S H F bike tours 🚴. Day 8

Sigh, our last full day with our guides and wheeling around this Hungarian countryside. Started our day with a short van ride back to the forest where we had the hot lunch picnic. On our bikes and a 2k ride straight up the mountain. Now, who's idea was this... Too bad the van ride was not to the top....  Successfully sweaty for the first and last time of the day. It was a beautiful ride through the forest. Notwithstanding the 7+k coast down the hill. What is not to like about that !  The brakes were smoking. 

Then off to spend 2 hours at an open air museum, Skanzen. Really interesting. It is so large, we were happy to be able to ride our bikes around the museum. For those Minnesotans, it is like The Landing, but on a huge scale.  Relocated and reconstructed buildings from over the last century or two. 

Our next 2 hour stop was in Szentendre. Very interesting old little village. VBT treated to a scrumptious lunch...must still be making up for that leaky boat ride that we missed...  At Julie's recommendation, we visited the marzipan museum.  Was interesting to see Michael Jackson made of almond paste...

My favorite -

Then back to our hotel along the Danube. 

Tonight, farewell dinner, already! Boy this week went fast. Hope it too much so for our readers. 

Tomorrow, for the first time, no van transfer. We transfer hotels by bike, so we will get a fantastic tour on our way into Budapest.  Stay tuned....   Hope it will be interesting....

S H F bike tours 🚴 7

My goodness! What a fun day and ride!  VBT out did themselves today.  😊

We bade Ezstergom goodbye, climbed into our motor coach transfer ( supposed to be a boat, but it sprung a leak--probably a good thing we are not to be on it....) off to our first ferry ride of two for the day. On our bikes and off we rode on beautiful bike paths. 

We explored the quaint village of Vac. ( pronounced Vat...do not ask me how to pronounce any other hugarian words...)

VBT treated us to some fabulous ice cream ( to make up for no boat ride) 

Mark was not too upset .... See the smile... What's not to like!

Then on to our to our 2nd ferry ride. Crossed the river with our bikes to Sventendre Island. One of the largest on the Danube. So fun. Mostly riding bike trails...what is not to like... 

Then, bumping and bouncing down a gravel road, arrived at the Bodor Major. A most obvious tourist stop, but non the less fun. Treated to a yummy chicken soup lunch with Hungarian donuts, topped off with a horse show with bonafide Hungarian Cowboys. Too fun!!!

Gray cattle. Almost went extinct but making a come back. If you get to this part of the world and it is on the menu, worth ordering. Just ask Julie....

Back on our bikes, crossed over the bridge to leave the island, and follow the signs to Budapest !!

It was non the less, an interesting ride. Lots of turns and twists, choppy trail of all choppy trails to swing back to the Danube and our hotel for 2 nights. 

Here is most of our group on the Danube.  What a crew!

5 days riding behind us, 2 more to go. So lots more fun to be had. Stay tuned!

S H F bike tours 🚴🏼 day 6

Esztergom, never head of this city, but now have had the chance to explore its enchantments. Very interesting.   

Here are some views of today's ride:

The highlight was to ride down then up the Danube River. Very very fun!!  The bike path on both sides was expecially appreciated. But not before we were to do a bit of road riding to access the paths. For those readers who have ridden the tour de Pepin, it was just like that. Only no shoulder and way more traffic.  No doubt there are a few Minnetonka bike club members who would have not liked these parts of our ride. Swear a bus came within inches of me as it came back into the right hand lane. Kinda gets one's attention....

Then on the very narrow bike paths, swear there was an entire ship's worth of passengers coming at us. Had to been about 40 or so in one group. Nice compact size....  Like the bright orange vests. Quite the fashion statement....

Highlights of the day was crossing into Slovakia then back into Hungary. Here is the boarder crossing. Much quieter these days. 

Another was the ferry ride across the Danube. 

Quiet street of the little boroughs

Lunch in a forest catered by local restaurant. Absolutely scrumptious. 

Zoltan, our guide said it was only a mile gradual climb up to lunch....such an underestimate....

The sweet part, was the coast back down the hill, for a good 15 minutes at least. Back on the road then found the bike path back to Esztergom. Excellent lighting for capturing a photo of the bascillia. 

