Ride 3.4: Budapest to Passau (9/20-9/25)

Friday, September 20, 2019

Getting out of Budapest was so much calmer than coming in because it was early and there were hardly any tourists, so I got to stare at the Parliament building to my heart’s content. It was also much better because we were following the actual trail instead of that horrible highway. We backtracked all the way to Esztergom, going through Visegrad, the very touristy home of a slide and a caste ruin. We stopped at a Langos Bufe, and to the amazement of the owner, devoured four absolutely delicious langos. Shortly after Esztergom we were on the highway for a while, which was unfortunate. Even more unfortunately, I somehow picked up a cold in Budapest, so at one point I wasn’t even paying attention to the environs, just pushing through, although we still managed a metric century. Eden Camp in Neszmely was worth it, with a lovely patio where we enjoyed beer and pizza, although later that night we had to move the tent farther away from a karaoke-singing party. 

Saturday, September 21, 2019

When we woke up, it was four degrees celsius, and it felt it. We had a lovely breakfast at the campsite restaurant before hitting the open road. Today wasn’t as stunningly verdant as some other days have been, but it was interesting – we were on a woody single track, then residential streets, then industrial streets. We passed through Gyor, which was beautiful, although a little touristy. The first campsite we went to was closed, so we backtracked to a second one, Camping Satorhely in Asvanyraro, which luckily was right next to a confectionery and a restaurant, where we used up the last of our florints in style. We shared our grassy field with four German students who were biking from Cologne to Istanbul.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Our morning started with our camp host bringing us coffee. The rest of the day was equally incredible, with the sun and the wind behind us all morning and a beautiful smooth road that led us through rolling farmlands before dropping us back onto the Danube at Hainburg. We made a point to cross Donauinsel, the island in the middle of the Danube in Vienna, which is enormous, dedicated to leisure, and has an unofficial nudist beach. Today was a long day, and we clocked 135km total before making it to a campsite in Klosterneuberb, just south of Vienna. We are sharing the campsite with another cyclist who is doing the same route that we are but much more slowly. 

Monday, September 23, 2019

We started the day with an expensive and delicious German breakfast at the campsite. The bike route out of Vienna was absolutely flawless, with small quaint houses on the left and the Danube to the right, with no traffic and spectacular signage. We saw so many bicycles, most of which belonged to cycling companies. The one we saw most frequently was Backroads, which features cruise-bike expeditions. We tried and failed to find a biergarten, because we are clearly in wine country. We did however pass miles of apple and pear orchards, and restrained ourselves until we came to a farm stall and were able to buy some apples and pears for the road. Around 2pm the weather turned on us and we had a strong gusty headwind and ominous skies. The campsite in Melk was closed, so we had to backtrack to Camping Stumpfer, but we ate our gnocchi and set up our tent before it started raining, and then retreated to the restaurant for beer, cake and hot chocolate.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The morning was challenging, with cold overcast skies and a strong gusty headwind, but we made good progress, wincing only a little when we crossed e-bikes coasting downhill with a tailwind. We stopped for lunch and beer at a beautiful riverside restaurant, although we’re still in search of the perfect biergarten. In the afternoon, the sun came out a bit, and the trail was just gorgeous, although we lost it for a bit and ended up going over some very poorly paved road. We pulled into the campsite at Au-See, not fully sure that it was still open, but with the help of a friendly couple, we found the tent site, and the camp manager found us, and kindly made me a cup of coffee.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

We woke up to the sound of rain on the tent, and the rest of the morning was cloudy, with one sudden downpour during which we took cover under a well-placed ferry shelter and only got a little wet. The only sightseeing that David had wanted to do during this entire trip was climb the lookout at Schlogen, where there is a particularly sharp curve in the Danube, but when we got there, we realized that the path was 1.5km straight up a dirt (read: mud) path, so we decided to skip it after all. We had rolling hills and blue skies all the way into Passau, which is a beautiful city full of narrow stone alleyways and large churches. We only had one rest day, during which we washed our clothes, drank as much coffee as possible, and slept in a room that was straight out of a cruise ship at the Rotel.