To - Budapest.
Distance - 71km
Time - 4 hours
Total - 3208km
My meal out was perhaps one of my best so far. It was in restaurant called 'Csulok Csarda' which means the Pigs Knuckle Shop! I went for a Transylvanian night. It included a lamb and tarragon cream soup and a main course that had pork knuckle cubes covered in sauerkraut and sour cream and grilled with smoked bacon and spicy sausage on top. It was substantial, hot and tasty. I've not had anything like it before. I also had a pudding that was called milk cake with jam. It was a bit like a pancake but not quite? Sorry I didn't have my iPad to take any pictures, so you will have to take my word for it.
I also noticed last night, that the back of the 10,000 forint note had a picture of Esztergom on it. So I thought I would share the picture on the note with you.
It's 1BJ day today, last day of counting down. Looking forward to a holiday within a a holiday.
Time to start todays szlog. I am used to being surrounded by school kids when I stay at a hostel but today I was surrounded by older German coach tourists. I think I prefer the children. Anyway they didn't put me off eating a big breakfast from the buffet and sliding a sandwich in my pocket for later.
I got a good start. No wind and a reasonable cycle track meant that I made good progress and I was enjoying my cycling. The first place I went through was Visegrad which was an important place in history and once had an upper and a lower castle. Before the castles the Romans had a fort here as well, as this area was on the northern border of the Roman region of Pannonia. The lower castle also helped to keep the Mongol invaders out in the 13th century. I didn't climb to the upper castle, it looked a bit steep especially for me and the bike.
I cycled on and looked at my cycle speedo and thought to myself that I wasn't going very fast! I looked at the trip distance and thought to myself, I haven't gone very far. I began to panic, thinking the machine wasn't working properly. I eventually realised that it had mysteriously switched from kilometres to miles and I didn't have a clue how it happened and more importantly I didn't know how to put it back to kilometres for the sake of my blogs. The rest of the journey continued in miles.
I went through a couple of towns, Tahitotfalu and Leanyfalu. They sounded a bit like they should have been islands in the Pacific (they may actually be rugby players for Fiji!). They were actually town at the start of the run into Budapest and they had nice area of bars and cafes on the banks of the Danube river. The next town was Szentendre that had a number of coaches full of Japanese tourists visiting a big street of tacky souvenir shops but the town had nice narrow cobbled streets. I suspect it was a weekly market day in the town and attracted the tourists because of it.
When I got into Budapest I headed straight to the cycle shop that had a tyre for me. I changed the tyre and then phoned the owner of the apartment. Within half an hour I was in the apartment. It is well placed, very close to the river, 150 yards from the big market and about 50 yards from the main shopping street. There are so many amazing buildings and places to visit. I will wait for Janice before I start being a tourist. I have popped into the big market and had a meal on the top floor. I could choose various meals and put them on the same plate. All very cheap too!
I will do one blog covering the whole of the week. So, I will take a little break but I'll be back. The song for the day has to be 'Budapest' by Jethro Tull. It's a great track, one of the best.
The wifi in the apartment is good, so I'm OK for emails and Skype etc.
Photo 1, A 10,000 forint note with Esztergom on the back.
Photo 2, A tranquil picture of the Danube.
Photo 3, The jagged bit at the top of the hills the Upper Castle at Visegrad.
Photo 4, The lower castle at Visegrad.
Photo 5, Szentendre.
Photo 6, Entering Budapest.
Photo 7, Inside the apartment.
Photo 8, Courtyard at the apartment.
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