5 Ferries - Hand Wash - Power Outage

Thursday, 9th August 2018

Route: Danube Cycling Path 3 (Eszergom - Budapest)

Total Distance: 85 km

Highlight of the Day: Managed to catch the second ferry right on time, the constant reunion of people

The day started with a delicious breakfast buffet at the accommodation. With us was a family with 2 adult children, the two from the hostel in Vienna, the two probable Spaniards who checked in with us yesterday, and many more. Then we set off. I had read that the ferry to Szob always left at '35. That wasn't the case. It always left at '50 - we were there at exactly 9:00. So we had to wait for almost an hour. Two elderly gentlemen from Potsdam who had missed the ferry by 3 minutes also waited with us. Very nice people. More cyclists joined us, including the 4-member family and a French couple from the same tour group as the people from Potsdam. We would encounter them about 8 times and always greet, wave, and ring later! Finally, we crossed the river with the ferry. The journey lasted about 5 minutes.

After that, we hurried because we definitely wanted to reach the second ferry before noon. Soon we left the other cyclists behind and rode the 30 km. It was always directly along the Danube: Danube on the right, sometimes with a beach, a lot of forest on the left, trees, hills, and houses with very well-kept gardens. These 30 km were very beautiful! At exactly 12 o'clock, we reached the ferry in Vac, where we immediately went on board. There was also a family with two children aged about 8 and 10. They had just started in Vac. On the other side, we had a good view of the quarry and the meanders of the Danube. About 5 km after the ferry, we saw a fruit stand and a bakery in the town where we were. We bought a lot and just sat down on the ground and ate. Next to us was the family with the little children. We ate for so long that the French, the probable Spaniards, and the people from Potsdam overtook us again.

Then we continued. From now on, the Danube was always on the left and in some way it was urban area on the right: sometimes directly houses or promenades, but also short stretches of forest or meadows. Now it was getting very hot. It took us exactly until 1 minute past 5, so 4 hours, for the 40 km. In the outskirts of Budapest, we came across the Sziget Festival, Europe's largest festival. Unfortunately, we only heard music but didn't see anything. Then we crossed over to the other side of the Danube and rode very confusing routes. But it was really impressive to ride along the Danube (city center) towards Budapest. One thinks that a completely different world is coming with all the magnificent buildings that we passed by. Unfortunately, we couldn't take much time because the meeting point with the landlady was set for 5 and we were running late. But we did see a lot when we cycled the wrong way through one-way streets (which was allowed for bicycles!)

Finally, we arrived. The accommodation consists of a communal living and dining room with a kitchen and hallway, and two rooms with their own bathroom. But there was no one else apart from us, so we could spread out. And do the laundry. I spent 2 hours hand washing the sports clothes from a week. At quarter to 8, I was done (Julius helped a bit, but not much because I thought he should rest since he always repairs the bikes and navigates through the city). Then we showered and relaxed, and - poof - it was 9 o'clock. I was really exhausted. So we just got something from McDonald's. When we came back, the power was out. I didn't really care, but Julius wanted the air conditioning back. Because the apartment is part of a large residential building, we couldn't do anything and eventually the power came back. Then I fell asleep very soon on the couch.