Budapest Rest Day 1

 After breakfast in our hotel, we went to the train station to buy train tickets for our return to Prague. We knew a separate ticket was needed for bikes, but the web site said no tickets were available either tomorrow or the next day, a little concerning as we need to get back. At the station it was no problem getting two tickets to Prague with bikes, so we had two full days to explore Budapest.

We purchased a 24 hour all-transport ticket and took the metro down towards the river where we took a walking tour of the Pest side of Budapest. The architecture is amazing and extensive. Much is rebuilt after WWII, and some still has bullet holes or cannon balls in the facades. Mid tour we stopped for apple strudel which our guide claimed originates in Budapest. It was surprising to find statues of both Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush among the historical and artistic sculptures downtown. Most of the history is much older than those.

The day was hot. We returned to the hotel and did laundry at a nearby laundromat, and we finished booking our Prague hotel and airport transfer for the end of our trip as we waited. 

After a late pizza lunch, we rented towels and took the metro to the Szechenyi Thermal Baths, a spa housed in an ornate, hundred year old, neo-baroque building. After changing and stowing our street clothes in our respective, maze-like locker rooms, we met at the outdoor courtyard. In addition to the lap pool and hot pool, there was a tepid pool in the coutrtyard about 4’ deep with a donut shaped divider in the center that you could enter on one side. A strong current swirled in the donut shape and people packed in and walked/floated in circles. We never found out if the moving people created the current or vice versa, but we let ourselves be swept around in a circle with other laughing guests for a while. After some time in the outdoor area, where a few hundred people relaxed, sunned, and swam, we explored the indoor rooms housing pools of varied temperatures, aroma saunas (peppermint or cedar), and a salt sauna (not hot but very salty). There were even beer baths though we didn’t explore them. We finished with another swim, enjoying a change of pace from cycling and sightseeing.

Esztergom to Budapest

 Ride day 14: 55.3 miles, 1089’ climbing

Lodging:  Hotel Medos

We had a very nice breakfast at our hotel in Esztergom.  Part of what makes the determination of very nice is the coffee, and it was a good Americano.

After breakfast we readied the bikes and set off back across the bridge from the day before and out of town towards Budapest.

We rode about 30 miles on some roads shared with cars and on the Eurovelo bike path along grassy fields and trees, stopping along the way for a snack at a Coop grocery.  Then we arrived at an option in the town of Vac to take a ferry to a large island in the middle of the Danube or we could continue along the south/west side of River.  As luck would have it the ferry was just finishing loading, and we got aboard as the last passengers a minute before the ferry departed.  The whole trip to the island took maybe 5 minutes.

We crossed to the west side of the island, looking for a place to have lunch and stumbled upon a craft fair in a field with music and food.  We parked our bikes and went in, it felt like a wholly local event, and we got some lemonades and some mutton sandwiches which were a little questionable in quality. But the bread and lemonade were great.

After lunch we continued on and got closer to Budapest traveling on a nice path that got more and more populated with other rider and pedestrians.  The Sunday afternoon pedestrians here don’t really care much about the bikers or pay much attention to where they are going or who they might be blocking, so things got quite slow for a bit.  After a stop for a Coke at a cafe along the path, we made our way into Budapest, crossing the Danube, and onto streets to our hotel.  The traffic was occasionally intense, but helmetless scooter riders didn’t stop or hesitate in the face of cars, and we followed.  Directions got confusing and stressful, but we made it successfully. Our hotel faces a small park which is a quiet corner in the city.

After showering, we headed out for an evening boat tour on the Danube.  We decided to take the metro (subway).  The ticket system is a bit confusing, we purchased tickets at a kiosk but it never printed actual tickets, and we were never asked for tickets. The boat was one of those large tour boats, but we were able to get a seat on the upper deck in the cool air.  As night fell and the city lit up it was quite beautiful to see. The weather was perfect, and views were memorable. Budapest was full of people enjoying the evening on a Sunday, and it extended over many parts of the city.

After the boat ride, we grabbed dinner at an outside table in an area right off the Danube where lots of people were wandering about or eating too.  Then it was back to the hotel after a long day. Budapest is very charming. While there are a lot of tourists here, it doesn’t feel like a theme park the way Vienna does. We look forward to exploring more.

