Train Traffic Boogey

Day: 334 and 335
Budapest to Zagreb, Croatia
Time: All Day
Distance: A lot of train kilometers
Avg Speed: Stop and Go

We left the cocoon of our little Budapest apartment and headed out into the great big city. After spending a few days getting our bearings among the streets and buildings, riding our bikes in them was pretty easy. We went and checked out some more sites that our bus tour earlier only touched on. We went and spent some time at the Fishermen’s Bastion and the Castle Hill area. Both areas are in the Buda side of the city on Buda Hill. We checked out the cobbled streets and cafés before dropping over the hill and to the Deli Train Station. I was a little worried when we arrived and saw 500 people dressed as Pokemon characters chanting in a square nearby. The worrying was for naught and after hauling our bikes upstairs to the platforms I went to double check on the time of our train. I am glad I did, because instead of a 1:45 departure time it was a 12:55 departure time. We quickly got our act together and got on the train. We had planned to buy a little food at the station before getting on the train, but with our accelerated schedule the food lost out. Luckily we had a few packages of crackers to tide us over for the five hour jaunt. After arriving at the station where we were to make a train switch I went and got a few sandwiches to tide us over until Zagreb. The earlier train meant we had a longer wait, but it allowed us to get a plan for the next train. The trains in Hungary don’t have a lot of attendants, don’t announce trains in advance and aren’t very well signed. All of this almost made us miss our train because we couldn’t find the baggage car or an attendant to ask if this was the train to Zagreb. We quickly chucked our bikes in the barn doors and found a private coach to sit in. We decided that we would sit there until they kicked us out. The lack of people or help is a two way street because we had our private section all the way in to Zagreb. After arriving in Zagreb at 9:30 I grabbed every light we had to give us a little bling for our ride to the hotel. We found the place quite easily and quickly ate the rest of our crackers for dinner and settled in for a little shut-eye.
This morning we woke up famished and cruised on down to the breakfast buffet. I am sure the restaurant staff loved to watch us go back again and again for food. We like to eat big breakfasts when they are included in the room price. We were also making up for yesterday and trying to eat enough that we wouldn’t have to have any size of a lunch. After breakfast we headed into the downtown square area for a little map shopping, a haircut and some sightseeing. I found a salon for my haircut and before I could tell her what I wanted I was a getting my hair washed. After the haircut she washed my hair again and blew dry my fresh buzz cut. Leslie just loved seeing me get a hair dry on what I have left for hair. After that we shop hopped around putting together enough maps to get us where we needed to go. Armed with maps and knowing that we had some stinky clothes back at the hotel, we grabbed some laundry soap and Leslie started working on her forearms. I ran out to mail some post cards and a package home and missed most of the washing game. I did help out wringing and hanging, but the majority was done by Leslie. That flurry of activity did us in for the day and we spent the rest of the day hanging out and rotating laundry.
Tomorrow we try and figure out how to get out of Zagreb and start working our way south.
CK

Pool Time

Day 333
Budapest Rest Day 2

No drunk people last night – it was rather quiet. We had another “sleep in” morning and then ate the usual bowl of muesli and drank the usual cup of coffee.
Our plan for the day was a leisurely one – go to the park and take in the thermal baths followed by a café stop. Since we still had some time on our bus ticket from yesterday, we hopped back on and rode to Hosok Tere aka Hero’s Square. The area is a collection of beautiful bronze monuments dedicated to the 896 Magyar (Hungarian) conquest of the Carpathian Basin. We lingered a bit to take some pictures and contemplate the long history of this country. The most remarkable thing to me is that most of the city was destroyed by bombing in World War II and everything was rebuilt to the style and character of the city. Amazing…
After a short walk from the square we found Szchenyi Furdo, one of many thermal baths in Budapest. This complex was opened in 1908 and has both indoor and outdoor pools. The place was definitely a busy hive of activity and we enjoyed the people watching just as much as the water. I’m trying to talk Chris into changing his swimming attire from baggies to a banana hammock. I think something in shiny blue might be nice.
After a good soak we packed up our things and strolled down Andrassy, Budapest’s version of the Champs Elysees. The avenue is lined with beautiful trees and lavish homes. In the days of horse and carriage, this end of Andrassy had alleyways lined with wooden boards so that horse’s shoes would not disturb the affluent citizens.
Instead of coffee we had an ice cream at an up-market café called Lucaks. Apparently, it used to be the old stomping ground of the secret police. There is now a museum just down the street dedicated to their former exploits called the Terror Haza. We didn’t venture instead but read that it is quite the draw.
Tonight we’re going to venture out and see the city lights. I’ve read that castle hill, across the Danube, is quite spectacular at night.

