Author: Grant and Barbara

Today was an exercise in how many people can share a narrow bike path. In both directions, on all sorts of bikes. Some heads down worrying about Strava segments. Some following a “Boom Boom” speaker system, some herding their flock of children.

Progress was happily slow.

The lake shore is a strip development of [second] homes, stalls, marinas. With the odd airfield thrown in. In between, lavender fields which an old and tradional crop here.

Today we had an adventure to find a bike shop to fix my bike. What did we do before Google, Google maps and all the gps things we now have to navigate in a foreign country. Most of the tourists here are Hungarian or German – yet the young mechanic helped us in English, and made an effort to sort things out – which he did, though I suspect the bolts he put in will need drilled out if need replaced in future. For now, all good.

A new therapy enters the vocabularly, balneotherapy. Somebody, now in a statue, started it here in the hot baths. A Spa town and taking the waters. We also have to take a lot of water to keep hydrated as the temperature nudges up.

A good nights sleep and we enter Slovenia tomorrow. All we need is the live music in the square outside to finish: as I type the furniture is moving across the floor to an Abba tribute band. So as Meat Loaf might say : one out of two ain’t bad – we’ll enter Slovenia tomorrow.

Heading into wine country. Maybe this explains why. the roads were windy. It was also windy today – just enough to cook slowly in a fan oven.

Leaving Budapest was a breeze in comparison. Cycle tracks all the way – it did help we were leaving vs going into town. It makes you reflect how we judge a city. By the 5 or so sq miles we explore in the centre vs the 10 mile + radius it extents? The road paths took us through areas that all looked fairly prosperous.

We also passed quite a few War Memorials, mainly for WW1 with 1956 added on. A reminder young men died on all sides, The other distinct soldier today was a fine wooden Hussar. A Soviet era supersonic fighter was at the roadside near an airport. I suppose it looked better there than at a train station.

Eurovelo 14, the Bu Ba route, took us most of the way. Great to see it being used by recreational cyclists as well as touring groups.

One random shopkeeper told us he didn’t speak much English (I can empathise) – can he buy us a coffee. You sometimes hesitate in case there are strings. No, he waddled into his shop, came back out with two coffees and waved cheerio. Lovely.

Arriving at one end of Lake Balaton. Tomorrow we cycle 100km to the other end.

Any one can confuse Buda with Pest. All corrected in previous post, which of course you spotted. Buda Castle was always more likely to identify as a Buda. What a nuisance.

With our orientation sorted out we headed for the Central Market. Lots of things being sold by stall holders with varying expressions: hope; resignation; boredom; engagement. An an Aldi – which didn’t have M&Ms, the goto snack. The first Tescos visit of the trip came to the rescue. Except they only accept Hungarian Loyalty cards.

The next shock was the statue of Jeremy Corbyn. Luckily it turned out to be John Calvin, dourly overlooking Kalvin Square and Budapest’s first Reformist Church. One of them will have a lasting legacy, the other a diverionary footnote.

Budapest, or rather the very small area we’ve sampled, is bustling with young people. Which belies the statistic that it actually has an older population than Central Hungary. Maybe the younger people congregate where the action is. Like we are.

St Stephen’s Basilica has an impressive exterior. And an entrance fee which goes towards keeping its inner bling bright. So summoning our inner Calvins, we went to a happy Vegan lunch place instead.

Barbara went to Heroes Square, bravely navigating the Metro, leaving the Shed Fairy to get to work.

Tomorrow out into wine country

We crossed to explore the Buda side, leaving Pest for tomorrow. Great rivers demand great bridges and the Danube especially. The most famous is the Chain bridge, relieved of is refurbishing scaffolding we last saw it decorated with. The romantic name derives from it being Hungary’s first such suspension bridge with the cruising bit held up by chains.

It has a wee sibling: in Marlow where the engineer Clark built his original, before upscaling to Budapest. (Mid 19C). The Hungarian one was rebuilt in 1949 after being destroyed in WW2.

There are so many statues watching: small, large; metal, stone; stern, poignant, funny. Most people go past, heading to the honey spots and jostle for selfies.

The power and wealth behind the creation of the buildings boggles the imagination. Actually the skills of the builders even more so.