Skip to main content

//Day 9 /20-03-22 /Budapest-Kecskemét

I left Budapest in the morning through empty streets and limited traffic. I did pass some people returning from a party and was waved out by Toroczkia a candidate for the upcoming election for the Homeland Movement party. It is probably more a hail to camerades then a wave good bye to a non-Hungarian….



I was happy to leave  Budapest. Although Budapest is a beautiful and interesting city I was just not in the mood to visit a big city now. The road and the Balkan are calling. In addition I do not experience  Hungarians as the most social/easy people to connect with. The times I tried to start a conversation, wanted to ask a direction or information  people did either not respond, grumbeld,  look at me as I want to rob or threaten them…The exception was the young receptionist of my hotel this morning who was really friendly and interested. Maybe it is the language barrier.  But most of the time people look socially constipated…





Before exiting Budapest I supplied for some lunch as it is a Sunday and I would be cycling a rural area with not a lot of villages along the way. It was a good decision to do so as the next 90 K the small rural villages I passed were a sleepy as a bear in his/her wintersleep. I even doubt that on weekdays there would be significant more  movement. In the villages I passed I could not detect any shops (closed/or not). No people on the streets. Sometimes a car passes me on the long, straight, but-holed empty roads I’m cycling.The further going to the south the poorer the quality of the roads…and the villages.

Between the villages I also encountered some Roma (I assume) living in derelict houses or self build cottages. I also passed in the middle of nowhere a sort of trailer park with  people standing  around. The trailers looked at least 30 years old, I would also not be surprised there was no electricity or running water in the vicinity. The people did not seem to be in the mood to have their photo taken.  

The road was rolling up and down  through a monotonous landscape ; some small trees, fields, nothing more. Straight ahead. 40 K without any bend. The only variation a small deer running along the road and a freshly smashed badger on the road.











Today I had 90 K to cycle to arrive at my destination of today, Kecskemét, a small market city In the middle between Budapest and the Romanian border. The pension where I’m staying is run by a Hungarian lady married to a man from France, Grenoble, who lives already more then 25 years in Hungary and is a English lecturer. I was friendly welcomed and the room is great. I strolled shortly through the citycenter which looks only recently renovated. In the evening I found the only restaurant open, had chicken with potato dumplings and a beer…..and learned that Milo is still a thing in Hungary (no surprise).
 






Tomorrow I will be heading to my last Hungarian stop :the city of Szeged, the 3rd largest city of Hungary and home of paprika and the famous dish szekelyguyas. The day after I make my first steps in the Balkan.

Lessons learned :
  • Not sure if Hungarians and I will ever become good friends.
  • Thursday we will hit 21 degrees : short pants ! 




 

 

Comments

  1. Unknown3/20/22, 9:23 PM

    Safe travels .
    I read your intresting trip i like to bike (elektric) in the area and surely Bukarest to Tirana in 23/24

    ReplyDelete
  2. Leentje Vanlee3/20/22, 9:44 PM

    I so hope you will eat some lovely goulash before leaving Hungary, next village sounds great to give it a try! Mmmm goulash with a big beer!
    Love your photos again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lieve Meirsman3/20/22, 10:44 PM

    Toch een beetje saai dag gehad denk ik, weinig contact in doodse dorpen, uw foto's zijn wel weer mooi om zien. Het weer blijft meezitten, genieten maar, tot morgen

    ReplyDelete
  4. Liliane vanlee3/21/22, 7:32 AM

    Ziet er echt eentonig uit,morgen beter en hopelijk blijft het weer goed.
    Veel groetjes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Frank R3/21/22, 2:01 PM

      Leuk om elke dag een reisverhaaltje van je te lezen. Schitterende foto's!

      Delete
    2. Frank R3/21/22, 2:02 PM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

/Day 84 /03 -06-22 /Remagen-Remersdaal

I was awake by 5.30 thanks to many birds making a lot of noice. I stayed in bed until 7.00 and was ready to go by 8.00. In Remagen I bought breakfast at the bakery and cycled afterwards the last kilometers along the Rhine.I also passed the remnants of the Remagen bridge which was was captured intact by the allies during WWII and scene for heavy battle as the Germans tried to destroy the bridge, which  it eventually did.  Leaving the Rhine required some climbing to get out of the Rhine Valley. A short but steep climb brought me in a different landscape. Big fields, low rolling hills…Most of the day this would be the landscape, not  to bad but also nothing extra-ordinary. The cycle path often ran parallel to quite busy roads which spoiled somewhat the fun.  In the afternoon I cycled though Aachen. I had never been to Aachen before and the  city center  looked very pleasant. The icecream was also of reasonable quality, no Amerena and Malaga this time but yoghu...
4 comments
Read more

/Day 86 /05 -06-22 /Halle-Gent (Home)

Pip the home-rabbit didn’t kill me. At least not yet, but I probably will as result of sleep deprivation. I learned the hard way that rabbits are nocturnal animals, during the night the Pip made a lot of noise drinking and scratching…Today a good rabbit is a rabbit in combination with prunes… After breakfast I left Hannah, Alec and Oscar around 9.00 and cycled to Dilbeek to pick up Maarten and Inge who would join me cycling to Gent. On the way to Dilbeek another friend, Jurriaan, informed me that he would join as well. For my last TBBCA cycling day the weather gods have foreseen most of the day rain  but eventually it was only the last 20 K that I needed to cycle in the rain. Not to to bad.  Thanks to Maarten leading the way we soon arrived in Schellebelle to say hello to another friend, Nico to have some refreshments and chocolate waffles….The last 20 K I cycled along the Schelde to home…I took the scenic route through the city center… and surprised the kids with my arrival…....
8 comments
Read more

//Day 48 /28-04-22 /Xylokastro-Mesolongi

Today was a combination of following coastline, mountains, flat roads, cycling the inland, small roads, smaller roads, national road, some traffic, no traffic, tiny villages, big cities, good roads, bad roads, asphalt, gravel, climbing and descending….I would have said that  the weather was the only constant but also the weather changed during the day. From the morning till around 14.30 it was a clear sky, sunny and around 28 degrees, After 14.30 clouds appear and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. Until Patras I followed mainly the coastline, cycling parallel to the highway. The Eurovelo designers had done  their best for the route to avoid as much as possible bigger and busy roads. I often had the impression there was no activities in the places I passed but that was mainly due that I was send over backstreets. I passed 3 other touring cyclists but besides a polite wave no further social interaction originated…  In Patras the Poloponessus is connected by the f...
2 comments
Read more