Danube Bike Tour Day 33: Esztergom to Vac
Posted by Cassie, January 10th, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Distance: 40km
Today, the weather took a turn for the worse. It was cold and rainy when we started out in the morning. We hiked up to the basilica in Esztergom to check out the view of the city and the Danube. Since it was raining, we could not see as much, but it was still a neat view.
View from Esztergom Basilica
The start of the ride from Esztergom was nice along a bike path following the river. However, soon we had to ride along a busy road, and that was not much fun. Fortunately, we were able to turn off the busy road to cross the Danube where the bike route was mostly along bike paths instead of busy roads. When we turned off the busy road, there was a beautiful field of sunflowers with mountains in the background, so things were already looking up for us. 🙂
Sunflower field
We rode to the ferry crossing, and checked the schedule. We had a little while to wait before the next ferry, and we could see the ferry boat on the other side of the river. However, since we were the only ones waiting for the ferry, we were a little worried that the ferry was not running since it was late in the season. There were a couple cars that came up to the ferry crossing and then turned around. Fortunately, on the hour, the ferry boat started crossing the river to pick us up. The ferry boat was really crazy. It was a big platform that was being pushed by a tugboat, and it looked really hard to maneuver with the strong river current. We were the only ones waiting for the ferry, so the ferry boat did not stop at the crossing and anchor the boat. As we went up the ramp onto the ferry boat, the boat was moving with the current of the river, and the tugboat driver was revving the engine to keep the boat from being carried downstream. Just as we left the shore, another bike rider arrived at the ferry crossing only a few minutes too late, and he/she would have to wait another hour to cross the river on the ferry. When we reached the other side of the river, we found out why the ferry boat stayed on the opposite shore of the river. There was a bar on there, and there was nothing on the other side. The people working on the ferry boat only had to do one trip an hour, and the rest of the time they hung out at the bar. 🙂
Ferry boat crossing at Szob
The rest of the ride was very pleasant. There were a few short stretches along busy roads, and we primarily rode along bike paths and quiet country roads. Despite the weather, this was one of my favorite sections of the Danube bike route. There were big mountains rising from both sides of the river, and the leaves of the trees were changing color making the scenery very beautiful.
Visegrad Castle
We stopped in Vac for the night. We stayed at a pension that was run by the most friendly older couple. When we arrived, the man offered us shots of really strong cognac. Jonathan did not want his shot, so the man drank it for him. 🙂 He also gave us apples, and told us to eat them for “good vitamin”. They had a son that worked as a dentist in Atlanta, so the man spoke a little English. We talked to them a little bit about the United States. In the morning, the woman cooked a huge egg and ham breakfast for us, but I do not eat ham. However, I felt bad refusing to eat the breakfast she had cooked for us, so I ate it. It was really good despite the ham. 🙂 The couple were so friendly and helpful that they also helped us load our bags onto our bikes in the morning.
When we were relaxing in our room at night, we were watching Hungarian television, and we happened to catch an old episode of American Gladiators from 1991! It was so funny to watch a show in Hungarian that we watched as kids.
We were only 37km from Budapest, so tomorrow we would finally arrive in Budapest!
Print
