June 20, 2013
Vac to Budapest: Wooooohoooooo....we made it!!!!!!!
We left our hotel in Vac this morning, with having very little sleep, due to this intense heat wave. We had two coffee stops in less than 2 kilometres. Nice start to the day! The first was needed, as the hotel coffee was not drinkable, which was a first on the trip, and the second stop was because the ferry was not leaving for another 45 minutes. We had a lovely, short ferry ride over to the Szentendrei Sziget. This small island was very pastoral, with many horse ranches. We then crossed a bridge and went through small, resort style villages on the way to Szentende. This was mostly on a busy road, as once again, the cycle path was flooded. The road was ok, as long as you missed those potholes, although one car came way too close and fast for comfort. Such is life on the skinny tires! We cycled into Szentendre for a cool down and early lunch. This city is a real tourist haven, and is famous for local artists and art galleries. While I had a walk around the town, Ron had a nice chat with a couple of young girls from Russia, who were hitchhiking around Europe. I asked them if their mother knew they were hitchhiking?! Since it was going to get up to 40 degrees this afternoon, we decided we had better get on our way to Budapest before we melted. This heat wave is definitely the talk of all the local people. The cycle into Budapest was quite nice, with only a couple of detours and moments of being lost. As we were getting nearer to the centre of the city, Ron asked a young guy on a bike for some directions, and lo and behold, we had yet another escort. When he left us, we turned around, and there were our friends from France. They had spent the night in Vac, as well, and it is funny how we all cycled the same way all day, and did not run into each other until Budapest. We cycled with them for quite awhile into Budapest, and then we said our goodbyes, as we went our separate ways looking for accommodation on opposite sides of the river. An hour or so later we saw them again in the busiest square in Budapest, all of still looking for our hotel! I had found a hotel on TripAdvisor, but no one we asked seemed to know where it was. Finally, my brilliant husband hired a pedicab to lead us there. He was not sure of the directions either, so we had quite a ride into areas that he was not supposed to be with his cab. It is amazing how at ease you become cycling through big cities with vehicle and pedestrian traffic every which way. Well, he did get us there, the hotel is wonderful, and we had a celebration drink in their beautiful bar before even changing out of our sweaty clothes. WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!!! We finished our last day with NO WATER,and NO MUD, (well, Ron found a little, but I reused to follow). We will spend the next four days exploring this amazing city like normal tourists and staying up after 9pm, before we board the big jet for home, sweet home, on June 25th.
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Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,734 km (1,077 miles)
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