Living in Shanghai for a year has made me hard pressed for fresh air. I wanted it. Craved it. I very much enjoyed the clear blue skies during my one week stint in the States in and with the PERFECT weather we have had (past perfect tense soon to be explained).
The plan was to cycle from Vienna to Budapest. This is part of the famous Danube Trail which starts in Germany and I think ends in Budapest. I looked into tours but they are very costly. Fortunately, I came across Pedal Power who offered us a very good price for a week rental, side bags, and pick up in Budapest. I booked the hostels and we were set.
Here’s some things you should know about the Danube Trail:
1) Its not really a trail. At least not in the sense of being well marked and paved. I’d say 5% is paved but that could just be because we got lost and had to ride on main roads. There are signs but they are small and only when you really need a sign. If you aren’t constantly looking you will miss it.
2) The “trail” does not follow the Danube. While we were lost I thought “hey the river is that way”. Nope, the “trail” is miles away on either side.
3) The average age of a “trail blazer” is about 55. The trail was not highly populated, we saw people somewhat often and these people were usually retirees. This gave me some hope that I can settle down and still live an active life, eventually. One day I would like to return and do the whole trail, from Germany back to Budapest.
Day 1 of biking was from Vienna to Bratislava (about 60 km). It took us a little longer than we anticipated since we got lost. Another fascination of mine is with the cheap and cheesy movie Eurotrip. There’s a part where they get mislead to Bratislava but it turns out to be ok since everything was super cheap in backwards Eastern Europe. They went to a rave, drank absinthe and stayed at a lux hotel. They tipped a bellboy 5 cents and he slapped his boss saying he quit. Due to my interest in the movie, we decided to spend two nights in Bratislava, one to party and one to rest before we bike. Well, we failed to party since a long bike ride wiped us out. We felt a little embarrassed since the young guys in our hostel were being nice to us and invited us out. As a consolation, we enjoyed a terrific meal. A biker definitely has bigger eyes than a stomach and we both ate too much. I ordered garlic soup and the most fantastic turkey/cheese/potato dish that I am dying to replicate.
As aforementioned, in the past perfect tense, we had perfect weather in Russia, Poland, Prague and Vienna. Everything changed on day two of the bike trip. We acknowledged there was a possibility that it would rain while we were biking. Thus, we packed rain coats. Clearly, we could have been more prepared. It DOWNPOURED. Cats and dogs, Waterfalls. Great Lakes. TSUNAMI. It sure rained and we sure pedaled. We didn’t really know what else to do. Somehow the sheer discomfort and the threat of getting sick seemed minimal compared to rearranging travel plans.
In a marvelous, somewhat victorious break from the rain, we enjoyed a fantastic meal in Mosonmagyaróvár a short distance from our final destination, Gyor. Mosonmagyaróvár- just one example of why Hungarian is ranked the third second most difficult language to learn. Since we already attempted the most difficult- Chinese maybe we'll learn to pronounce our destinations.
When I bike this trail again (which I will do, with my husband, in the future.) I fully intend to go back to this restaurant because the whole menu seemed delicious, although the service, like everywhere else we have dined, was poor. I ate Hungarian goulash and turkey with dumplings and Kate had garlic soup and bacon wrapped pork. Delicious. With bellies satisfied we pedaled on.
We made it to our final destination, Gyor. Hostels were in hard to come by and our reliable Couch Surfing failed us so we stayed in a two star hotel. The hotel was attached to a four star hotel but the part we stayed in was actually student dorms during the academic year. After sleeping by Kate’s loving side for the past three weeks I was surprised when the woman, who was very helpful and eager to speak English, opened a second door. For all of 16 euros a night Kate and I had our own rooms. I would have preferred 8 euros a night to share a room, since each of our rooms had two beds in them, but we were being lodged and we were dry.
With hopes of avoiding the incessant rainfall on day three, we spent our morning in the mall across the street from our hotel. In Krakow I was teased walking through a mall on the way to the train station but I never actually got to shop in a mall. Some addictions are hard to shake. All of the rain definitely made my bones cold so I bought a sweatshirt to wear under my raincoat and it made a big difference.
With time ticking, and our hosts waiting, we eventually decided to hit the trail… in the rain. Oh and how lost we got! It was a very difficult start, as all of our starts turned out to be, but we pedaled on. Really we’d be great postal workers: “Come rain or snow…”.
When we finally arrived in Tatabanya, we had a difficult time trying to connect with our hosts because, damnit, nothing is easy for us. We finally got through, via a stranger’s cell phone, in front of a cheap burger joint where we finally conceded to American fast food style eating in the country which I strongly believe has the best food. We were told that a typical Hungarian meal can contain more than 2000 calories (the supposed daily allowance). We biked, so we indulged, but I don’t think I will be deep frying a hamburger patty or ordering extra fries ever again.
