Good sleep woke early oh i didn’t stay at the Wellness hotel why i went brain dead when it came time to book i went a little cheaper for Foter Panzio across the square. No breakfast but they have an espresso machine and tea so Istvan the manager told me in the morning, go 30 meters down the back street and there’s a bakery, get some breakfast and come back here have your coffee or tea and eat. So that’s what i did and Istvan gave me company we chatted through my breakfast. Now at the bakery i was puzzled, cuz I wanted sweet rolls and the other day at the Spar supermarket i got what i thought was almond or walnut rolls and no it turned out to be stuffed with liver pate or some other disgusting thing i spit out… so i was leery, but an older woman in front of me ordered a few things, then i wasn’t quite sure so i let another woman go in front of me, and when it was my turn, she spoke perfect English and pointed to everything in the case told me what they all were, so i got some shortbread sticks, a chocolate roll (like a cinnamon roll but whole grain) and a plum stuffed croissant. Had a couple cups of espresso with Istvan and i was on the road. Istvan, is a cyclist too like everyone around here but he was very interested in my breakdown bike, bar end shifters, etc…
Anyway, got on the road by 930 took more pictures today,
it was warm from the get go i had only shorts and short sleeves and put sunscreen on first thing and again about 100. It did cloud up in the afternoon but good news i had tailwind most of the day.
There were a bunch of people, not city workers just people, cleaning up on the riverfront promenade sidewalks they were sweeping and collecting driftwood putting it all in piles getting the place back to looking great. I stopped at a EuroVelo 6 rest stop right by downtown and it was the first one with a working air pump, so i pumped those wide tires up to 65, they had got down to about 40 the past few days, and rolled along, for the first 30 km it was smooth sailing asphalt levee road then it turned to choppy cement, then to big gravel/rock for 10 km so nearing the 1/2 way point of the planned 90 km day i stopped for a lunch snack protein drink, cheese, remaining shortbread and roll from the bakery, and an apple, i happened to come upon a shady riverside landing, where a big river cruise ship was docked with 2 busses there, unloading people and they got onto the boat, must be the first day they are cruising on the river again it’s still quite high but i guess it’s on the way down, they shoved off and within 15-20 minutes another 3 cruise ships went by, one docked but it was empty, guess they were going to wait for a bus.
So off i went again and more gravel turned to dirt and grass…. Bumpity bump got tiring so i went out on the pavement for some km’s, but it was too hairy, full of grain trucks flying by and no shoulder no bike lane so i went back to the gravel dirt grass levee. Came to the biggest grain operation on the river i have ever seen, it was about 3-4 times the size of the elevators at Alton or the ones in St Louis off Hall street, it was so big there were a bunch of looked like modular housing units for workers, and a bunch of loaded trucks waiting to get in and unload.
Finally the EV6 route went onto pavement again, then onto quiet country roads for a while then back to the river and more levee top gravel and grass and dirt, then it changed again to nicely paved and there were pallets and pallets of sandbags along the trail, they had been prepared to sandbag but luckily the levee wasn’t breached….
So i was about km 90 and i figured it would be 5-8 more km to the EuroVelo 6 stop, but here’s a sign and I’m there by 430. Early, got checked in showered changed clothes and rode about 2km to the restaurant (1 of 2 in town) and had a great Greek salad (cucumber, red onion, cherry tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese, no lettuce) and it was great and also a ricotta and spinach pizza, and a local beer Gosser which of course they sell by the .5 liter so a pint. 12 euro for all, well actually 4460 Florints.
Now i’m back at the room and ready to go lights out, with luck tomorrow we will get to Budapest! Looking forward to 3 or 4 days there, i booked for 3 so we will see what tomorrow brings. I learned a couple new Hungarian phrases today, Koszonom Kuh-suh-num means thank you, and Koszonom szepen means thank you very much, Hallo or see-ya is hi or hello. And Neked means for you. they don’t tip here so you have to explain if you try to… yesterday i went to leave extra money at my apartment in Harkany over the phone and the woman told me NO! DO NOT leave extra 10 euro! So today to the pizza waitress i said Koszonom szepen, Neked.
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