SUNFLOWERS!!!
Day 26: They gave me Goulash... more to come later
Monday July 22 - Day 26 - 48miles - Total 1031miles
We made it past the 1000 mile mark today!
Our breakfasts in the Pension Olymp in Komarno were delectable omelets cooked with butter but no coffee because the machine was broken... We were served our breakfast by a surly blond waitress in micro-skirt who, to her credit, spoke English and tried to smile. We got packed up and headed out to find the cappuccino shop we saw yesterday. We had wonderful cappuccinos only 1 euro each and were now ready for the day! We stopped at the Billa grocery store on our way out of town, because Billa's have readymade sandwiches and Lidls do not. We were both feeling a little tired today after the long (65 mile) day yesterday... we didn't want to have to make our own sandwiches...
We headed out onto route 63 towards Sturovo, which is a fairly major road and they were doing road work. When we are on major roads, Bruce usually has me ride ahead so that he can buffer any cars that are trying to pass too close. Today, Bruce intimidated a Skoda (small engined mini-coup) into not passing us while we were passing the road work. Oh my intimidating husband... te he he... Considering our fully loaded bikes rival the weight of some of the cars on the road, it isn't tough to get in their way... and stay there...
The pilfered plums and apricots were eaten as a snack and the rest were thrown away since they kinda fermented in Andrea's handlebar bag last night. We were only slightly drunk after eating several pulpy sweet plums that tasted just a bit like cider. Happy on fruit juice, we admired the many enormous stork nests on top of telephone polls. We had seen them before but now cycling under them, with sometimes 3 or 4 full grown storks in them... they are impressive architectural feats of avian knowhow. These birds are huge and their nests could fill the Skoda Bruce intimidated earlier.
We took several breaks in the shade, when we could find it. One stop ended up being right next to a sunflower field. The sunflowers are blooming, following the sun, and the bees are buzzing. It makes the hot days a little more bearable, watching these gorgeous flowers as we pass.
We stopped for lunch, of our Billa sandwiches, in the shade of a horse chestnut tree in the center of Sturovo. They had a lovely water-feature in the middle of town, so we got to have lunch and watch the local kids jumping and splashing in the cool water. We joined in of course, because it was hot and we wanted to have fun too. After lunch we crossed the bridge into Esztergom,Hungary, which had an enormous church on the Hungarian side that dominated the town.
We followed the bike path through the town and onto the river's edge. The part through town was over cobblestones... Cobblestones are hard enough to walk on, let alone bump along on a loaded touring bike (without a suspension seat post I might add...) Along the river was paved, but the Hungarians haven't quite gotten the hang of paving large smooth sections, so there is a seam (aka bump)in the asphalt about every 15 feet or so... this makes for a less than smooth ride, but at least it was paved. We could see the flood mark on all of the trees we passed. They were covered in a layer of silt, dusting their trunks and leaves up about to about 10 feet above the path. This means that a month ago, this path and everything around it was totally underwater to a level above our heads. Quite humbling thinking about it.
We hit a couple of hills again on the main road after the bike path finished, which was weird after being on the flat for so long. After a couple more miles, we caught a ferry across the Danube to a town called Szob. Both sides of the Danube are now in Hungary. We ended up just missing one so we had to wait for an hour for the next one. But we had a beer at the cafe made so that people taking the ferry could have a beer during the hour wait. At the cafe there was a kitty that looked just like our Killwillie. It wouldn't give us the time of day... so we knew it was definitely a Kilwillie kitty.
The ferry had a very quick turnaround once it arrived again and we had to scurry on. Once across the river we were off to the next bike path. We met a couple of other cyclists on the ferry and saw them again a few times on the path. We followed the path to Nagymoros, where we would take our second ferry of the day to Visegrad. Of course we made it but we were in the wrong place to catch the ferry because of BAD SIGNAGE! When we ran over to the ferry, we were told we needed to buy tickets at the kiosk. When we went to the kiosk, the girl didn't want to rush (even though the ferry was practically leaving) and kept making an ice cream cone even while I was pleading with her to sell me the tickets. We rushed to the ferry and tried to buy the tickets on the boat (which we had done for the last ferry by the way) but they didn't take Euros. So finally we had to buy tickets after the ride at the kiosk at the other side. What a hassle! But the guys on the boat were very nice, so we all laughed and it was okay.
In Visegrad, our stop for the night, it seemed pretty touristy with many hotels and restaurants.
We went to two hotels but both were totally booked up! Uh oh... but then we found a campground that was practically empty... and it was owned by one of the booked hotels. We got our site for the night... by the way - why do they make us pay for bikes??? We have noticed a parking fee for bikes lately which we see as a rip-off... there are no bicycle parking spaces! (Sorry, little tirade).
After the little fiasco on the ferry, we realized that we REALLY needed to change currencies. There are about 225 Hungarian forints to the dollar. We found an ATM finally and all was well. We went out to dinner. The menu was in 5 different languages. We ordered traditional Goulash soup.
They gave me Goulash! And a spicy pepper sauce that was VERY hot even Laurie Somario would weep a little...HOT HOT HOT! But so good! For dessert we had chocolate filled crepes and beer. Now we are in the tent... going to bed after a hot shower... The warm showers hosts (bike touring reciprocal hosting site) we contacted about staying in Budapest never got back to us so we booked an apartment in Budapest. We will arrive tomorrow!
Budapest here we come!
The World Is Ours!
