We left Lisbon on June 9, at 9:30, moving North to Guarda city, where we had an excellent lunch made of the region traditional recipes. After lunch we took our road again in direction of Valladolid, in Spain, where we stayed for the first night.

On the next day early morning we started our trip in direction of Spanish Picos de Europa mountains, passing by Aguilar del Campo, a beautiful Spanish rural village, to have a coffee, and then we took the wonderful road to Potes, the village just in the middle of the Picos da Europa where we stop for lunch. In the afternoon we took the road again on route of Santander and Bilbao.
Both the road in direction of the "Picos de Europa" mountains, before arriving to Potes village, as well as the descending road to Santander, both carved in the mountain rocks, were one of the most beautiful sites we passed by during our 3 week trip. On that day we made about 1.000 kms until arriving at Bordeaux at about 7:00 pm. Both silver FJR’s 1300 had to run very fast but safely this day. The only dangerous situation we had was some large pieces of rubber from truck tires that we found in the road from Biarritz to Bordeaux...
If you hit on of those rubber pieces running at 180 / 200 km/h, you are certainly dead !
At Bordeaux we stayed in a Ibis hotel. The hotel was quite nice and not expensive. After this stay we started to book always in this same hotel chain for the rest of our 9.000 km trip, except at Innsbruck, Milan and Palma de Maiorca. It was easy and fast. He just had to choose the next hotel with a covered and closed garage for the bikes, from the IBIS hotel guide, and simply book the next location at the hotel reception desk.

On the 3rd day we left Bordeaux early morning on route to Paris. That day and for the first (and only) time during the whole trip, we had a lot of rain. Fortunately we brought our rain coats that were very useful and efficient. The only problem was the car's water spray that made our bikes screens very dirty and difficult to look trough. I also didn't like very much to run fast on rainy roads with the sensation that, if suddenly you have to break, things can be very difficult without ABS (hope that the new Yamaha FJR 1300/A 2003 edition has this very useful and safe equipment).
Arriving at Paris and for the first time I lost contact with my friend Carlos FJR. I started to "zigzag" trough the eavy traffic but my friend Carlos (which is much more careful than me) was afraid to do the same with the large side cases mounted. After contacting him by mobile phone, I told him to take the Tour Eiffel direction, near by our Ibis hotel at Paris, where we met again.

We stayed 2 days in Paris and visited the city main monuments and places, including Tour Eiffel. The bikes stayed at the hotel garage since the traffic in Paris is crazy, and we also didn’t knew the city very well.

we left Paris in direction to Munich, in Germany, where we arrived at about 4:00 pm.
After the hotel check-in we still had time to visit the town center by daylight. Of course I could not fail the opportunity to test my FJR top speed in Germany's unlimit speed highways. Unfortunately my wife Elisa ordered me to slow down after reaching 240 Km/h, an incredible speed that makes the highway very narrow and the approach to the other cars incredibly fast (it seems they are running in the opposite direction we are ...).
Anyway I liked very much Munich although life there is very expensive. We had a nice dinner at a very typical brewery (unfortunately said to be Hitler’s favorite one). That night the 4 of us were very excited since the most expected part of our trip should start on the next day, when crossing Austria, Hungary and Switzerland.

As usual, at 8:00 am we took the road again in direction of Vienna, where we arrived at lunch time. On the road we passed by one of the most magnificent places I saw in the entire trip, a wonderful Austria village named Mondsee, near by a large lake surrounded by majestic mountains. I and my friend Carlos thought it will be our dream place when retiring.
Although Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities I ever visited, our first stay there was a little disappointing since, during lunch time, we had the opportunity to watch to the Portugal / Korea football match and the defeated and exclusion of our country selection from the World Cup Championship. Anyway, in two days time, we would return back to Vienna for a more detailed visit to the city in our way back from Budapest, our trip most distant point in Europe.
So, in the afternoon, we took the road again on route for Budapest, where we arrived late afternoon. I must tell you that I was strongly surprised by the good quality of Hungary highways. The only problem were some smoky, slowly, noisy and old "Trablant" cars on the road. Budapest also was an extremely good surprise to all of us. I liked so much this beautiful city and its development that it was rather difficult to me to imagine it belonged to the communist block just some years ago. Beside its beautiful monuments, the entire city is very clean and very well maintained, with nice bars and restaurants. Budapest’s brand new Ibis hotel was also very nice. On the next day we took a city tour, including a delightful boat trip in the Danube. It was a fantastic journey.

