Having been in Greece for over a week now, I have seen a few odd-looking things. I also noticed something I haven't seen - roundabouts! Didn't think I would miss those, but the traffic lights are worse. Encountered my first one yesterday & its presence surprised me. It was so new the concrete around it wasn't scuffed up yet. Greece is in fact as beautiful as I have heard, but if you want to see that you'll have to come here or watch "Zorba the Greek" or "Momma Mia!" again. It is also quite warm, but you won't hear me complaining after Norway's cold weather (hail on the tent!), which made me look forward to this & hot is in fact enjoyable. I also appreciate the sun actually going down at night.

Old Superman comic fans? 

I am pretty sure I have spent time here...

I am in Greece tonight, camping on the shore of the Agean Sea. Went for a swim before setting up the tent - water quite warm for a sea. The temperatures are good for southern Europe in mid-summer; 88°F today (100°F in southern Bulgaria). When in Norway it was pretty cold & I was looking forward to warm - sure got it good now. The people here sure take their camping seriously; all the home decorations seem to be hanging on something. No pictures lately so I once again show you the location. The green dot at the southern point of Greece is where I am headed for the next oil change. I have now traveled 21,000 km (13,000 miles) since starting out on May 10th. The trip so far has taken me from the southern-most point of Spain thru the UK, up to Norway (midnight sun effect) and back down to Greece through Poland, Slovokia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia & Bulgaria. I am a bit ahead of schedule so maybe I'll need to slow down some...

I have been in Bulgaria for the last 3 days and tonight find myself at my first motel of the trip, even though it's a beautiful sunny day (95°F). There are few campgrounds here and I found some the first 2 nights (same couple from the first was found at the second!) but today Google screwed me up. First place I found (no website) had been closed for a while and the second (no website) was non-existant. However, this hotel suite in a fine new building could not be had for less than $120 in the US but cost me a total of $41.81 after conversion by my bank. I doubt such a deal can be found in Greece, where I will be next. Being in the former Soviet Union has been interesting - the people and their homes/businesses are recovering, but many remnants of the old ways can be seen. It also occurs to me that most of the people I see were not here then. Some roads are good, some are not. The drives through the mountains have been awesome, but on mostly bad roads. The highways are fine, with 140 km/h speed limit (87 mph!) Rap (in Bulgarian, of course) is the music of choice here, it seems - it's everywhere & it's loud.

In my continuing search of new places I find myself in the heart of Serbia tonight (blue X"). On my way here, after crossing the border from Romania, I stopped for directions and looked up to see a sign "Iron Curtain Trail". The image shows its 3,300 km length, of which I traveled 140 km (between red dots) along the beautiful and amazingly wide Danube - dwarfs the Mississippi here! Serbia is nowhere near as properous as other EU countries but it appears to be working toward that goal. As a result, I saw today a blend of depressed and afluent areas. And a lot of construction...

Greetings from Transylvania! Tonight I am (blue star) in the mountains what was Transylvania, now part of Romania. It occurred to me today as I was riding - "what the hell am I doing HERE?" But the answer is as always "riding a motorcycle in a beautiful place"! Romania is wide open riding, sorta like Montana or Idaho can be. I could almost forget I was in Europe, except for the cars which sometimes tried to push me out of the way, passing too close. No one bothers to observe the speed limits here, but they know where the cameras are & I don't. A lot less English here than previous places, but I get by. In campgrounds, I encounter people from other places I have visited - Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Poland, etc. It's high season for vacations here & it will be even more so in August, when I will be in Greece. I continue to encounter relics of my past life - Visteon in Slovakia, Bosch in Hungary & Delphi in Romania.

After entering Hungary yesterday, I camped on the banks of the Danube. Today as I was on the usual 2-lane road I saw a sign "Hatvan 14km". As I rode by I saw a familiar-looking building & stopped to take this picture. However, I was soon chased away by security without attempting to explan that inside that building, they were most likely mass-producing one or more of my Printed Circuit Board designs. In fact, I don't miss work in the slightest and attribute that to all my travels and the marvelous people I am meeting along the way. Last night I was able to glimpse a small piece of Hungarian life as I played music for some folks and then was invited to watch a live national celebration from Budapest. My host (a mechanical engineer!) spoke excellent english and so I learned a few things about Hungary. I mentioned that in the Americas, Australia & New Zealand (there are of course many others) Europeans devastated indigenous peoples & cultures but in Europe itself, the current inhabitants are the indigenous populations. I then learned that in Hungary, it's a little different since large numbers arrived from Mongolia a millenia ago.

I am in Slovakia this morning. After 4 nights in Poland, I found that riding there is an adventure. The guy who determines speed limits in Poland is on crack - cruise control is an absolute waste of money there since a limit will change on average every 1/2 mile or so. There are cameras everywhere but they don't work so no one pays any attention to those except for the ones that do work (see what I mean?). According to the sign, Poland breeds trucks (I wonder if this one's a mongrel?)

Welcome to everyone from the "Minimalist Motorcycle Vagabonds" (thanks, Dave!). I left Sweden Saturday morning, rode through an awesome eastern northern Germany (didn't occur to me until later this used to be Soviet Union territory) and am now in Poland (sunny & 75F). I will be meandering my way to Greece in the next few weeks, trying to ride through every country on the way. I have been remarkably fortunate regarding weather - not too cold or hot, only a couple hours of riding rain (especially considering I have been throughout England, Scotland, Ireland  (& North), Wales then Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. All very green & very wet places! Not posting the usual EU postcard stuff (never mind I avoid it all anyway) and almost no scenery, I am left with unusual things. The building in England was obviously not a McDonald's in its past life but in Europe, buildings are built to last centuries and they get recycled. Then there is the translation stuff...(in this case, Swedish)

On the Sweden/Norway border tonight & the weather is cool but splendid. Sweden has something the other EU countries I have seen don't: wood/siding houses! The thing these Scandinavian countries DON'T have is the Euro; I have to stop and get each country's "Kron" to have some money! The roads here are highways (no tolls) with a few national-type roads and lots of little tiny "capillary" roads where I need to stop every 10 miles to see where I am - a bit slow & tedious. Norway tomorrow (green spot is the next campground) & I head back through Sweden & catch a ferry to Germany, then Poland. The picture is another in the "as seen from inside the tent" series.

Me & the blue dot are traveling north - now Denmark! High of 65 - compare to 80's in Alaska when I was there in early July of 2011, which further north than here. But it should be warmer next week (guy at rest area said it's 113F in Greece today) . This place is "comfortable", since it really is the closest thing to Quebec I have ever seen. More wide-open & accessible, with lots of pleasant rest areas w/toilets (I am on 2-lane roads, remember - other EU countries don't put them here). Belgium had €0.5 turnstiles @ the highway rest stop gas station! People here strike up conversations about the bike & guitar; unusual before now. Yesterday I was waiting in line to pay for gas in Germany (don't know why they don't use pump-at-pay around here) the guy in front of me buys a pack of cigarettes - US $15.75 a pack!!