Of course we had to go down to the canal to a local bistro for relaxation and libation. Yum. 

Tomorrow we transfer hotels including a cruise on the Danube. Let's go!!

Check in tomorrow to find out how it went. 

Cheers!

 

S H F bike tours 🚴🏼 day 5

What a fun day!! A little biking ( very little ), a bus ride... A nice nap ( or two) and exploring s new city. 

First a few parting shots of our hotel resort. 

Then on to a blistering 10.5k ride to the Esterhazy Palace. This is often referred to as "Hungary's Versailles". What an amazing opulent some time residence of the hoi polloi. 

Composer Josef Haydn sat here and performed his famous compositions. Wow

Off our bikes and on to the bus to ride to our next adventure. A lunch stop bound to be memoriable.  We met an entrenprenur, the exact spelling of his name escapes me, who runs a winery, stable, strudel and so much more fun.  Of course, the group was recruited in the making of bread and, of course, strudel. We made poppy seed and sour cherry. Yum! 

Then on to Eztergom where we will stay for 2 nights. The skyline of this city is dominated by the grand basilica.  Of course we had to climb to the apex of this mammoth. Only 400 steps...seemed more like 4000. Good thing we did not shower yet today. ;).  Enjoy some of the sites from this aerie.

Dang this is a long way up!   Fortunately we just made it under the wire to get access to the kupalo of the bascillia before it closed.  The man who shepherded us off the observation deck was closing and locking the doors behind us as fast as we could go down.  Whew.... But what a great climb !

You know what all that climbing will do? Yup, create a thirst.  So of course, down and down we went back to our hotel to the bistro next door for a libation, some sustainance and fun fellowship.  Our guides joined us for even more entertainment.  

Tomorrow, our longest day of biking. No worries, maybe the wind will be at our backs. Tune in tomorrow. Egeszsegedre! Cheers!

S H F bike tours 🚴 day 4

Well, wasn't this a day to remember....

Here is a pic of our accommodations for 2 nights.

 

Hoping the body can recover enough to do it again tomorrow and the day after and the day after.....  Had to been wind gusts up to 30 mph, not exactly helping you ride down the road either.  Managed to keep up with the Minnesotans plus one from Pennsylvanian. We earnestly headed out into the wind riding on roads and trails. One of the trails actually had a number and signage. Which is a HUGE help. It wove us up and down through vineyards and forests. Through quiet quaint Burroughs.  Eventually ending up at our lunch stop. But not before the "fast" group stopped for a local libation on our way to the park. 

Our lunch location was on the boarder of Hungary and Austria. So much happened right on this spot. You all remember the Iron Curtain, GDR and the soviet rule of Eastern Europe.  Hungary fell behind that iron curtain to be subject to the soviet rule. It was during the  second half of the 1980's, the soviets were not able to keep up with the western technology. It became more difficult to for them to hang on to its satillite nations. Subsequently led to the collapse of the system of state socialism. Where we stood today and had our lunch was one of the easiest crossings from Hungary to Austria. May of 1989, rumors spread there was a simple crossing out of Hungary to the western world through Austria. Illegal border crossings were still to be stopped and often times the order was given to shoot.  August 19, 1989 at 3:00 p.m., the Hungarians could wait no longer. Paneuropai piknic in Sopron was the name of the event that took place.  Thousands of people assembled and broke through the border gates. The border guards did not open fire.  The beginnings of the Iron Curtain to come down. One of the many notable events happened right here.  Two months later, the Berlin Wall was taken down. 

Notice in this picture the change in color of the pavement, this is the boarder. The white van is the police, poised to search vehicles from both directions for refugees. 

A restored replica of the iron curtain. 

A sculpture depicting the years of oppression and people emerging after the fall of soviet control. Notice the remaining guard tower in the distance. 

On our bikes and off we went to the city of Sopron. Steeped in history dating back to the Romans and possibly older.... We hung out there enjoying some of the achitecture and old roman ruins. 

Luck was at our backs along with the winds. Another 25k back to our hotel, a hot shower and off to dinner. Lots of interesting conversation throughout the day.

Wish me luck, can make it through 4 more days....