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06.05. - 11.05.2012 Border Hungary - Budapest 233 km
Olli:
After cheerfully crossing the Hungarian border over an old and rusty iron bridge we encountered our first bad surprise. Instead of cycling to Györ, as I had it marked on the map, we followed a different bike trail sign, because Sonja malinterpreted my drawing, which I had given her without an explanation (stupid missunderstanding), and we found ourselves on a nasty gravel road along the Danube. We do not know what the Hungarians had in mind by declaring this a "bike path". Just imagine you're cycling to your favourite lake with 40 kilos of luggage trying to keep your balance and moving forward while youre tires eat into the gravel ;).
After 2 ½ hours of fighting the elements we were sick to death of it and we switched to a country road. Soon this also turned out to be a dead end. After arriving in a village called Vének a boatman tried to explain in Hungarian that we either need to go back to Györ or he brings us for 5 € (usury) in his boat across the branch of the Danube which was blocking our way. We opted for the shorter way across the river, not knowing that from there only one road leads to our destination Komárom, which is explicitly prohibited for cyclists, tractors and horse carriages. What's more, we only had a 10 € bank note and hadn't had a chance so far to change money to Hungarian Forint thanks to the gravel path. After a short negotiation we accepted a change of 500 Forint (not even 2 €) because we did not want to bother ourselves further and simply wanted to go on. Super shortcut! But we're not mad with the guy because it was our own fault. We are simply two dipshits ... crossing the Hungarian border without any currency and without knowing a single word of Hungarian but you live and learn and with this new experience, we make it better next time.
There was not much traffic on this road, since it was Sunday, so we illegally just followed this way for lack of alternatives. After a while we even saw other cyclists and thanks to the good pavement we were very fast and were finally able to relocate the correct cycle path towards evening.
Back on track we found a really nice place to camp just next to the Danube with a beautiful pebble beach, but unfortunately it was too cold for swimming. While unloading our bicycles we noticed with surprise and joy that we had mastered our first 1000 km. After our every evening routine of having a shower, doing laundry, cooking and dishwashing we were sitting comfortably in our tent (it was already pitch dark), as Sonja suddenly got diarrhea. She just barely got out of the tent but not without messing up her pants. I armed myself with a headlamp, unpacked fresh clothes and washed the dirty ones without further ado in the Danube. Unfortunately there is no water tap out in the wilderness.
The next day it was raining once again from morning to evening, so we spent another day at the beach, until the strong wind had driven away the thunderclouds.
Sonja (fit as a fiddle again):
When we finally reached Budapest, to which we had been looking forward to, our first impression was a shock: Out of the Hungarian nature, that we could enjoy for the last few days, into the big city with traffic jam, honking horns, noise, heat, dust and crowds of people. Nevertheless we wanted to have a closer look at this city which we had heard so much about. Since the best way doing that is of course with insider tips from a local, we tried to find a host over Warmshowers. We were very lucky to get a prompt response from Frida, a very likeable Hungarian, who spontaneously invited us into her home. After making pizza together for dinner, Frida drew us directons into her Budapest map for our sightseeing tour the next day and even handed over the keys to her home.
The next morning, armed with this map, we set out on our bikes (but without luggage) to explore this huge city. After having overcome the initial shock, we were able to gain really beautiful impressions. Particularly funny was Olli's encounter with the security personnel of the Parliament. In order to take a nice picture, he climbed over some flower boxes, which were supposed to shut off the ground. Immediately a security guy came running gesticulating and cursing in Hungarian to chase him away. In the evening we met with Frida, who unfortunately had to work during the day, and went to a really nice beer garden in the backyard of a hostel (insider tip: Grandio Kert), where we enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere between brightly painted walls and good music with beer and veggie burgers.
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