Gellert Bath house where we spent time soaking in the natural mineral waters



                                                 The wave pool at the Gellert bath house

                                               Over looking Budapest from the citadel

 

Overlooking the city by night         

                            

                                          An active area in the  main square of  Budapest
All good things must come to an end sometime !!

 Our trip down the Danube is all but over. Budapest has been a wonderful experience. The weather was beautiful so we were able to walk in the warm sunshine , eat at the outdoor cafes and see the many sights. Many of the small towns that we visited along the way seem but a blur, however there are many memories of each individual place that are unique . The wonderful meals that sometimes we weren't sure what we were getting and the not so wonderful. It was quite helpful when they had a picture of the meal, that way we could just point.
Some of the trails long the route were wonderful and inspiring in the way they were built to accomodate bikes. There were also some that needed much work and you had to be a mountain goat to ride on them.The people we met were always gracious and ready to help in anyway they could, even if it was just to point as we didn't have a clue what they said most of the time. The history we learned along the way and their way of life was also an eye opener. The Danube river is part of a way of life and is used every day from just a lonely fishermen along the shore to a cruise ship stopping at the towns along its route.
After 10 hrs on the plane from Budapest to Frankfurt to Montreal we are now home save and sound with our bikes and no injuries but full of memories.
A special thanks goes out to Murray for all his planning and hard work in making our trip a memorable one.
These are just some of the highlights along the way that we were unable to post at the time. Thanks to all for all your comments along the way and sharing the trip with us.
               
 Peter,Marlene,Murray ,Marilyn

                                             Tour boats at night in Budapest

Sept 9

last 3 days in Budapest

For the last two days here in Budapest we have been exploring the inner city . The first morning out was a walking tour where we met up with approx 100 people getting ready for a 2.5 hour walk around both sides of the river. We split up into 3 groups and we were off to see and be told of the history of the beautiful city. They explained to us why the Buda side streets were never in a straight
Iine and the Pest side was designed as square blocks They told us how they were still trying to free themselves from the old ways of communism and it would probably take 2 more decades for this to happen. We were shown the highlights of the city and given an overview of the must see areas along with many do's and don'ts and tips within the city..
While we're in Budapest we had to try out one of the ancient Roman bath houses. A short walk from our hotel is located the Gellert Bath house so not to be unlike the locals we had to give it a go.
The Baths at the Gellert are delightful from the entrance hall on. Once you enter, your first stop is a large pool surrounded by columns surrounded by a Solarium overlooking from the second floor balcony. These baths are rich with mineral waters and are situated in magnificently high ceilinged tile rooms. These areas are definitely a bit more interesting and relaxing.
In the warmer months there are three outdoor pools; one of them being a wave pool. They were not Hawaii waves but were enough to entertain us for quite awhile.
That evening we enjoyed some of the local foods and wines.
Our last day in Budapest ,we decided to hike to the top of the citadel and visit the military fortress which was still rattled with bullet holes from WWll . It is the highest point in the whole city and gave us an unparelled vista of the whole city.
Tonight will be early to bed to catch a plane at 6 am but only after endulging in some more fine foods.

Sept 6
Our last ride and our last packing up clothes in panniers. Today we get to our final destination,Budapest which was once two cities on each side of the river and back in 1872 when one side was called Buda and the south side called Pest they join to be one city called?
You guessed it; Budapest.
We left Viserad by 8'30 in the morning ,a little later than normal as we found Marlene had a flat tire in the morning  when we were getting ready to ride. We started out on a busy highway and then decided do an extra few k's down the center of a pretty little island and take the ferry back to the main road,little did we know that we think the ferry was built  in the same year that Budapest was amalgamated .

