Day 330: Komarno, Slovakia to Esztergom, Hungary

Time: 3:45
Distance: 61.6 km
Avg Speed: 16.3 kph
Terrain: flat
Location: 47 47' 25.4" N, 18 43' 58.4" E

After a little respite off the bike we got back on the road this morning. Our two days in Komarno were great. The city offers a lot of great old architecture, nice people, good food and ease of access. It was nice to roll out in the cool morning air watching all the café owners setting up their wares for the day.
We quickly found the Danube bike route and rolled on out via the mountain bike route. We enjoyed double track dirt roads on top of the levies all the while keeping track of the flat farm and pasture land to our left. The right side of our route was the river and all the people who cruise its waters daily. We dipped toward and away from the river throughout the day, but if you kept an eye toward the high earthen levies, you could always pick it up.
We arrived in our last Slovakian town around lunch time and decided to do just that. Sturovo is a nice little tourist town right on the river and we were content just to eat our bread and nutella sandwiches and people watch for an hour. After we had our fill we quickly located the bridge heading east and rolled on into Hungary. We switched the last of our Slovakian Koruna for Hungarian Forint and came away with not as much as we had hoped. So much for having faith in the money changers for a good deal. There are three campgrounds in town and we seemed to have located the one with the most cyclists. I would imagine that there are just as many cyclists as other campers in this park. You can really tell that we are on a major bike route.
We have now had announced over the loud speaker in the campground, in German, Hungarian, Slovak and English that the pool is closing and rolls for breakfast should have been ordered. The fact that we picked a site right below the loud speaker has me hoping that they are done for the evening. Who knows, they may announce that the restaurant is out of beer around midnight.
CK

If It Doesn’t Have a Picture, It Doesn’t Have a Flavor

Day: 329
Kormarno Rest Day

We decided that we liked Komarno enough to take a rest day. The central part of town is quite nice with narrow cobblestone streets and beautifully renovated buildings. Rather than push all the way through to Budpest we decided to stick around and get caught up.

It’s only afternoon and we’ve already had a crazy day. Chris laid out the task list this morning and was kind enough to allow for a stop to get caffeinated. We examined the café menu and both selected our drinks. I wanted to try something new and the espresso macchiato caught my eye. Somehow my mental map created a much larger cup of java than what was brought out to me. I should remember that espresso is universal for very, very small cup of coffee. Chris’ cappuccino aroma was much more what I had in mind. After spooning out the last bits of foam we headed back to our pension to pay another night and find out about laundry. We once again found ourselves having a conversation in two different languages. The same girl that helped Chris yesterday whipped out her cell phone and called her English translator. We arranged for the room one more night and then got the scoop on laundry. Instead of trying to give us directions, the guy on the other end of the line said he would be over to pick us up in five minutes. Robert arrived soon after and we followed him through the streets of Komarno on our bicycles. Nothing like being motor-paced just to wash clothes. We traversed all over town and ended up at the cleaners – I had a feeling I’d being doing all the washing after all. Sure enough they wanted to charge for each piece and it would be extra to have it back by tomorrow. We politely declined and stepped outside. Robert kindly apologized and we told him not to worry. Chris then asked if it’s possible to wash clothes laundromat style. Robert replied “No, only in America I think”. We said goodbye to our accidental host and pedaled back to our room.
I sorted the stinky duds myself while Chris got himself together for the other errands of the day. As I started pile 1 of 5, he was out the door for a metal file, degreaser, groceries, and a haircut. In the middle of pile 2 I heard a knock on the door and found the pension owner waiting outside. He rattled something off in Slovakian and then somehow managed to tell me that our room had been booked for the night and would it be ok if we moved to another room. I looked behind me at all of our stuff strung across the room, shrugged my shoulders and nodding my head yes. Ten minutes later I had schlepped everything to the new room and was working on pile 3. I kept the door open hoping to catch Chris when he returned. It may have been quite a sight for him to go back to our original room and find the place cleaned out…
Chris made it back with his own stories – no degreaser, no groceries, and a nice metal file. I didn’t ask too many details as he needed to get his bike to go on a larger search for groceries. He was off again in no time and returned sooner than I thought with a backpack full of calories. We quickly dug into the pumpkin seed rolls with Nutella. To wash it all down, Chris found a couple of Activa yogurt drinks. The outside of the bottle looked kind of plain as I opened it, no picture. Chris wondered what flavor it was just as I took my first sip. I replied “If it doesn’t have a picture, it doesn’t have a flavor”. He sighed – another crazy moment in a manic day. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring?
LK

Danube Hustle

Day: 328
Dolna Streda to Kormarno
Time: 4:33
Distance: 80.4 km
Avg Speed: 17.7 kph
Terrain: flat
Location: N 48.272055, E 17.747325

After riding through mountains and hills for the first part of our trip we emerged to the flatlands of Slovakia. Kilometer after kilometer of corn and sunflowers guided us on down the road.
We left our little haven in Dolna Streda this morning with a little cereal and coffee in our veins and settled in for a little riding. After the first hour we hit a sizeable town that had a grocer and grabbed a little more brekkie and some snacks. Leslie found a tasty little juice that gave us a great sugar high for a kilometer or two. Another couple of hours down the road we stopped in a park near a church where we tried to reintroduce some bread and cheese into our diets. It all worked out ok, but it just didn’t hit the spot like the first couple of days. It was here at the church that Leslie turned into Rambo and took photos of passing cyclists from the shelter of some trees in the park.
More corn, more kilometers brought us into the Danube River town of Kormarno. Across the river to the south is Hungary, but our route will take us further east on the Slovakian shores. We checked out the local camping ground and ended up finding a penzion in the city center. Most of the penzions are attached to restaurants so it is always fun trying to rent a room from the waitress as she is hustling between tables. Add the language barrier in there and the fun is compounded immensely. We were very fortunate at this place in that it had a menu, with pictures and prices to choose from. Very painless, pretty quick and pretty affordable. Leslie and I later went back to the restaurant for dinner. A two course dinner with beers and cappuccinos for dessert set us back $20. Earlier we had ran into two Spanish cyclists riding the Danube who replied that the western part of their ride was so much nicer, and that Slovakia is so poor and hard to get around in. Leslie and I haven’t been out west, but if Slovakia is as backward as the Spaniards made it out to be we should just float on through Western Europe.
CK