1999 Biking East Europe

Monday, September 6 – Budapest, Hungary – Catarina Hostel, 3 000Ft
Distance cycled: 74 – Maximum speed: 40 – Average speed: 15

We have cycled the 26kms from Esztergom to Visegrad with relative ease and a great deal of pleasure. With the Danube always on our left now and the hills immediately to our right and the road flat and perfect. In perfect weather too.

Later: We’re in Szentendre having a lunch of fries, beer & coke under an umbrella in a fenced garden. There are Pelargoniums in window boxes here in pink, red and mauve. Charl tells me Pelargoniums are originally from South Africa and were spread by the English and Dutch colonists – one of our more successful exports. The road is becoming much busier now, but our waiter has communicated to us that there is a cycle path here which will take us all the way to Budapest. The weather still hot and windless and clear.

We observed lots of small businesses en route here – many operating from homes: “Butiks” (clothes on hangers on fences), pubs, restaurants, car-fix places.