we returned to Vienna where we stay now for 2 days. As always we took a city guided tour. Vienna is a glorious place with all those fantastic buildings and palaces. Wherever you are in Vienna you always feel the culture in the air. We even assisted to an enchanting "operetta".
By coincidence we also saw a 7.500 bike concentration at Vienna town center. The noble purpose of this concentration was a toy donation for poor children.

early morning as usual, we left Vienna in direction to Innsbruck. On the way we passed by the fantastic Austria Tirol zone, with the top of the Alps kissing the blue sky. Because of our early arrival to Innsbruck (the highways in Austria are great), we had time enough to make a very nice bike tour around the city surrounding high mountains, visiting the main ski resorts with superb see sights over the city.

On the next day we were again on the route to Milan, crossing Switzerland from North to South, starting near by Zurich and finishing at Milan, in Italy already. Once again the weather was fantastic, with blue sky and nice temperature. On that day we made the entire trip at a low speed (average 120 km/h), playing a Mozart CD in my bike radio system and appreciating the fantastic Swiss landscape. It was a gorgeous day, the most impressive in the all trip ! Also this day we made the trip’s best average consumption, only 5,25 liters per 100 kms. We had lunch at Lugano. Beside the high temperature, I liked very much the city that, somehow, make me remember Monaco. At 5:00 pm we arrived at Milan and had dinner at the town center, near by the cathedral. I must confess that we were a little disappointed with the city. Only the town historical center has some interesting points to visit, including the majestic cathedral.

We left Milan early morning in direction to Barcelona. It was one of the most exciting riding parts of the whole trip, passing by North of Italy mountain roads, with lots of tunnels and excellent curbs to deal with. We passed by some tunnels at more than 160 km/h ! In this difficult road, the only time I lost concentration, for just some minutes, was when I passed over a road white line and slided on two wells at about 160 km/h. What a fright.
Since last year we already passed by the South of France, during our trip to Corfu, when he had time enough to appreciated all the see sights, this year we decided to compete with a fast Z3 M1 BMW Coupé along the French South highway. The BMW only advantage was not having to stop each 2 and 1/2 hours to refuel. Even so we only lost him at a highway toll place near by Spain. By the way France has too much (and expensive) tool places.
We arrived at Barcelona at 6:00 pm, just in time to take Transmediterranea ferry to Palma de Maiorca, where we stayed for one week, relaxing at a beach resort near by Alcudia. Anyhow I still made about 1.500 kms riding in this beautiful Mediterranean island.

On the 28 June we return back to Barcelona by fast Ferry, stayed overnight once again in an Ibis hotel. Since we arrived late and I was quite tired, unfortuantly I lost my Visa credit card in a gas station. On the next day I had to cancel it and I was lucky that nobody used it. Next day early morning, we were returning back home, on direction to Lisbon, where we arrived at about 05:30 pm. It was the longest stretch of the whole trip, making about 1.300 kms in one day. As usual we got lost once again while passing Madrid. Although we loved our memorable trip, we were already anxious to return back home.

The best: Crossing Switzerland hearing Mozart music
The worst: My friend Carlos, Honda Varadero ex-owner, saw the new Honda STX 1300 in Palma de Maiorca and fall in love with it. On the day after arriving at Lisbon, he sold his FJR and bought a silver STX.
Total Kms: 8.965 (including 1.456 kms in Palma de Maiorca island)
Total days: 21
Average consumption: 8 liters / 100 kms. The best was 5,25 in Switzerland
Technical problems: none on both bikes
Total cost: about 5.200 euros each couple (including one week staying at a Maiorca resort)
Countries we passed by Portugal, Spain, France, Germany; Austria, Hungary, Switzerland and Italy.
Cities we visited: Valladolid, Bordeaux, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Innsbruck, Milan and Barcelona}

Who has Microsoft Autoroute program can download the route plan.


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