Since leaving Vienna, we had seen much fewer touring cyclists on the road and to be honest we did not see any! We have been appreciative of the budget friendliness of Hungary as a whole for travelers. Unfortunately, we had been confronted to a wide range of road surface condition to-date – where every day and every km kept us guessing what we might encounter along the way. We had also discovered that ferries were often the only means of crossing the Danube. Hence, where we would have normally expected a bridge near a large town, there were only a ferry option several kms upstream or downstream. Realizing that our reserved hotel was on the wrong side of the river had become a preoccupation.

2022.07.17 – Győr ==> Komárom (54 kms | Total: 3583 kms)

We shared our hotel breakfast with quite a few other patrons. As we left town, we crossed an endless number of train tracks. Our cycling route today took us further inland through country paved roads, gravel roads and dirt trails. We got an introduction, over 10+kms, to Hungary’s notorious loose sandy bicycle trails as we cycled through farmland along a railroad track. We were relieved to arrive at our hotel at 1:30pm. Later I visited a nearby grocery store that was opened on Sundays. We had dinner at our hotel’s restaurant. After dinner, we walked to visit a castle, but unfortunately we could not access the grounds.

2022.07.18 – Komárom ==> Esztergom (54 kms | Total: 3637 kms)

Before heading down for breakfast, Jenny looked out of our room window and noticed that our tandem’s front tire looked flat in storage. She was right. Upon further review, it seemed like the air had possibly leaked from the crooked valve as we could not find any punctures. After replacing the inner tube, we loaded the panniers and rejoined our cycling path, just across the street from our hotel. We had a broad mix of cycling road condition today from very narrow and bumpy path to wide and newly paved path. To our disappointment, we also had to cycle on some busy roads with fast moving vehicles for almost half of our today’s journey. Thankfully, the trucks and cars were very courteous. We checked into our hotel shortly after 1:15pm. It was a hot cycling day, hence we treated ourselves with some gelato on the way to the grocery store. In the evening, we stopped at a pizzeria restaurant and we were served huge portions of pizza and schnitzels. Later we walked over to the grounds of the Basilica of Esztergom. The views of the Danube and surrounding area were splendid and provided great photo opportunities.

2022.07.19 – Esztergom ==> Szentendre (58 kms | Total: 3695 kms)

When leaving a town in the morning, we rarely said: “We should have stayed here for an extra day”. We both agreed that Esztergom was such a lively place. We felt like we could have done more sightseeing in this picturesque town along the Danube. Except for the last 10kms of the day, our journey from Esztergom to Szentendre offered us the best cycling experience in Hungary to-date with great cycling path and clear signage. Unfortunately, it was also our longest cycling day for quite a long time. The extended time on the road was mostly attributed to the waiting time of two different ferries we had to take. Although each ferry crossing took only 10 minutes, the waiting time was simply agonizing – especially knowing we had missed our 2nd ferry crossing opportunity by less than 1 minute. When the boat finally came back, they told us that we had to wait for another 30 minutes since it was their lunch time. We took the opportunity and quickly rode into the town of Vac to buy some water. We finally checked into our modest guesthouse around 3:30pm. We had an early dinner at Seafood restaurant.

2022.07.20 – Szentendre ==> Budapest (28 kms | Total: 3723 kms)

Yesterday we opted to purchase the optional breakfast from our guesthouse, it was a mistake because it was a very modest breakfast. As we stepped outside, we already knew that it would be a very hot cycling day, but thankfully it was a short one. We cycled along the river under various cycling path condition – sometimes rough gravel track, sometimes newly paved path. Upon nearing the city center, we visited a couple of bicycle shops, but without much success finding our preferred tire brand/model. We checked-in into our hotel at 12:00pm. It was a nice feeling knowing that we would have a 3-night stay in Budapest. Temperature reached 36C in the early afternoon. Later we went out to purchase some snacks and beverages. After a shower, I walked out to visit a shoe repair shop as the soles of my cycling shoes had slowly been coming apart over the past two months. Also, my right hand cycling glove had partially worn out due to the abrasion from Rohloff gear shifter. The shoe repair shop promised the fixes and would be ready to pick up by tomorrow afternoon between 2:00 to 3:00. In the evening, we walked over to a popular restaurant district and had some Chinese food for dinner.

2022.07.21 – Budapest ==> Budapest (0 kms | Total: 3723 kms)

Another very hot and sunny day in perspective with temperature reaching 38C. After breakfast, we decided to visit a bicycle store some distance away from our hotel. We bought 24h transit pass and took a subway and a bus to the bicycle shop. Although, the shop did not have the exact tire model I was looking for, i.e. the foldable Schwalbe Marathon Mondial, we resigned ourselves to buy a Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus – a slightly lower spec tire. We returned to our hotel using a different subway and bus lines. I quickly went to hotel’s parking lot and replaced our tandem’s front tire. We rested a few hours in our room while enjoying the a/c. In the afternoon, we walked over to the shoe repair shop to pickup my cycling shoes and glove. The repairs looked well done. Across the street from the shop, we boarded tram #2 which traveled along the side of the Danube on the Pest side of town. At the end of the tram line, we took tram #4 across the river to ride across the Buda side of town. We returned to our hotel using subway lines. The transit system in Budapest was ultra efficient and very easy to navigate. In the early evening, we visited a nearby Spanish restaurant and had sangria and various tapas for our dinner. Later in the evening, we took the subway lines again to reach the parliament building area. After strolled along the Danube for awhile, we returned to our hotel with another combination of tram and subway. (Walked 11 kms)

2022.07.22 – Budapest ==> Budapest (0 kms | Total: 3723 kms)

We enjoyed another lazy morning start with our hotel’s breakfast. We purchased another 24h transit passes as it proved very convenient for our yesterday’s sightseeing. We focused our visits today on the Buda side of town. As the temperate was forecast to reach 37C, we minimized our walking and opted to ride the subway, tram and bus lines whenever convenient – including going to a Portuguese restaurant for dinner. We wrapped-up our dinner with some gelato purchased near our hotel. Later in the evening, we took the tram and subway to the city park Városliget where we recalled having some fond memories during our 2011 family trip to Europe. Sadly the water exhibits on the artificial lake were no longer there. (Walked 8 kms)

2022.07.23 – Budapest ==> Százhalombatta (38 kms | Total: 3761 kms)

We had our breakfast earlier than usual at 7:30am as we wanted to start cycling under slightly cooler morning temperature. The forecast temperature for the day was to reach 42C. A week or so ago, we were challenged to find accommodation for our end of ride today as it was a Saturday night. We ended booking a private accommodation somewhat off our EV6 route – and on the other side of the Danube. Thankfully our ferry crossing was better timed than our previous ones as we only had to wait 15 minutes. We were relived to arrive to our accommodation before 12pm, ahead of the temperature reached its maximum. We visited a grocery store and bought snacks, beverages and breakfast staple for tomorrow morning. As a thunderstorm developed around dinner time, we skipped visiting a restaurant and opted to eat some snacks in our room instead. In the evening, we postponed publishing our weekly blog entry as the wifi was not working at our accommodation.