CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 144 km round trip from Bratislava - roughly 2 h 40 in the saddle. The stops in between: Carnuntum - Legionslager, Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube, Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich and Wien - Legionslager Umwehrung. It crosses from Slovakia into Austria - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Bratislava has been a border town for most of its history, and it still feels like one. The Danube flows past below a castle on a rocky hill, with Austria visible a few kilometres to the west and Hungary to the south, and the city has been Pressburg, Pozsony and Bratislava at different times. For nearly three centuries, from 1563 to 1830, Hungarian kings were crowned in St Martin's Cathedral, in the old town, so that this modest place was the coronation city of a kingdom. The cathedral spire carries a gilded replica of the crown. Maria Theresa was crowned here in 1741, Mozart played here as a boy, and the old town reflects that Habsburg past in its pastel-coloured baroque palaces.
Read the complete Bratislava write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bratislava is where the day begins. Next is Carnuntum - Legionslager.
Carnuntum was a Roman city, a legionary base and, for a time, a capital. The Fourteenth Legion, the Gemina, was stationed here from the first century, and the camp, with its great barracks and parade ground, guarded a crossing of the Danube where the Amber Road from the Baltic met the river. By the second century it was the capital of the province of Upper Pannonia, with an amphitheatre, baths and a population of tens of thousands. The emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have spent part of the German wars here, and tradition holds that he wrote some of his Meditations in the camp.
Read the complete Carnuntum - Legionslager write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Carnuntum - Legionslager comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube.
Marcus Aurelius, emperor and philosopher, spent several years at Carnuntum during his wars against the Germanic tribes north of the Danube, and he is thought to have written part of his Meditations here; the third book carries the note that it was written at Carnuntum. In the second century, this was one of the most important places on the Roman frontier: a legionary fortress, an auxiliary fort and a civil town that grew into the capital of the province of Upper Pannonia, with tens of thousands of inhabitants. Today, the archaeological park at Petronell-Carnuntum and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg shows reconstructed houses, a bath and streets built using Roman methods, two amphitheatres, and the Heidentor, a great ruined triumphal arch standing alone in the fields. The Danube Limes became a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 25 km into the recorded legs you reach Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube. Next is Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich.
Under the Hoher Markt, one of the oldest squares in Vienna, lie the foundations of the Roman legionary fortress of Vindobona. The Tenth Legion was stationed here for centuries, guarding the Danube frontier, and the camp covered much of what is now the inner city. Its outline can still be traced in the pattern of streets: the curve of the Graben follows the line of the fortress moat, and the old Roman road toward the west became today's Herrengasse. A small museum on the Hoher Markt displays the remains of officers' houses, with their heating systems, and finds from the camp.
Read the complete Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich, about halfway. Next is Wien - Legionslager Umwehrung.
Vienna began as a Roman legionary camp called Vindobona, built around the end of the first century on a bluff above the Danube and a small tributary. The camp held a legion, first the Thirteenth and later the Tenth, and it was a large rectangle surrounded by a wall and ditch, with gates on each side. A civilian settlement grew outside it. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius died in this region in 180, and one tradition says he died at Vindobona, though the evidence is not certain.
Read the complete Wien - Legionslager Umwehrung write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wien - Legionslager Umwehrung sits at 77 km, about halfway. Next is back through Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 120 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube. Next is back through Carnuntum - Legionslager.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Carnuntum - Legionslager write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Carnuntum - Legionslager, late in the day. Next is Bratislava.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bratislava write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 144 km.
Bratislava → Carnuntum - Legionslager is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube → Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wien - Legionslager Zentralbereich → back through Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Carnuntum - Legionslager → Bratislava is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.