Danube - Budapest

Odd to get up this morning and not be packing up to go pedalling!  Funny how a bike tour becomes a way of life!

The morning started with coffee, of course, and then the dismantling of the tandem.  The Matild Palace Ballroom was the most beautiful place to store and dismantle a tandem!  Steve’s got it down to two hours to get this done and you wouldn't know he'd been there when he was done!

Liz’s last day so she got to pick what to do - double decker bus tour, which also included a boat tour.  The Danube was breezy and cool! Budapest has some of the most ornate architecture and beautiful bridges crossing the river.

Saw the Fisherman’s Bastion up on the hill where we had drinks the first time we came to Budapest - looks like a wall w/ arched windows that you can look out across the river and see the Parliament building.

After the tour, we went to lunch.  We’ve been to Budapest, briefly, on the Blackburn to the Black Sea motorbike tour in 2016, so there were some memories of the place.  As we walked along the riverfront promenade and had lunch, the view was really familiar.  Turns out, we’d had lunch in the same spot with the same view on our earlier trip!

Slept off the heat of the day and met in our room for a glass of wine, nibbles and a chat with Dad. Then went for a last promenade, a traditional Hungarian dish Langos and the biggest beer of the trip!

Found a very nice treat of wine, fruit and nuts in our room when we got back!  Best hotel ever!

Trip Stats:

Mileage - we’ve followed the Danube from its source all the way here.  According to the book, it was 781 miles from start to finish.  Our actual was 777 - not a lot of shortcuts taken!

Assembling and dismantling the tandem - 4 hours

Countries travelled to - 4 (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary)

Most scenic part of the route - Passau to Vienna

Flat tires - 0

Bike repairs - 0

Preventative maintenance - Daily

Hotels / flats stayed in - 17

Wrong turns - minor, quickly recovered from

Most useful apps - Komoot, Google Translate

Best Commenter - everyone who made a comment, really enjoyed them all!

Best ‘enhancement’ - Liz’s video camera 

Best trails - Austria

Most gravel trails - Germany

Bumpiest trails - Hungary

Most time on roads - Hungary

Ferries taken - 3

Food - delicious everywhere

Beer and wines - delicious everywhere 

Weight change - suspect it’s a net gain!

Overall reflection - great trip!  Highly recommend the Passau to Vienna stretch!  There are always easy parts, hard parts, stunning parts and ugly parts in these trips.  Except for Hungary, the majority was on paved, off-road trails winding miles and miles through beautiful countryside.  To be fair, Hungary did have some of that, but the EuroVelo 6 there has too much busy road time for us.  To also be fair, drivers are much more used to cyclists in Europe (as they should be with 35,000+ trails on the EuroVelo alone!) so they are a bit easier to deal with (unlike, say, Florida!).  As mentioned in earlier posts, getting into cities can be a challenge as navigation is trickier (‘Turn left.  No, not that left!’) and you’re dealing with a lot more people who actually know where they’re going while we're trying to find our way.  That being said, the Old Towns in big cities or small towns are lovely and worth the effort of getting to every single time!  An epic trip for us, a successful first big trip for Liz and I think Steve’s already looking for the next European river tour!

Comments:

Stephen HodgsonJune 25, 2025 at 5:38 AM

Great trip. There is some upside to following rivers, they flow gently downhill with very little climbing, the water has a cooling effect and people through the ages have built villages and towns alongside them with hotels and restaurants. So not the most physically demanding trip we have ever done but one of the best. The “mission controlling” was outstanding. 
In the end the bike did well, we need to decide whether we do some upgrades to this one or we find another but the concept of “public transport” travelling to another country, pedal hundreds (or even thousands) of miles then “public transport” back is proven I think though next time might pay a bit more to ship the box than this time so it’s more predictable. Quite literally “the world is our oyster”, though we do like Europe!!
Where next ….. likely we will do the other half of the “tour de Manche” in September (we did the first half last year), that’s by comparison a baby trip and we can start and finish at a cross channel ferry port so no need for portable tandems, shipping boxes etc. Next year if it’s another European river with a Eurovelo route there are some to choose from Meuse, Rhine, Rhine, all are over 1000km, start in the centre of Europe and flow to the sea …. Other ideas include France “end to end” (start in St Malo finish in Nice), Portugal “end to end” starts I guess at La Coruna

1. 
   Stephen HodgsonJune 25, 2025 at 5:40 AM

   Oops hit the wrong button …. And ends somewhere near Gibraltar… we will see.
2. 
   LizJune 25, 2025 at 10:32 AM

   Could not have stated it better. I loved being included in this trip, cycling lets you see so much you can miss from a car. Fantastic company!!! Can’t wait to dig more into the videos taken and find some more of the gems we saw.