                                                             In front of St Stephens church

                                            WW11 bullet holes in the national security building

                                           Budapest Parliment Buildings on the Pest side

                                            A church inside a limestone mountain side

As we cycled further the road was good but busy and then we ended up on another dog path for several k's only to arrive at another section that was all patio stones through the middle of a forest. Who would have guessed. We finally arrived at our destination Budapest - a very beautiful city . As we biked  up the Buda side of the Danube  the Hungarian Parliament was very impressive to say the least. Tomorrow we plan to start playing tourists in Budapest with a guided 2 1/2 hour walking tour.

Sept 5
Tata to Visgard
This morning we left Tata with the expectations of some major hill climbs but thanks to our fearless guide (Murray) who stayed up half the night to figure out a new route and thanks to him we cut off 5 k's of hill climbs and discovered a new closeness with traffic. However we stayed alert and after several K's came upon or desired route once again. We left the busy highway to connect with the tranquil Danube. Slovakia on one side and Hungary on the other. Upon arriving at our final stopover before Budapest ,
Visgrad is a small tourist town with most of the tourist gone for the summer. We enjoyed some of their  fine wine for supper and visited some of their  little shops. Some of us wanted to climb the
 5 k hike to the top of the mountain to visit the old ruins but was quickly voted down in favour of another glass of wine . Tomorrow is our last day of biking  as we ride into Budapest.

                                                      Just have fun in Btarislava

                                                       A street in Bratislava

                                                       The old watertower in Gyor

                                           One of the bike paths in Hungary as we near Tata

                                                  The paths are getting narrower

 In Bratislava the dancers celebrate with dance and song


As we prepared to leave Bratislava our next destination we are heading for is Gyor in the country of Hungary. As we entered Hungary we expected to see some evidence that we would be coming into what was once a communist country,but there was no indication of this.. We were pleasantly surprised to see bike paths that were freshly paved and more of them being worked on.. As we biked deeper into Hungary we started to see some changes in the economy , in that their homes were neat but showed a lack of upkeep.
When we arrived in Gyor we soon found our pension(hotel) . It was clean but had only the bare essentials - however for 35 E a night we can't complain. We ate supper at the pension and had a delicious meal and fine wine for only 25E . We are seeing more game meats and goulash with lots of potatoes as a favourite.
The next morning we left for Tata . As we biked out of town we met up with an Aussie who was biking from England to Australia. He had been on the road since April but he was hoping to be in Australia sometime in 2014. He was riding for cancer and hoping to raise money (www.cycling4cancer.com). He was a great guy and had lots of stories . He had pics of himself in the alps in snow and even had to pitch his tent on snow one night.
As we went deeper into Hungary the roads got worse quite quickly. Our back lane ways in the fields at home look like highways compared to some of our terrain today. For a short distance we needed a machete but the road soon smoothed out and we arrived unscathed in the town of Tata where we look forward to having our first swim and maybe another bier.

It rained hard all night Friday but we didn't want to waste our last day in Vienna. So it was back into our yellow bike jackets and off to explore the metro system. We headed out of the city to the Schlofs Schonbrunn -the country palace where Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Sisi made their home. (the parents of Marie Antoinette)It was a  huge estate with acres of gardens. Because of the rain we toured the palace and then wandered through the massive park and gardens. It's always interesting to follow the history of royalty in another time period.
The afternoon was very low key with time to catch up on the internet, reading, etc as Sunday morning would see us heading out for 5 straight days of biking.
This morning we headed out under heavy clouds but they eventually turned to a beautiful sunny day.We had  a wonderful day of biking mostly along raised dikes, well paved and often through a nature park. One of the fascinating things was the number of mistletoe balls growing in the trees. Some teees would have one or two, others were dead with 10 or more balls living in them.We travelled through Hanesberg, the last large town in Austria and soon we were crossing beside the old border crossing into Slovakia.Our destination for tonight was the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. We lucked in as this weekend is Bratislava   days so we were treated to. Street activities with local costumes, dancing , singing , local artisans and foods. A great way to see the culture of another country. Tomorrow we head off on the  final stage of our journey - 4 days biking through Hungary to reach Budapest.