a holy water now. Something like this. Yeah. Very well, thank you. In this region, the population speaks some kind of different language. It is a combination between Slovakian, Polish and Ukrainian language. And even the signs of the villages are written in Cyrillic alphabet. Thank you very much for everything. Thank you. For the hospitality, for the meals, for everything. Bye-bye. Peter, wonderful guy. Let's go to Poland now. Five kilometers after the border, I took this beautiful twisty road, green road. And I'm gonna follow it for a while. Brand new asphalt. What more to ask? 27 degrees. Full petrol tank. Everything I need at the moment. The beautiful road finished. Now I go to just one big international road. Also nice, but not like the one before. A lot of thunderstorms. So I'm gonna hit the rain over there. Let's prepare. After one hour rain, it looks like I'll be alright now. At least in front of me looks clear. And have a look what kind of waterproof system I've got. Because now I use one road that is very zigzag, left-right, left-right to avoid highways. So I need time to time to check the direction. And I need to improvise. Yeah. It was a heavy rain for one hour. Now it's fine. By the way, the villages I passed now in the last one hour were fantastic, with beautiful churches, beautiful houses, green area. Unfortunately, without camera. But, at least I saw it. 30 kilometers before Krakow. I hit some traffic. But, it's alright. Luckily, the person that I'm going to meet tonight is outside of Krakow. Right of Krakow. So I don't need to go into the madness now. It's peak hour. Good. I think I'm here. But not sure. Yes, this is the address.