Day 18--Budapest to Kalocsa, Hungary

Heat wienie sags in

Saturday, July 12, 2008
Budapest to Kalocsa, Hungary
Distance: 134 km (83.26 miles)

X+--The Danube divides into two channels south of Budapest, forming an island nearly 30 miles long. We bicycle this island to Rackeve, once a part of Serbia and site of a beautiful Greek orthodox church - historic evidence that we are nearly in the Balkans! We are in Kalocsa tonight, the paprika capital of Hungary.

We started the day at 9 am when Peter led us 8 km out of Budapest. 

The gang getting ready to leave Budapest at ride start; note Peter carefully affixing his helmet to his bike; it is an embarrassment for Europeans, who consider the bicycle as just another means of transportation, to dress in flashy bike clothing or to wear helmets

He left us at the beginning of a dreadful track behind industrial buildings. The track was dirt with large potholes, and then turned to gravel and then to a foot-wide, potholed, single-track through bushes and grass, trash, etc. After the track, we rode horrible bike paths beside a busy road. These, too, were heaved and rutted with broken cement and gravel, and many driveways crossed them to the main road. It took us two and a half hours to go 25 km (15 miles)! Much of the rest of the route was in similar condition—even the roads were buckled and dished with the big rolled “curb” of asphalt.

Danger! Another huge tourist barge on the river

What makes riding these roads difficult is the very fast traffic whizzing by.We have to be very careful that cars do not push us to the rolled edge or into a pothole while they are passing. Despite these hazards we passed great fields of sunflowers, cycled past encampments on the river, saw more storks, and crossed the river several times on bridges.

Judy and me taking in the sunflowers

The levee trail and one of the river encampments

Stork family and the Hungarian flag

Not sure what the building was or the meaning of the sign but taken from one of the bridges we crossed

Bob and Rod crossing another bridge and neat little red-roofed houses on the opposite shore

It was a long, long day in the sun and 95F heat! At 5 pm we’d made only 109km (68 miles). I called it quits. The route then was atop a rough-paved levee in the blazing sun with no tree cover at all. Judy’s pace was so slow, that I knew I faced at least another three hours on the road.

Hot, red faced Carolyn getting a drink from a safe blue pump

Harold has been sweep ever since Budapest when Rick went home, so Judy and I waited in the shade of a side road for him to come up. When he finally did come by about an hour later, we asked him to call Stefania to pick me up in the van. I was heat exhausted and knew that I could not ride longer in the sun.

Judy, Carolyn, & Harold waited with me for quite a bit because there was a car parked at the entrance to the lane, and we were all suspicious of the man in it. Eventually the car drove off and then the trio left. Steffie found me about 30 minutes later. After she loaded my bike into the van, I got in but then realized that I didn’t have my sunglasses. We searched and finally found them near the tree where I’d leaned the bike. Stefania had also sent Peter out to buy mineral salts for for those suffering from the heat—at this point Fred and me. I took one when I got in and put another in my pack for on the road tomorrow. They are really quite tasty. Hope they work to replace all that is lost through my heavy sweating.

The side road where Judy and I waited in what shade we could find for Harold and the cell phone so that we could call Steffie to send out the sag wagon for a heat-exhausted me

When Stefania picked me up she told me that there was a wedding at our hotel that would go on all night, so Peter had complained and switched us to another hotel, which is more like a large guesthouse. Judy and I again got what we think must have been the honeymoon room.

Our guesthouse in Kalosca and the painting on the wall of Judy's and my room

Judy’s and my room was down in the basement, one wall covered with a large painting of a near naked woman . . . definitely not a Rubens. The shower pan leaked also, so we had a wet bathroom floor to contend with. And the portable fan did not work. But the woman who ran the place was very nice. She gave us a fan from her office and tried to staunch the flow from the shower . . . to little avail. Since we were in the “paprika capital of the world” I wanted to buy some. She called her brother who delivered several kilos of it. I bought a half kilo for 1200 florints (about $7.25). (Pic left of chilis being dried in Kalosca.)

Judy, Harold & Caroline did not get in until 8 pm! We waited dinner while they showered, so ate quite late. When they were ready, Stefania shuttled all of us to the original hotel restaurant on a canal in town. We ate outside in a ship-shaped patio right on the water. Judy and I had Hungarian goulash as an appetizer while the rest had fruit soup or cream of mushroom soup. We were amazed to find that Hungarian goulash is a soup, just like all the other bowls of goulash “suppe” we’d had in Vienna and other stops. Our meal consisted of breaded and fried liver, turkey, chicken, on rice and FF, topped with canned peas and mushroom gravy—all served on the same platter. (Not a favorite meal).

The canal on which we ate, the ship, shaped deck just visible on the left; dinner is served--great platters of breaded fried meat, peas, rice, and FF etc.

Even though the mosquitoes were biting, it was quite nice to sit beside the canal and listen to the frogs croaking. We were also entertained by the wedding guests dancing and celebrating at the other end of the deck. The men in our group sized things up and swore that the rather homely bride was four months pregnant.

Left: Peter smiling for the paparazzi