Gyor to Estzergom

 Ride day 13: 62 miles, 751’ climbing

Hôtel Villa Gran Esztergom

After a hotel breakfast, we rode out of Gyor, seeing some of the industrial side of town — a big arena, fast roads. We read that Audi is a huge employer in Gyor, but we didn’t see any Audi businesses. Except for a few shared streets downtown, our morning was on separated bike lanes past homes, farms, and patches of forest.

About half way to Esztergom, in the twin towns of Komarom (Hungary) and Komarno (Slovakia), we crossed the Danube to the north east side. We were soon back in Hungary having crossed another unsigned border. Our route passed fewer towns, and we didn’t find a restaurant, so we picked up bread and cheese and sodas at a small stop. Outside the shop we met a couple who were bike touring, clearly set up for camping as their loads were much bigger than ours. He was from Spain, and she was from Poland but living recently in Spain in addition to Wales and China. Together they are riding to Serbia, then she plans to continue to Vietnam. Big plans! We chatted for a while about bikepacking, travel, and took some pics. We exchanged social media contacts, and we look forward to following their trip on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/unicorntravels_?igsh=MWgyeHN1cXc2cjF1aQ==

We lunched at a camp site along the Danube, sitting on a fallen log, watching boats and birds going back and forth on the water. We cycled past the Danube Curve, a bend in the river, without being able to find a good view.

After some more riding along the river, we headed towards the towns of Sturovo, NE bank of the Danube, and Esztergom, SW bank and our destination. We started seeing a huge domed, historic building that looked close but kept getting farther away, kind of an optical illusion. Finally we realized it was the giant basilica of Esztergom. We crossed the Danube on a bridge and quickly arrived at our hotel, meeting a couple from Vancouver who seemed to be following our same route. We were all tired and hot and retreated to our rooms.

The « cats path », a long, steep, cobbled staircase leading up to the Basilica on top of the hill that rises above the city, started just opposite our hotel. We climbed up and were rewarded with amazing views of the town and the river and beyond. We took the whole tour of the basilica: over 400 steps to the cupola via narrow winding staircases, the treasury with an amazingly well preserved set of historic church relics, the church itself where a wedding was in progress, and the musty crypt. The complex was even larger, with many buildings not open to the public. A photographer was taking photos of the exquisite bride and groom, dwarfed on the front steps of the basilica. We later saw another couple in wedding garb taking photos also. 

We headed down the hill, hearing strains of music, and made our way to a festival. The band was playing covers of tunes that sent us tight back to the early 1980s. We had a beer, listened, and chatted with some locals as we watched. Afterwards we picked up doner kebabs for dinner and retreated to our hotel.

Bratislava to Gyor

Ride day 12: 49.3 miles, 381ft climbing

Lodging:  Hotel Icon

We woke up and got ready for the hotel breakfast that began at 7:30.  Our hotel offered the usual buffet style breakfast and it was ok, not great.  Then we packed up and headed out of town the way we came in, across the Danube on the UFO bridge and onto the Eurovelo 6 bike path, south/east side of the Danube. There are paths on both sides. 

After about 12 miles or so riding on the Eurovelo bike path we entered Hungary without any welcome signs other than our phones alerting us we’d joined a new carrier.

Hungary looks different from both the Czech Republic or Austria and even from the little piece of Slovakia we saw.  The homes are a little newer along the path and it looks a little more polished overall.  There’s very little graffiti, but we aren’t in cities. It was clean and the countryside was flat and pretty along the route which ran near the Danube.

We stopped at a bank after we entered the country and withdrew 20,000 Hungarian Forints which turns out is only about $60.  A little later we stopped off at a convenience store for a coke and some Crispy Fripsy chips and some cookies that tasted like animal crackers.  Then we tried our hand at thank you “Köszönöm” which was met with a smile by the lady at the store.

It was an easy ride into Gyor, the bike route was quite nice and maintained well.  We got to our hotel and had some salads at the restaurant attached to it and then checked in.  It’s hot out today (85 degrees) and our hotel room was stifling.  Turns out the front desk controls the ac for each room and we were able to request they get the room cool.

