Day 37 - Europe 2011

Day 37 - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - Gyor to Moca, SK

I arrived in Budapest today, July 1st, but wasn´t able to get my Notebook to work on the Internet so I´m using the Hotel Anna PC which has a very weird keyboard so please bear with me.
I had a very quiet restful night except for the stale smell of cigarette smoke. I was up at 6:40 and after a quick shower, a bit of packing went down to breakfast at 7:15. There were a few other guest already in the restaurant. I had cereal with a banana, yogurt, tea with milk and sugar, brotchen with butter and jam. I took a packaged croissant filled with jam and a package of cheese for later. As I was checking out I asked the receptionist if he knew where I could get some lead for my mechanical pencil. He pulled out a packet and offered it to me. I helped myself to a piece of lead which was the right size. I paid 43 E (40 for my room and 3 for beer and ice cream).
I set off for Györszentivan at 8:45. Once I reached G. I set my GPS for Böny. The GPS wanted me to turn right then left, etc. I ignored it and kept going straight, heading East all the time, and ended up in Nagysyentjános where I saw a sign indicating a right turn for Böny. I followed the highway directions and arrived in Bóny after cycling 35 kms at 11:00. As I was looking for directions to Komarom I heard someone shout CANADA. It was the California couple I had met yesterday having a break. I went over and joined them. They had followed the guide book route but found it quite rough and poorly marked. I had an apple. They went into the co-op to do some shopping while I figured out which way to go next. I left my card on one of their bikes and headed for Bana, Babolna, Acs and Komarom. They were going to take the route to Nagysyentjános, the way I had just come from. I then realized I hadn´t needed to go to Böny, I could have continued directly on to Acs. Gave myself a smack on the forehead!!!
On the way to Acs it started raining so I stopped and put my rain covers on, etc. It turned out to be just a 20 minute light shower. I stopped in Acs and checked out a co-op store for something to eat. I ended up just getting a Nestea cold drink and ate my croissant and piece of cheese.
By this time it had stopped raining, the sun came out and the humidity went up. I cycled on to Komárom arriving at 1:30. I checked my Danube bike guide and decided to take the left side (North side) of the river to go on to Budapest. I crossed over to Komárno which is in Slovakia and continued on to Iza. Just before crossing the bridge near Tehelna I came upon a nice restaurant. I stopped for a break and had a bowl of cream of brocolli soup and a small Nestea. It cost 957 Ft. I continued on to Iza hoping to find a hotel. I gave the Roman ruins at Kelemantia a miss as I didn´t want to cycle on gravel and besides I´ve seen several other Roman forts in Germany and England. On the way to Patince I passed a ˝Zimmer Frei˝ sign. I had to go off the main road and up a steep hill to check it out but there was nowhere to go for dinner, etc. I continued on to Patince where there was a Wellness Hotel. It was about 1 km off the main road. As it was getting late I decided I should go and check it out. It was in a gated community by a thermal lake and they wanted 85 E/night. I decided to go on and take my chances on finding something in Radvan or Moca.
The sky was getting darker and darker. There was nothing in Radvan. I arrived in Moca at 3:30. It started spitting so I pulled into a petrol station. As I was getting my rain gear on the attendant was going around ˝battening down the hatches˝. I asked him if he knew of a nearby hotel or a pension. He showed me where there was a pension just 100 M down the road. I started for it but had another 20 M or so to go and the storm let loose. I quickly ducked into a bus shelter as I could see there was no shelter at the Pension and waited for the storm to pass. It really came down - just like a monsoon. I had to wait about 15 minutes until there was a lull and walked over to the pension. A room with shower and w/c and breakfast was 27 E or so I thought. There was also a restaurant on the premises but no Internet. I checked in at 4:15. The manageress helped carry my panniers up to my room. Nothing to fancy but it would have to do for the night. Right now as Í sit in the bar having a beer and filling out my journal it is still tipping down.
I managed to stay, relatively speaking, quite dry in spite of all the rain. Right now my bike is still sitting out on the veranda waiting for the rain to let up so I can put it away in the garage for the night. I checked the menu. A 500 cl Zlaty Bazant (local beer) only cost .80 or 1.00 E depending on whether you get the 11% or 12%.
Along the way I noticed several fruit trees, I think they were appricot trees. The fruit was quite ripe and was falling off. I was quite tempted to stop and try some but wasn´t sure what type of fruit it was.
I ordered Fish and Chips with a salad for dinner or so I thought. When the manageress brought out my dinner on a huge platter I just couldn´t believe it. It turned out the dish I ordered was for 2 persons. There were 3 kinds of fish (x2) salad (x2) and enough fries for 2. I could only eat half. I sent the other half back. There was a bit of a discussion about having it for breakfast but I nixed that idea.
In order to avoid any hassles when checking out and paying (I only had 2 100 E notes) I asked to pay for my drinks (2 beers) dinner and room and showed her I only had a 100 E note. This didn´t seem to surprise her at all. She went off and did some calculating after asking me what I wanted for breakfast i.e. ham and eggs, juice, tea, etc. She brought back 2 bills, one for the room 27 E and one for the food and drinks. The total came to 45.55 E. She had the correct change for my 100 E note. That´s when I realized there had been a misunderstanding about breakfast being included. We were dealing in German and her German was worse than mine.
The rain had stopped and I remembered I still had to put my bike in the garage for the night. When I mentioned this to her she pointed out that my bike had been brought inside the Pension and was in the TV viewing area. It was OK to leave it there for the night.
I went up to my room and as I was getting into my jammies for the night I discovered I had a bite on the back of my right thigh!!! I put some anti sting on it. I also noticed the shower was an open floor type and there was only one very thin well worn towel. Oh well, you get what you pay for. I plugged in my GPS to charge it up for tomorrow´s ride to Budapest which should be about 110 kms. Did some reading or as the Dutch couple referred to it ˝some homework˝ to see what I was in store for on the way to Budapest.
Cheers, Roly