Cycling to Budapest from Zagreb was probably one of the most confusing journeys I have taken thus far. I slept on the Croatian side of the border, so as to not “waste” a day of visa time in the Schengen zone, then took on the remaining 240km to Budapest over the following two days. Hungary has a surprising number of bike lanes, on paper this seems like a good thing, but in practice it kinda sucks. Every time I came to a section of road with a cycle path I was kicked off of the main road and relegated to the sidewalk. Paths rarely stayed on the same side of the street for very long, so I was forced to cross from one side to the other, then back again. The signage for these paths left something to be desired as well. I would often find myself straying away from the secondary highway, unsure of where the trail would dump me out. I did make it to Budapest after two nights on the road where I was viciously attacked by mosquitos. I spent the first day on my own exploring a little bit, then was joined on the second morning by my friend Chris! He flew in on Saturday morning from Bonn/Cologne to visit for the weekend! I hadn’t seen him since leaving Winnipeg in August, so there was plenty to catch up on! There was a time when Chris and I were planning that he come and cycle with me for a spell, but that plan was supplanted by an internship opportunity at the UN. We spent a lot of time walking around and exploring, and a lot of time eating really good food (largely by accident). While in Hungary it would be a travesty not to try goulash. We also stumbled upon a food-truck alleyway on our way to a ruin bar for lunch on the second day. On Sunday we stumbled upon an Israeli fusion restaurant that was apparently really popular. The two of us were able to snag a table set aside for a reservation two and a half hours after our arrival. As we left the restaurant the line to get in was nearly 20 people deep. The two of us also found a gelato place that made art in each individual cone. Each little sliver of ice cream was arranged into petals to form a rose! The presentation may have played into this, but I think that gelato was the best I’ve ever had! This past weekend was a holiday in Hungary so it was difficult to find anything other than restaurants and bars that were open. I was able to grab a couple grocery items before hitting the road to cycle to Bratislava. My departure was delayed a little because I was unable to find my bicycle light. It must have fallen out of my frame bag somewhere between Zagreb and Budapest, because it isn’t in any of the usual places. I’ll have to find a replacement while here in Bratislava. A bike light could have proven useful yesterday while cycling from Budapest. Even though I left late I made pretty good time - I was cycling an average of 23km/h, greatly aided by a lack of any elevation loss or gain. I crossed the Danube to Slovakia after about 90 kilometers and was at 130 kilometers of riding a little before 5pm. I had cut the remaining distance to Bratislava to only 65 kilometers, and with plenty of daylight left it would have been an attainable goal, but still a little ambitious. My rational Mennonite side won the day, ceding that a free night of camping on the side of the road beats out paying for a hostel - especially when I am not really pressed for time. I had a relatively leisurely 65 kilometer ride today. I did have a bit of an allergy attack this morning though. Before I was able to make coffee I was rubbing my itchy eyes when something got stuck in my upper eyelid - leading to thirty minutes of me trying to get it out. I can only imagine how puffy and sick I looked while walking into a pharmacy in search of the antihistamines I should have purchased four weeks ago. I took one immediately, but now, even after only 10 hours, I feel the effect fading. The plan for the next two days is to explore Bratislava before cycling up river a little further to Vienna. I saw two pairs of other cycle tourists on the EuroVelo cycle path along the Danube River today. Other travellers aren’t nearly as friendly as they were in the fall and winter. I’ve passed a lot of people that don’t even stop to say hello anymore. It’s really too bad. Though, maybe if I were to stop and chat with every cyclist during the summer, I wouldn’t get anywhere fast.
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