Bratslislava Slovakia to Gyor Hungary - 83 km 52 miles
Oct 4, 2023
Blink'n you'll miss it!! Not quite, but after 3 weeks in France and 2½ weeks in the German speaking countries of Switzerland, Germany and Austria it seems wildly amazing to be in 3 different countries with distinctly different people, and cultures in less than 24hrs!! We were in Austria til about 3pm yesterday and by 10am today we were in Hungary after having only 19 hrs on Slovakian soil!! But what a spectacle was Bratislava during that short visit.
One cannot really compare Bratislava to Vienna in my view. Both cities are stunningly beautiful in their own way. Vienna is almost untouchably beautiful, magnificent almost to the point of being god like and aloof..... whilst Bratislava looks lived in, and happy in it's own skin, where people live, work and play rather than something people just gaze at in awe. Needless to say our experience of both is very limited, but in the little time we had in each that's how I'd sum it up!
And then, tonight we find ourselves in Gyor in Hungary.... never heard of it??... don't worry, neither had Paul, or I. Not a big city, perhaps or small city, or even just a big town! But this place has a punch way above it's weight! From the approaches to Gyor one can easily feel comfortable making a judgement on the place before getting here.... many of the surrounding towns are drab and nondescript.... right up until you cross the bridge from the north one could be forgiven for thinking how underwhelming Gyor is going to be.... but once over the bridge you get drawn up in your tracks as Gyor begins to play it's magic on you.... from marble laden cathedrals with Weeping Madonnas to stunning squares, river vistas to café culture on steroids, a young vibe with elegant antiquity. Your trip over that bridge leaving town has you your craning your neck backwards thinking WTF?, how wrong was I.... lest I ever be a bookcover judge again.... be very careful indeed!! This Danube/Donau route has more gems than a Monarch's Crown!!
We seem to be just flying through these countries now!! 26km/hr tailwind today... at one point I wound up the Scott from 26kph to 44kph over about 20secs and literally watched Paul disappear in the rearview mirror!! V cool!
We made it into camp by 1430, after an early depart from Bratislava of 0815, so we had pleny of time for the camp setup, showers, lunch and our overwhelming city tour of Gyor.
Dinner was a Thai Curry, ablely assisted by 0.0% Stella Artois beers.... Paul created another culinary master piece tonight! One can cycle with a good chef just as easily as a poor one..... when it comes to food I consider myself a pretty good judge of character!!🤣🤙
Night night,
Doug&Paul 😴😴
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