Here’s to speedos,
LK

Café Hot Dogs

Day: 332
Budapest Rest Day 1


We slept in this morning after having a bit of a fitful sleep. A drunk guy in the next apartment spent an hour or so moaning and buzzing the doorbell trying to get his buddies to let him in around 2:30 am. He finally went away, or his friend let him in, or he passed out in the staircase. Bottom line is he finally shut up. We had our little apartment to ourselves this morning and had a leisurely breakfast of coffee and cereal. We slowly got ready and went to look for a café for a cappuccino and a croissant. Leslie was looking for a café reputed to be the local hangout of the Budapest intellectual crowd. I was bummed because I had forgotten my t-shirt that reads ‘Talk to me, I’m smart.’ Luckily we didn’t find it so we had to settle on a cool little spot in the theatre district. It made for good people watching and Leslie thinks she maybe finally had a cappuccino to knock the old #1 off of the list. That one was from a little café on the Great Ocean Road in Australia. After some proper caffeine we decided to play super tourist and take a bus ride around Buda and Pest. The bus tour was set up to be a hop on, hop off type, but as we got to our first stop and saw the driver turning people away we decided that were here to stay. The tour was surprisingly thorough and we took a lot away from it. The basic gist of the city is it has been created, pillaged and bombed for around 1000 years. WWII took care of the city’s bridges across the Danube, but the city persevered and rebuilt most of the bridges just like the originals. All in all, quite educational. We finally decided to hop off in the Jewish quarter of the city where several thousand Hungarian and other European Jews sought refuge during the war. We both were hungry and sat down at the first café we saw. The special was frankfurters or grilled sandwiches. We both opted for the frankfurters and had a really nice meal. Leslie joked that we were having café hot dogs or ‘lips and a-holes with a view’. I wanted to title the blog the latter, but decided against it. We then worked our way over to the train station where we lined out some tickets for a train to Zagreb, Croatia on Sunday. We had to buy one ticket for each of us and two tickets for each of the bicycles. After our Bangkok train experience, we know what kind of questions to ask and don’t mind buying the bikes a ticket.
Tomorrow we are off to one of the cities famous baths and then a tour of the park.
I am sure there will be more cafés in our future.
CK

Adventures in Hungary

Day 331
Esztergom to Budapest
Time: 4:48:00
Distance: 78.2 kilometers
Avg Speed: 16.2 kph
Terrain: Flat
Location: 47 29' 51.63" N, 19 04' 19.28" E

We left Esztergom at our usual time this morning and quickly found the bikeway along the Danube. We snuck out of town under the grandeur of the Basilica, a neoclassical structure that dates back to the 19th century. This area of Hungary actually bears some important and interesting history. From here to Budapest, the Danube Bend area was once a popular place for the kings of Hungary. Way back in time, Esztergom hosted the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the 2nd century. It was while he stayed here that he wrote is famous work, Meditations.
We had quite the mix of riding surfaces today. That, coupled with our sub par route finding skills, had us going in all directions. One of us would spot a trail with a bicycle sign and off we’d go only to find that the trail ended or diverted itself in the wrong direction. It’s always amazing what signs you find (to point you in the right direction) when you turn around.
About 15 kilometers out of Budapest we found a major trail route called the Euro Velo. We hopped on and figured we’d have a smooth ride into the city. In a matter of five minutes we were on singletrack dodging trees and potholes. Chris yelled back to me to see if I wanted to continue and I hollered forward to carry on. As long as we were heading south and along the river, I was ready for whatever terrain lay ahead. The trail soon turned back to hardpacked dirt road and didn’t pose too many challenges after that.
The first glimpses of central Budapest definitely took my breath away. Sometimes I feel like I’m traveling through all the movies I’ve watched in the past about Europe. The magnificent parliament buildings set on the left bank of the mighty Danube River is a memory I think I’ll have forever.
We made our way to the Szechenyi Lanchid (bridge) and crossed over into Pest. You see, Budapest is actually two cities, Buda and Pest (I didn’t know this before reading my Lonely Planet book). Buda is the more relaxed of the two, while Pest is the commercial center. Anyway, we crossed the bridge and then did the usual zig-zagging to get to our apartment.
Tonight we are tucked away four doors in and four floors up. Tomorrow we explore the city…

Here’s to Viennese coffee houses,
LK