Day 36 - Europe 2011

Day 36 - Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - Rusovce to Gyor, etc - Trip 113.06 Time 6:07:33

Add Hungary to the list of countries that I've cycled through. Today after checking out I left for Cunovo, SK - Rajka, Hungary and was there in the blink of an eye. But first let me tell you about b'fast at a 4 star hotel in Rusovce, Slovakia. I went down for b'fast at 7:20 AM. There were just 2 other guest in the restaurant. B'fast was a-la-carte so no chance to make a sandwich or whatever for lunch later. I ordered orange juice, scrambled eggs with crispy bacon, toast and hot chocolate. The OJ was freshly squeezed, the hot chocolate was so sweet and thick you could almost stand a spoon up in it and they had two more packets of sugar with it in case you didn't find it sweet enough. The crispy bacon was not so crispy and the scrambled eggs were sunny side up and a bit on the runny side. Eggs and bacon were fried up together. Oh and the toast were OK but no butter. Ketchup, which I had to order, came in a cream server. The bacon and eggs also came with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red, yellow and green peppers.
After b'fast I returned to my room to finish packing. I realized I had forgoten my blue bandanna in room 106 when I moved over to 108. I went down to the reception and asked if I could get back into room 106 to get my bandanna. The receptionist called the cleaning staff on her walkie-talkie and asked them to let me into room 106. My bandanna was still hanging up on the shower stall where I had left it to dry. I paid 60 E plus a tax of 1.65 E when I checked out. The receptionist was curious and wanted to know what I was doing in Rusovce, Slovakia. I told her I was on a cycling tour that had started in Amsterdam on May 26th and that I was going to Istanbul. she almost fainted.
Once I got out of the hotel lobby it was quite cool due to a nice breeze. I set off for Cunovo at 8:45 AM. It was a lovely morning. The sun was shinning and I had a tailwind. I arrived at the border crossing at 9:00 AM. It was like a ghost town, broken windows, tattered, torn curtains flapping in the breeze. Not a soul in site. I stopped to take some photos. I continued on to Bezenye and wanted to stay on the 150 to Haliszi but there was a "no bicycles allowed" sign. I was able to cycle on a path beside the road that was not in the best of shape and which was covered by 2 or 3 day old mown hay. This was quite dangerous as it was slippery and covered some of the more severe bumps. After about 3-4 kms of that nonsense I got off the path and rode on the highway. It really wasn't all that busy, as a matter of fact there was hardly any traffic at all!
I arrived safely in Halaszi and continued on to Arak, Darnozseli, Hedervar, Asvanyrar, Dunaszeg and eventually Gyor where I stopped for lunch at the main town square. On the way I saw a couple of huge fields of sunflowers. They were all facing East towards the sun. I also saw some farmers harvesting wheat and bailing the left over straw. Some of the wheat fields had been severely affected by the high winds yesterday. Also, on the way, I had stopped for a break at 11:00 AM. An American couple from California, who saw my Canada jersey, stopped to say hello and have a chat in English. They had bought used bicycles on arrival in Germany and had cycled from Passau and were on their way to Budapest. They were only cytcling 30-40 kms/day so I wished them a safe ride and went on ahead.
For lunch I had 2 small Cola Light and a bowl of chicken vegetable noodle soup which came to 1290 Ft or 5.16 E. I paid in Euros 5.20. After leaving Gyor I set my GPS for Nagyhegy or Szolohegy. I can't remember which now. In any case I ended up getting thoroughly lost and ended up in G......... which wasn't on my Danube guide maps. I had to back track several times after resetting my GPS for Bony. At one point my GPS told me to turn right onto a nicely paved road which became a badly paved road, which became a very loose gravel road, which became a muddy, loose dirt road. I was slippping and slidding all over the place. I almost fell over several times. I made it back to the main highway OK. I wanted to go right but the GPS wanted me to go straight ahead. I ended up in G........ again. I tried a different direction but that came to a dirt/gravel road that went into a forest so I made another U-turn. Eventually I ended up back in Gyor! It started tipping down. It was 4:00 PM and I had now cycled over 100 kms. I saw a sporting goods store and was able to pull right in to the front entrace to get out of the rain. I put my rain gear on and set my GPS for the nearest hotel which was 3.5 kms away. It started pouring again. The hotel turned out to be fully booked. The receptionist told me there was a Pension not far away but her direction were rather vague and I couldn't find it. I tried the next hotel listed in my GPS. It turned out to be a 3 star hotel at 40 E with b'fast and Wi-Fi included. The receptionist showed me where I could store my bike for the night and helped carry my panniers up to my room on the 2nd floor. He was quite out of breath by the time we reached my room. He had taken the 2 heaviest bags.
I checked out the Internet and was able to log on without any problems. I went downstairs to the bar and had a nice cold beer and filled in my journal. Before going out for dinner I went back up to my room and had a shower. I walked for about 400-500 M and found a nice restaurant which I thought looked a bit pricey but I wasn't in the mood for any more walking. It was a huge restaurant with room for about 200 people but there were only a handful of customers. I ordered "Gordon Bleu" with a salad and a 1/2 L of white wine. When my food arrived I couldn't believe the size of the snitzel. It was enough to feed two people and still have some left over. I ate the whole damn thing. My next suprise was when I got the bill. I expected to pay over 15 E. The bill came to 10 E. or 2540 Ft at 250/Euro. When I got back to the hotel I checked the exchange rate on the Internet and it is 267/Euro so I guess I got a pretty good deal.
Well it's getting a late and I have to try and find Bony again tomorrow.
Cheers, Roly