End of the tour

With a long day ahead of us, we were out early, detouring to the bakery to ensure we had supplies.  We had decided to stay on the Slovakian side of the Danube as the cycle path was meant to be better and quieter, with most of the towns being on the Hungarian side. We needed to cross the river at some point, and decided to do so at Nagymaros where the ferries ran hourly to Visegrad.  

We set ourselves a target to catch the 10am ferry. As the crossing was 32kms away, we needed to maintain a steady pace as it was well after 8am before we left town. But after a kilometre or so, as we were crossing the bridge out of Esztergom I could feel my rear tyre deflating. Not a promising start as we pumped it up and continued on, passing fields of sunflowers.

Another 20kms on, my tyre was feeling flat again, so stopped and pumped it up.  We were making good time and thought we had a chance of making the ferry.  Then within a few hundred metres, my tyre went completely flat meaning we needed to replace the tube.  Turned out there was a staple stuck in the tyre.

With our sights now set on the 11am ferry, we had time to enjoy the lovely cycle path along the river.  Soon we could see the ruins of the medieval Visegrad Citadel high above the Danube Bend.  As we approached the jetty we could see the 10am ferry departing – some 20 minutes after its scheduled time.  Fortunately, we were able to confirm that the next ferry was still at 11am as we purchased our tickets.  This gave us time for morning tea which we enjoyed in a shady spot on a pathway dotted with little stone statues.  

The ferry left promptly and it was a short trip across the river. After passing through the gates of Visegrad, we spent a long time on a busy road before returning to a quieter cycle path where we found a nice spot for our final lunch on the Danube. 

Our next stop was Szentendre, a lovely town full of galleries and small shops.  Unfortunately, most of them were closed as it was a Monday, and only the really touristy souvenir shops were open.  We had allowed time to explore, but there wasn’t much to see and after a few quick visits to shops where we found nothing of interest, we decided to look for our souvenirs in Budapest.  

The cycle path ran along a wire fence, enclosing what looked to be a large resort on the water.  This turned out to be Lupa, Budapest’s largest beach, and an island on the Danube.  You have to buy tickets to visit the beach which costs around $27 AUD for adults.  A little further on we passed some more accessible beach spots and lots of bars that must be really busy on weekends.  

We were soon into the suburbs of Budapest and followed cycle paths all the way to the Parliament of Budapest, the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary.  A lady from Brisbane kindly took our photos as we posed in front of Hungary’s most iconic building, and a fitting spot to end our travels.  After travelling 3700 kilometres, through 8 countries, with three punctures (all on my bike), we had finished our cycling tour across Europe.  It was so much fun that we could have kept going (well, maybe after a week or so)!  We are already thinking about our next trip.  

We celebrated with some ice creams before heading on to our Airbnb apartment, where Melinda, our host was waiting for us. She asked us to confirm that it was the right box that was sitting on the counter, before talking us through all the things to do in Budapest.  

We had time for a quick shower and to download our travel cards, before heading out to meet Petra, the cousin of a friend of mine, at the Blue Tomato.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner – trying a few more Hungarian specialties.  Petra shared more suggestions of places to visit – so we had lots of local tips to help us plan our short stay in Budapest.  

Prev entry - Home - Next entry