Today marks the seven day point in the 2017 Mongol Rally - as Week One concludes, it has been an eventful few days. The listed city or location is where we ended up each night.
Day 1 - Goodwood to Brussels
We set off from Goodwood Racetrack in the South of the England. The quiet English town was an interesting backdrop for the 300 cars that set off lapping the track and out the gates towards Mongolia.
The Kuros!® Mongol Rally car in grid, getting ready to lap Goodwood Racetrack
After leaving the gates of Goodwood we headed towards Dover, where we saw the Whitecliffs and got a ferry to Calais, France. We booked it across France and ended up in Brussels, Belgium for the night.
Day 2 - Brussels to Freiburg
After spending the night in Brussels, we headed off into Germany. Turning South right before hitting Cologne to head towards the the Nurburgring, the famous racetrack in Western Germany. Nicknamed “The Green Hell” the track is a serious endeavor for any motorsports enthusiast. The Micra handling two laps with ease while Porsche GT3s and Ferrari 488s flew past.
We left “The Ring” and continued South towards Freiburg, an old city in the Black Forest of Germany.
Day 3 - Freiburg to Berchtesgaden
We hit the road early to make it to Neuschwanstein Castle, and amazing castle in the central South of Germany near the border with Austria. Originally built as a reclusive refugee, it is now the most photographed castles in all of Germany, and possibly the world.
A quick tip, is after crossing the iconic bridge you can hike up the mountain on the left to get amazing views from above the castle. It will require hiking shoes but is worth it. After leaving the castle, rain was coming in hard as we continued east across Germany.
Day 4 - Berchtesgaden to Prague
We ended up sleeping in the mountains on the Austrian border before continuing on towards Berchtesgaden in Germany to visit Hitler’s famous “Eagles Nest” - a quick trip before continuing towards Prague in the Czech Republic.
Day 5 - Prague and Central Czech Republic
Heading an hour east of Prague, we stopped by the lovely Sedletz-Ossarium. several hundred year old church containing the bones of 40,000 people arranged into various decorations. The church is still open and people regularly visit it for worship.
Day 6 - Prague to Budapest
Leaving Prague and continuing towards Mongolia, we headed South towards Hungary. Stopping to visit the tiny town of Benov - where my mom’s Czech side of the family migrated to America from. The locals seemed very confused by our bright, right hand drive car and it got many stares as we rolled through town.
Day 7 - Budapest to Romania
After a quick stay over in Budapest, a beautiful modern city we continued onward into Romania. Taking a moment to visit the ruins of Poenari castle, the home of Vlad III. Drăculea - better known as Vlad the Impaler. It was at the top of nearly 1,500 steps and is quiet a hike, but the view from the top was worth it.
We got down from Vlad’s castle and continued onward towards Mongolia, taking the Transfagarasan highway over the Carpathian Mountains.
Onward towards Mongolia! This next week will see us crossing into Turkey and hopefully reaching the Armenian border by August 1st!