Danube - Esztergom to Budapest!

Wheels rolling at 6am, having had breakfast (bacon sandwiches) and coffee / Diet Coke.  Left Esztergom and had a lovely pedal by the river and then ‘on the road’ happened.  The first bit of the road was smooth, good progress, no traffic. Went along a massive mile+ field, hawk watching as we went.

Then we were back on the road and there was more and more traffic.  No cycle lane, no cycle path.  I’m watching the map for when we have to make a turn and asking Steve, ‘Can you see Liz?’  We periodically stopped and reconnected. Then the route began to follow the river more and more.  

We’ve been following the EuroVelo 6 signs for close to 800 miles now!  Found a fantastic bakery with a coffee shop.  Went by and it looked like a bread manufacturing facility. Didn’t see much in the way of signs, but loads of people were going in and out.  Went in and there was this coffee / breads / cakes shop - sticky buns were had by all.

Szentendre was the turning point, much more time by the river.  Mostly rode into Budapest and except for a random closure of a path near the railway, it was a good trip in - as trips into cities go.  We made our way alongside the road on a tiny sidewalk until we reconnected with the proper path and made our way down the Buda side of the river.

Crossed over Szechenyi Lanchid Bridge to the Pest side of Budapest - gorgeous, could see the historic buildings on both sides of the river.  Saw the Parliament Building which looks like a palace.

Found another interesting place to store a tandem - might be the nicest one we've found so far!

Went out for lunch before Steve had to pick up the bike box and Liz had to return the rental bike, a Trek bike which did really well on the entire trip!

We are staying at the Matild Palace tonight, fantastic finish to the tour - thank you, Liz! Great room overlooking the bridge and the Danube.  Went to the rooftop bar for cocktails and a view of the city.

Big (but gently tired) celebration tonight.  I’ll do the rest of the totals tomorrow, but Liz pedalled 397 miles of the absolutely gorgeous and the absolutely challenging (some of the hardest we’ve done).  Not a complaint throughout. Invited back for another - if she wants to do it again!

Comments:

1. Stephen HodgsonJune 23, 2025 at 8:16 PM

   The “pedals turning by 6 am” strategy paid off, I think it was pedals “whirling” as we set off at a fair clip to beat the heat (and the Monday rush hour traffic). I guess it was a three breakfast day 🤔, bacon butties at the flat, sticky buns at the bakery and then a breakfast about 10.30 and 12 miles from the finish. Lunch (ride was over by then) consisted of a beer/wine and pizza fest!! Whilst we have burnt some calories today it wasn’t that many 😂😂.
   This is the “poshest” hotel I have ever stayed in (and I have stayed in some good ones over the years on business travel), it’s a “smart room” I think. The toilet lid goes up when you go near it, a button lifts the seat, it has a light in it … not many of them in Blackburn!! Imagine our arrival, hot, sweaty and with 4 weeks of road muck on the bike, surprised they let us in!!!
   Tomorrow is dismantle and pack the tandem for the trip back first thing then we are off to explore this great city. Katherine and I were here about 10 years ago but didn’t really scratch the surface, we have nearly two days here this time before we fly home on “squeezy jet” on Wednesday evening. 
   More reflections tomorrow but great trip, where will we go on next year’s “epic tandem tour”…. ? Pretty sure there will be one, watch this space …..
2. 
   LizJune 24, 2025 at 11:08 AM

   Definitely yesterday and the day before were the toughest between bumpy paths and busy bumpy roads. But reaching Budapest has been awesome, and Hungarian food has been a total surprise. Katherine and Steve have this down to a science. Jess, you were spot on about their hot sauce - hot and flavorful! I am plotting how to bring some home in carry-on, and then where to find it in the US!
3. 
   BrianJune 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM

   Looked like a great trip from start to finish! Looking forward to the stats tomorrow.
4. 
   Madge H. SmithJune 24, 2025 at 3:18 PM

   Congrats to you all!!