After showers we headed out to explore the old town.  It’s quite lovely with lots of shops and restaurants, with great signage hanging over the doorways.  It was busy with what appeared to be a lot of locals and tourists both enjoying the day out.  There were some nice churches to look at, a nice square with a fountain and lots of kids and families having ice cream and wandering, so we did the same.

Bratislava Rest Day

 0 miles on the bike, lots of walking

Our charming hotel is right on a Main Street of old town Bratislava. The down side of this amazing location is that there are a lot of people in the area, and they aren’t all on our same schedule. Unfortunately there were revelers who kept us awake for hours last night. Since we have nowhere we have to be, we took it easy in the morning. After breakfast in our hotel, we did an audio walking tour of old town. We shared ear buds as we have in other cities. A live guide can impart more info, but the phone app is flexible and works great. Bratislava has a long and interesting history as most of the old cities we have visited seem to have.

After our walking tour, we sat around a while, enjoying the down time, then we set out to see more of Bratislava. We walked to a funny little museum near the castle dedicated to optical illusions, fun and different. Then we set out to see the presidential gardens. It was hard to find the entrance, and we traversed underground walkways, busy streets, passed lots of buildings that look run down, lots of graffiti, a fair amount of litter. Vienna also had a lot of graffiti, so maybe this is a big city thing, though here it is even in the old town. Another quirk we’ve noticed in Bratislava is that there are many places advertising Thai massage. Maybe there’s a Thai community here? The presidential gardens were peaceful when we finally located the entrance, then it was back to old town. 

We had a glass of wine sitting at an outdoor table at one of the many restaurants that line the streets. We watched the multitude of passers by, trying to guess who was a local, who was a tourist, and where they might be from. As in Czechia, there were a lot of dog walkers, and all ages were represented. Finally we selected a restaurant and went for dinner, then back to our hotel. It was another good day.

Vienna to Bratislava

 Ride day 11: 48.5 miles, 712’ elevation gain

Lodging:  Hotel Skaritz

After a light breakfast at the Henry grocery store (think of the counter at Whole Foods), we retrieved our bikes from storage and headed to the Danube. The hotelier who helped us with the bike wished us well and gave us Austrian chocolates in case we needed energy on the ride. He didn’t seem thrilled when we first showed up and needed a place for our bikes, but his attitude changed over 2 days and some tipping. He has recommended restaurants for us, and enthusiastically told us that he has 3 bikes. A lot of the hotel employees on our trip have been really great to us.

We left the grand center of Vienna, fairly quiet in the morning, on the separated bike paths, full of bike commuters in a hurry. The infrastructure for bikes is extensive with separated lanes and traffic lights, but it’s a little intimidating to figure out when and where to go in the midst of all the people. We funneled onto the canal bike path, a bit more peaceful, then across the Danube and onto the Eurovelo 6 route, one of the European long distance cycling routes. 

The full EV6 route goes from the Atlantic coast of France to the Black Sea in Romania. It is much more travelled than the Czech Greenways from Prague to Vienna, both by touring cyclists and day riders, and it’s well signposted and very flat. For about 30 miles we were on straight, smooth pavement or gravel on a green dike that apparently is flood control for the Danube. We had grass and trees on either side. It wasn’t the most interesting scenery, but it was pretty, and we had a good tailwind.

We crossed the Danube to the south side near the town of Hainburg in Austria. A short uphill ride gave us most of our elevation gain for the day. We rode the paved path next to some roads and farms, then stopped for a coke at a small store. Our phones gave us a “Welcome to Slovakia” message, and voila, we were in a new country without seeing a road sign indicating as much. 

From a distance, Slovakia looked busier than the adjacent part of Austria which has farms and wind turbines. (We think they are in Austria — we are also near the border of Hungary). The city south of the Danube looks modern, and the old town and castle are on the south bank. We crossed on a bridge under the peculiar UFO lookout using the cyclist/pedestrian crossing which deposited us into the charming old town. There are lots of cafes, tourists and shops. The shops appear more local than the expensive status brands of Vienna. It’s smaller, quieter, and appealing.

Our hotel was in old town, a very nice suite with a fireplace and small kitchen, a couch and a dining table. From our windows we can hear the babble of voices along with music from buskers. After wandering the streets and going up to the castle (rebuilt in 1953 and not a lot to see), we had a good dinner at a restaurant called Gatto Matto near our hotel, and we called it a day.