Monday July 22 - Day 26 - 48miles - Total 1031miles
We made it past the 1000 mile mark today!
Our breakfasts in the Pension Olymp in Komarno were delectable omelets cooked with butter but no coffee because the machine was broken... We were served our breakfast by a surly blond waitress in micro-skirt who, to her credit, spoke English and tried to smile. We got packed up and headed out to find the cappuccino shop we saw yesterday. We had wonderful cappuccinos only 1 euro each and were now ready for the day! We stopped at the Billa grocery store on our way out of town, because Billa's have readymade sandwiches and Lidls do not. We were both feeling a little tired today after the long (65 mile) day yesterday... we didn't want to have to make our own sandwiches...
We headed out onto route 63 towards Sturovo, which is a fairly major road and they were doing road work. When we are on major roads, Bruce usually has me ride ahead so that he can buffer any cars that are trying to pass too close. Today, Bruce intimidated a Skoda (small engined mini-coup) into not passing us while we were passing the road work. Oh my intimidating husband... te he he... Considering our fully loaded bikes rival the weight of some of the cars on the road, it isn't tough to get in their way... and stay there...
The pilfered plums and apricots were eaten as a snack and the rest were thrown away since they kinda fermented in Andrea's handlebar bag last night. We were only slightly drunk after eating several pulpy sweet plums that tasted just a bit like cider. Happy on fruit juice, we admired the many enormous stork nests on top of telephone polls. We had seen them before but now cycling under them, with sometimes 3 or 4 full grown storks in them... they are impressive architectural feats of avian knowhow. These birds are huge and their nests could fill the Skoda Bruce intimidated earlier.
We took several breaks in the shade, when we could find it. One stop ended up being right next to a sunflower field. The sunflowers are blooming, following the sun, and the bees are buzzing. It makes the hot days a little more bearable, watching these gorgeous flowers as we pass.
We stopped for lunch, of our Billa sandwiches, in the shade of a horse chestnut tree in the center of Sturovo. They had a lovely water-feature in the middle of town, so we got to have lunch and watch the local kids jumping and splashing in the cool water. We joined in of course, because it was hot and we wanted to have fun too. After lunch we crossed the bridge into Esztergom,Hungary, which had an enormous church on the Hungarian side that dominated the town.
We followed the bike path through the town and onto the river's edge. The part through town was over cobblestones... Cobblestones are hard enough to walk on, let alone bump along on a loaded touring bike (without a suspension seat post I might add...) Along the river was paved, but the Hungarians haven't quite gotten the hang of paving large smooth sections, so there is a seam (aka bump)in the asphalt about every 15 feet or so... this makes for a less than smooth ride, but at least it was paved. We could see the flood mark on all of the trees we passed. They were covered in a layer of silt, dusting their trunks and leaves up about to about 10 feet above the path. This means that a month ago, this path and everything around it was totally underwater to a level above our heads. Quite humbling thinking about it.
We hit a couple of hills again on the main road after the bike path finished, which was weird after being on the flat for so long. After a couple more miles, we caught a ferry across the Danube to a town called Szob. Both sides of the Danube are now in Hungary. We ended up just missing one so we had to wait for an hour for the next one. But we had a beer at the cafe made so that people taking the ferry could have a beer during the hour wait. At the cafe there was a kitty that looked just like our Killwillie. It wouldn't give us the time of day... so we knew it was definitely a Kilwillie kitty.
The ferry had a very quick turnaround once it arrived again and we had to scurry on. Once across the river we were off to the next bike path. We met a couple of other cyclists on the ferry and saw them again a few times on the path. We followed the path to Nagymoros, where we would take our second ferry of the day to Visegrad. Of course we made it but we were in the wrong place to catch the ferry because of BAD SIGNAGE! When we ran over to the ferry, we were told we needed to buy tickets at the kiosk. When we went to the kiosk, the girl didn't want to rush (even though the ferry was practically leaving) and kept making an ice cream cone even while I was pleading with her to sell me the tickets. We rushed to the ferry and tried to buy the tickets on the boat (which we had done for the last ferry by the way) but they didn't take Euros. So finally we had to buy tickets after the ride at the kiosk at the other side. What a hassle! But the guys on the boat were very nice, so we all laughed and it was okay.
In Visegrad, our stop for the night, it seemed pretty touristy with many hotels and restaurants.
We went to two hotels but both were totally booked up! Uh oh... but then we found a campground that was practically empty... and it was owned by one of the booked hotels. We got our site for the night... by the way - why do they make us pay for bikes??? We have noticed a parking fee for bikes lately which we see as a rip-off... there are no bicycle parking spaces! (Sorry, little tirade).
After the little fiasco on the ferry, we realized that we REALLY needed to change currencies. There are about 225 Hungarian forints to the dollar. We found an ATM finally and all was well. We went out to dinner. The menu was in 5 different languages. We ordered traditional Goulash soup.
They gave me Goulash! And a spicy pepper sauce that was VERY hot even Laurie Somario would weep a little...HOT HOT HOT! But so good! For dessert we had chocolate filled crepes and beer. Now we are in the tent... going to bed after a hot shower... The warm showers hosts (bike touring reciprocal hosting site) we contacted about staying in Budapest never got back to us so we booked an apartment in Budapest. We will arrive tomorrow!
Budapest here we come!
The World Is Ours!
On the Ferry to Szob!
This says "Hungary" in Hungarian... you wonder why we don't speak the language...
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