Europe India Trip: Day 54–56: Rainy rides are back : Graz — Vienna ride [ June 4–6, 2023 ]

This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip travelogue . Read here for details

Map link . Total Distance covered — 7650 kms

As mentioned in my previous blog , I had reached Graz & checked into my friend Ankit’s place . It was raining on my way from Hallsttat to Graz & the weather was showing rain the entire week in the most parts in Europe around the area. I had done quite a bit of ride (around 400+ kms) & that was possibly my longest single day ride in the trip, so obviously the next day was the rest day. The rain only made the decision easier :).

Nice view from Ankit’s apartment. Most Austrian cities have hill view including Graz

Rain & the rainbow

We decided to go for a bit of Graz sight seeing in the evening. Ankit had mentioned that even Graz old town is Unesco Heritage site. Graz old town is definitely beautiful & not as crowded as other touristy places.

The old town center where we got down from the tram

The yellow building had some special significance but I could not get much details as Ankit did not remember it :)

Taking a street out towards Schlossberg

Ankit decided to take us to Schollsberg which is a small castle on the hill. It definitely was worth the climb as you get some real nice city view from there.

the final climb to the top

A small clock tower at the top

City view from the top. If you zoom in, you will see a submarine like black building. It is some art museum but looking at the building was pretty fascinating

The actual castle building

Thats Ankit’s family. His wife Maitreyee on the left, Ankit & their kid — Divit . It took me a few shots to get everyone to keep their eyes open & put up a vivid pose :)

We spent some time on the top & then decided to walk down. Ankit & I decided to see cathedral & caught up with one of his friend in an Ethiopian restaurant, while Maitreyee & Divit left for home.

Graz cathedral that we passed to the Ethiopian restaurant

& the central square. I am not sure what is the statue but it seemed like the statue is made of gold.

The Ethiopian restaurant. The food was decent & had similar preparation as that of Indian food

Ankit’s order on the left — some chicken preparation & it was tasty. Mine is a veg food. Ankit himself ordered for me as I could not read German menu. Behind the beer, there were dosa like bread & it was pretty decent. The same bread is also spread below our food serving.

Unfortunately, I did not click picture with Avinash & his family whom we met at the restaurant. Avinash was very curious about my motorbike trip & as usual, I ended up doing most of the talking about my trip :).

We came back taking the tram & I pretty much slept off the day. My next destination was Vienna but I was not sure if I would leave the next day. I figured I would decide it the next day itself depending on how rain looks like (it was pretty heavy rain prediction) & slept off.

Unfortunately (or fortunately as I could get time to sleep) the next day turn out to be heavy rain & I decided to stay put at Ankit’s house. I also had to decide on a place to stay & looked up hostels in Vienna. I remember calling Stadtaffe hostel to check about motorbike parking & the lady Lisa offered me to park bike inside in their garden for free. I was elated & had booked a night at their place. I figured Vienna hostel rates were higher (around 20 Euros) unlike Czech, Poland or Slovak ones. I did consider picking a hostel in Bratislava which is under 100 kms away from Vienna & doing a day ride to Vienna, but then I figured I would anyway end up spending more than 10 Euros in petrol. So I figured staying in Vienna should be a good idea.

I started my ride next day at around 9 AM. Vienna wasnt too far (around 200 kms) but I decided to ride a bit leisurely. I had put one coffee shop in a nearby city around 50 kms as my first destination & I remember taking a wrong turn and going pretty deep into a different direction & then taking an suburbish road back. But the road turned out to be quite nice through small Austrian villages. I reached the coffee shop & figured that they dont card. Luckily, I had some cash.

I figured that most German & Austrian small towns still rely on cash while most of the other countries have adopted cashless pretty much completely in Europe.

Luckily I still had the extra cash from my Belaruse entry attempt days which I used to pay for the coffee :).

The coffee shop name was ‘Be Better’.

The coffee shop was next to a mall & this building was directly opposite the mall. The artificial bushes drawn on the walls were funny & noticeable :)

I resumed my ride & soon faced with rain. I decided to stop to wear my shoe cover at a petrol station.

I reached Stadtaffe hostel by like 3 PM & checked in. Lisa was still there & she helped me park my bike inside. The hostel was pretty nice & modern. This was the hostel that has the most DIY checkin experience with key codes pretty much everywhere. The rooms were large too.

My motorbike parked in the garden of the hostel

I decided to visit this Pakistani restaurant called Der Weiner Deewan, where you can eat as much & pay what you like. Someone earlier had told me about the place. The mistake I did is to not carry my poncho & it rained pretty heavily on the way :).

I took shelter in a church porch while it rained heavily

Entrance of the Pakistani restaurant

It was buffet with vegeterian & meat options. Food was decent. There was sweet halwa too.

I paid 7 Euro for the food, thanked the owners & started to walk back. It was raining & I was tired. So I decided to take the tram instead. I dint buy the ticket but I kind of knew that it was raining & late evening & chances of ticket check is slim :).

I booked a walking tour next day & had decided to ride to Bratislava. I had not decided on where to stay as I have to do the similar exercise of finding a hostel with parking for the bike. In Austria, I was ok parking motorbike overnight on sidewalk but with my bad experience in Czechia, I was a little skeptical about Slovakia. With that thought, I slept off. My Bratislava stay turned out to be unique with I meeting a lot of Indians & they recording a video with me encouraging me. More on it in the next post :).