Day 16--Esztergom to Budapest, Hungary

Budapest at rush hour

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Esztergom to Budapest, Hungary

Distance: 78 km (a mere 48.4 miles)

X+--We have a short ride into Budapest today so you'll have most of the afternoon to explore, and tomorrow is a rest day, as well. Our hotel is near the center of Buda so you'll be close to most of the sights. We have a special dinner tonight including a cruise on the Danube.

We rose early as usual and had a good breakfast at the hotel. Then we copied our route directions for the day. ExperiencePlus gave each of us a map of the section of the country we were riding through and we highlighted our route each day as backup to the route arrows. Then it was time for bike check and a few photos before starting our day's adventure.

The gang at breakfast and highlighting the day's route on our maps

Steve pumping iron; Steffie with the giant dog that was perhaps a cross between a Hungarian Kuvaszs (sheepdog) which is white but with the coloring of a Newfoundland or Keeshound

Dog enjoying the morning routine

The paparazzi always in one's face

We cycled the first 5 km or so on a root heaved bike path; then we bicycled about 25 km on a busy road with the usual dished lane and heaved shoulders; then at Kisoroszi, we took a ferry a very short distance to an island, and cycled a blissful 10 km on a smooth, little used road through tree tunnels and past quiet horse farms before crossing a bridge and pedaling again on the busy road.

Early morning along the river

A nice, shaded section of the trail

The dratted paparazzi again, snapping us on and off the ferry

Rick, with an apple in his mouth, the better to  use his hands and to scowl at the paparazzi; what he was really saying was "Don't take my photo when I'm walking for pete's sake!"

A sculpture of Pegasus on the island and a sculpture in the sculpture garden of the Rodin Cafe near where Judy had her flat

On this side of the river we cycled through a resort area, Vizegräd, which was having a medieval celebration and had all sorts of booths and banners and people dressed in period costumes. I loved it that these “re-enactors” had a real castle as a backdrop.

 

Children reenactors getting instructions and costume adjustment

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 After stopping in Vizegräd, we rode a busy road to Leänyfalu, where we dismounted our bikes and walked through an interesting area of cobblestones and shops. I looked for an ethnic hand-painted mug in vain, but Judy bought a hand embroidered table runner (on my credit card because she did not have hers with her) for $102.

Shortly after this, Judy had a flat. I started to change the tube for her but Rick came along and finished the job. Judy made no move to change her own tube. I think that she sees me as the staff I was when I roomed with her last spring on the America by Bicycle Great Mississippi River Ride. She did give me one of her Gojos (that I had given her earlier) though to clean my hands. 

We rode the busy resort road along the River until some high jinks got us up onto a city bike path that was narrow, weedy, and root heaved. We rode this for quite a way through the city and then found ourselves in Budapest beside railroad tracks and the River. Carolyn and Harold had gone on when we were shopping in Leänyfalu, so Rick swept us into Budapest.

 

Looking downriver toward Budapest

Our first glimpse of Budapest

The glorious parliament building that one sees in every Viking River Cruises ad; it really is impressive though and I took many photos of it.

Speaking of river cruises, look at the length of that boat; one wonders how it gets around the bend at Schlogen. Just kidding. The river is plenty wide enough

Train running next to the bike track; yes we are in a big city, fortunately it recognizes the bicycle as a means of travel

We crossed the river on Sisi’s bridge (the white bridge), and then it was very much like riding in NYC—nonstop heavy traffic: cars, buses, trams, cyclists, pedestrians, and motorcycles. If there is a bike lane, or even a bikeway to the edge of the sidewalk, motorcycles ride it and cars come right up onto the sidewalk and park on it. 

Before entering the bridge, I stopped and took the photo left of a man sitting on the riverside  steps fishing. I'm not sure I would want to eat a fish caught in a commercial river full of motors and boats, but maybe he just enjoyed fishing. 

Internet photos of  Sisi's Bridge or the Chain Bridge, a suspension bridge and the oldest  to cross the river in Budapest; I include the photos to show that pedestrians and cyclists had a pretty good walkway. The photo on the right was taken at dusk. All 14 bridges across the Danube in Budapest are outlined in lights at night.

I again rode down the middle of the lane with confidence and had no trouble navigating through the traffic, but Judy had trouble on the bridge and then kept getting off her bike or stopping in her lane, causing angry drivers and traffic snarls behind her. I watched from a block away on the other side of the street as she got off her bike and pushed it on the sidewalk. But, when she encountered a barrier on the sidewalk and tried to push her bike in the street, the drivers really came unhinged. Just as I was about to go to her aid, Rick caught up to her and the two of them pushed their bikes on the sidewalk after that. I half rode half scooted mine but never got off the saddle. We finally got to Hotel Unio at about 2 pm after a puny 49 miles!

After we got to the room, we washed our hands, put on clean shorts and returned instantly to the hotel dining room where we had a buffet lunch for 13 Euros, a whopping $18 but we were beyond caring. Our packed lunches today consisted of nothing more than a banana, an apple, and a box of apple juice. We didn’t realize that we were supposed to make ourselves a sandwich from the breakfast buffet. After the ferry ride and back on the busy road, we had stopped at a bus bench to drink our juice and eat our banana and apple, but alas, I found that my banana had fallen off the webbing on my rack pack—probably way back on the very bumpy, rough first bike track. So I ate my apple and drank my juice but this was very little to power me to the hotel.

After eating"lunch," we returned to the room and showered. Judy washed her clothes. Then we met the rest of the group in the lobby for a tour of the city and a dinner cruise down the Danube.

Our river cruise boat

Our guide was a woman named Indigo Kiss (pronounced that way but probably not spelled that way). We got into a little mini bus and toured the city, first the Pest side with embassy row and pedestrian and high-fashion areas and then the Buda side with its castle and beautiful parliament building.

At 7, we boarded our little ship for the dinner cruise. They had set out a buffet. I was in a long sleeved Polartec top and long pants, thinking that it would be cool out on the water. WRONG! The inside of the ship was stifling! I actually felt queasy. Also the people do not go politely through a buffet line like we do, but all crowd around the table and elbow and push and grab what they want. I was in no mood for that, so went to the front of the boat where I found a cooling breeze and some white wrought iron tables that were vacant.

 

How people on the diner cruise boat attacked the buffet table

After the crowd thinned, I returned and got myself a plate of food. I took it and a bottle of water back to the wrought iron tables. Just as I finished my meal and the waiter had come and taken away my plate, a Romanian man hit on me. His first question was “Are you Dutch?”  His next was, “Are you alone or with a group?” I assured him that I was an American and with a big group. He asked what hotel I was staying at. I told him I couldn’t remember. Much schmoozing and many questions later, he wrote out his business card for me and promised to send me the photographs he was taking via e-mail. Uh-huh.

The wrought iron tables at the back of the boat where I sought sanctuary and didn't find it

I gave him a fake e-mail address and told him I had to get back to my group, though I was reluctant to give up my nice cool spot for the hot crush inside. There was a two-man “group” playing live music such as Blueberry Hill, some Elvis songs, tangos, etc. One guy played about five different instruments. They weren’t half bad and many danced to their music. 

Our entertainment for the evening; Steffie, Miss Kiss, and Rod at the table, and Rick staring down the paparazzi again

My lame photo of the Chain Bridge and of monuments and buildings along the shore on the dinner cruise; I was trying to use the "night" mode on the camera but of the many pix I took, these were the only halfway decent ones

Our dinner cruise ended at 9 pm and Miss Kiss walked us back to an underground station where we caught a train and rode it for three stops and then walked the rest of the way back to our hotel, getting there about 10 or so. It had been a long but pleasant day.