Our hosts in Tatabayna were magnificent. We stayed with a Hungarian family, baby and all! It was a little interesting since the family did not speak English so well. Mom and Dad are both teachers and baby Anne was only 6 months old! We weren’t so hungry but we definitely ate more than we should have in this house. The mother, Adrienne, cut up some vegetables and cheese that the husband, Sandor, made on their family farm. After a year without cheese in China anything will taste good, but this was really delicious. Even though I was really stuffed, they brought out a traditional Hungarian dessert, which I really really wish they did not introduce me to. It’s almost like a ricotta cheese (but its surprisingly not cheese!) dipped in chocolate and sold in the freezer in grocery stores. I ate too many of these in Hungary. Adrienne made us breakfast the next day and even tried to convince us to stay for the lunch she was preparing but a bike must continue her route.
After another day of biking the in the rain we made it to Esztergom and the home of Cat Lady. Cat Lady teaches German and because of her job, she doesn’t get to travel much but likes to host travelers to share their experiences. If you haven’t sensed the pattern, I will make it clear that we had a difficult time finding Cat Lady. The bike path, or at least the path we took, was along a main road and we found the town faster than we thought. We were supposed to meet at the cathedral, which we Googled to make sure we knew what it looked like. We arrived two hours early and spent two hours on the church steps doing anti-rain dances, mostly so we wouldn’t pee our pants. Public phones in Hungary don’t seem to work and we finally reached her on a stranger’s cell phone. Turns out we were at the wrong church but they sure do look the same!
So why is she called Cat Lady? Because in her home this woman has an infinite number of cats!
I think she could pull them out of drawers. She also has birds, guinea pigs (ew), fish, two dogs and was dog-sitting another. I know it isn’t nice to say this about someone generous enough to host you but Cat Lady was a little nutty. Cat Lady liked to party too. I think we brought her down since we were so tired we left after treating her to a couple of drinks. I am still gracious that she hosted us and pointed us towards a terrific Hungary restaurant (Cat Lady didn’t want to come, Cat Lady said she doesn’t like restaurants but I really think Cat Lady doesn’t like to eat).
Happy, ESTATIC, to leave the animals and each Budapest, we set out in the morning. Cat Lady had a friend come visit her that morning and he rode his bike over from Budapest. He said he rode through the mountains (something he wouldn’t recommend to novices) and it took him two hours. We rode along the so called path and it took us seven hours. I don’t know what happened. Rain?
Guess what happened in Budapest? We had trouble finding our hostel! The hostel didn’t have directions on its website, and we didn’t really have internet while biking so we forget to investigate. Luckily, when we asked at a nearby hotel, it turns out the hostel was just across the street, down a road which I dismissed since the only thing I saw was a sex shop. The hostel was cute, comfortable, and the employee was a cute young guy impressed by our biking. So impressed he forgot to charge me for a towel.
My sister--- I mean twinfriend Blair’s boyfriend studied abroad in Budapest for a semester and her gave us some good (and some bad) tips. In celebration we dragged our tired, dirty selves out to his favorite bar. Our host in Russia studied in Budapest too and recommended the same bar and some cocky Brazilian guy I was talked too told me “this place is famous”. The boyfriend’s bad recommendation came when we ordered his recommended drink, unicumm. It came as a shot and smelled like hell so we decided to order his second recommendation, Palinka, which was listed as a “long drink” to chase it down. It was also a shot. So then we ordered a beer. Twenty dollars later we stood at the bar with three drinks. Since we hadn’t eaten and my mouth felt like I just threw up in it a few times, I got an overpriced slice of pizza which tasted like heaven, in comparison. We spent the night talking to the friendliest French people we have ever met who bought us some more nasty shots and immediately Facebook friended us. I even got a marriage proposal which was ok since he was kind of cute. Surprisingly this time I was the one who didn’t want to leave, and I don’t know why we left, and this surprise brought out my inner bitch who was kind of mean to Kate on the long walk back. I think I’ve been forgiven.
Hungarian liquors are the complete and total opposite of Hungarian food and should never, ever be consumed. We spent the next day in bed. We tried to go on a food exposition but nothing appeared to be open for lunch on a Sunday. We tried one restaurant but the waiter was very rude when he saw we had our own water bottles (has he never been hung over?). His lost because we went on to another delicious Hungarian restaurant where I consumed four days worth of calories in the form of steak, fries,, onions and sour cream with a massive lemonade on the side. This time we were blessed with cute Spanish speakers in our room and we embarrassed ourselves by sleeping all day, at least this time it was a Sunday.
On our last full day in Hungary we actually did something with our lives and went on a walking tour of the city. It rained. Our guides were super friendly (but perhaps lairs). We followed Chris’s (Twinfriend’s boyfriend) recommendation and ate lanogs at the Central Market. Langos is a huge more than satisfying piece of fried dough topped with all sorts of artery clogging things. Based on Chris’s word I got garlic and cheese. Fantastic. After that we did the worst thing possible, put on a bathing suit for the first time in a year (EEEK). We walked to the famous Gelert Bath where and submerged ourselves in hot water. Fancy that, the time that I actually purposefully put myself in water it finally stops raining. The sun was out and the scenery was gorgeous.
Well, tonight we are embarrassing ourselves yet again by sitting in out hostel as there is an apparent ragger doing on at the Irish bar (Kate is a proud Irish-American) right outside our window. I am using the excuse that we do not have ANY Hungarian money left but Kate isn’t buying it. Even though I am in my pajamas I am pretty sure I have gone out dressed worse so this situation may change soon. I’ll stick with beer.
Manana, paris!
