Along the Danube day 2
Austria had really delivered on Day 1 with nearly 50 miles of pleasant riding, many glimpses of the mighty Danube and two excellent cake based café stops. Today would be much shorter with the ride split between Slovakia and Hungary so I was looking forward to see how these countries would perform but most importantly if I could get cake.
Omens looked good at breakfast as there was an actual cake selection available, I was tempted but decided to save myself for later.
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| An actual Breakfast Cake selection |
Before cycling could begin for some reason my cycling guests insisted on a tour of Bratislava. I quickly volunteered to take charge of the itinerary and we set of what appeared to be a trip round a giant model medieval village with added coffee shops. We were told by the tour rep that you can cover most of the sights in about 2 hours but thanks to some excellent tour leading we smashed that and did it in 40 mins, which may be a record.
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| My cycling guests on their whistle stop tour of Bratislava |
By eavesdropping on tour groups we also learnt some interesting facts such as that Bratislava used to be the capital of Hungary even though it’s in the wrong country.
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| More Bratislava tour action |
With sighting seeing out the way it was time to get down to the main event with pedals down at an outrageously late 11pm
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| Pedals down |
There would be no castles on today's route but we were heading to Mosonmagyarovar which is famous for its 17 bridges so today I would be looking for bridge of the day. We started with a good one as we had to cross Bratislava bridge across the Danube to get back on route.
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| Bratislava bridge |
It was then cycle path all the way as we headed south.
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| Leaving Bratislava on good cycle paths |
We passed a bridge under construction which, although a nice one, the rules clearly state could only get half marks until its completion.
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| Another new bridge being built on route |
My luck was certainly in when first I had the chance to add to my collection of deserted border crossing photos (in black and white) as we traveled into Hungary.
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| The first deserted border crossing (in black and white) of the day |
Then better still the modern art gallery we planned to stop at on route was shut on a Monday and guess what today is! To make up for my cycling guests disappointed I took an arty photo and posted it on our WhatsApp group but it didn’t seem to help. Hey ho.
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| Arty photo |
It wasn’t far to our lunch spot which was in a car park by the main road. It was our first foray into Hungarian food so I was pleased to see goulash and a number of cabbage based items on the menu. Sadly there was no cake and as this trip is all about the cake it immediately disqualified itself from the running.
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| Our first Hungarian food stop, but no cake |
After we finished our selection of hearty soups, salads and cooked cheese it was off again for the final few miles which were on a stretch of cycle track alongside the road.
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| Final cycle path of the day |
I couldn’t wait to get to Mosonmagyarovar to check out its 17 bridges but boy what a disappointment as they were little metal ones over a tiny stream. Not even planting flowers on them helped.
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| Disappointing selection of tiny bridges |
There was even one at our hotel but obviously none up to the standard of Bratislava bridge. I’m sure the Mayor of Bratislava will be very pleased when I send him the certificate for bridge of the day to go with the one for castle of the day from yesterday.
As we arrived so early it was time to explore another Central European medieval town which was remarkably like all the others, church, square, statues etc.
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| The centre of another central european medieval town |
However at least it was café time and I made sure it had cake.
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| Good cake selection at our cafe stop |
Surprisingly it had an excellent selection from which I went for an Oreo topped chocolate and raspberry affair. The hot chocolate was also excellent being a proper really thick one. So much to everyone’s surprise the cafe Monarchia in Mosonmagyaróvár went top of the “best cafe that has cake along the Danube” charts.
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| Fabulous hot chocolate and cake |
As the ride had been so short we still had time to try the local spa (thermal type not corner shop) which was nice and relaxing but underwhelming as most of it was being renovated.
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| The spa was mainly being repaired |
Then I spotted on google maps that there was a castle here after all but a quick visit showed why they thought having a lot of bridges was a good thing and it certainly was not worthy of a certificate, especially as it wasn’t finished.
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| The local medieval cafe still appeared to be being built |
All in all another enjoyable day but I could have done with double the cycling and cake, and half the sightseeing.
Tomorrow is another short 25 mile ride, with no cafes on the way, so we can spend the afternoon exploring the medieval town of Gyor zzzzzzzzz. Although hopefully they will have good cake.
Route
Cafe ratings table
Cafe
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Drinks
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Cake
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Atmosphere and Ambiance
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Rating
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Uferhaus, Orth
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7.5
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8
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8.5
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8
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Stadt, Helmut
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6
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7.6
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7.1
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6.9
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Monarchia
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8
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8.8
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7.35
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8.05
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Cycle stats
Route
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Miles
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Average Mph
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Time on Bike
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Metres climbed
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Vienna to Brataslava
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49.13
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11.1
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4:24
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170
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Brataslava to Monsonmagyarovar
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24.07
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11.1
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2:10
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45
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Monsonmagyarovar to Gyor
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Gyor to Komarom
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Komarom to Visegrad
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Visegrad to Budapest
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Totals
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73.2
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11.1
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6:34
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215
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