18 May 2019 Miskolc to Budapest

Day's Summary
"Left Miskolc and drove directly to Budapest where we went straight to Haller camping. Took the bikes and rode straight to the Danube and followed it to the city centre. Stopped at McDonald's and walked to the tourist office. Then cycled past the parliament buildings before crossing to the Margaret island which we explored thoroughly before crossing to the Buda side of the city. There we went up to the Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church and then cycled to the castle and enjoyed the views from there as well. While cycling down from the castle we stopped at an ideally placed restaurant for supper before riding back to the campsite."

There was no doubt about our destination for the day. We were heading for Budapest and wanted to get there as early as possible. However Miskolc is quite a big city and we saw quite a lot the university town before we got on to the motorway and headed south on the E 71 before turning west towards the capital. The road was very good and it was relaxing driving despite quite heavy traffic. We took a break and had coffee at a garage roadside stop. It was very civilised as usual, although expensive (also as usual). We had decided to go to Haller Camping and Google Girl was again very good, getting us to our destination near the middle of Budapest without any difficulties. The difficulties arose when she said “your destination is on your left”. The campsite was – we could see it – but there was no sign of an entrance. We decided it must be off Haller Street that was right in front of us so turned left into Haller, but still no luck. All we could do was park while Marianne walked to find out where to go.

It turned out that the entrance was now off a short cul de sac off the road we had turned off parallel to Haller. It took a bit of u-turning and manoeuvring to get to where we had to be, but the campsite proved to be very pleasant even it was a bit busy. We were given a suitable site – it is one of those campsites where you park in rows – and noticed that everything was very muddy. There had obviously been rain in Budapest as well.

We got the bikes down and set off towards the Danube almost immediately. It was only one kilometre to the river. New buildings that blocked off the river, but we soon found a way through and went a short way downstream to see the impressive new National Theatre, which opened in 2002. It was a fun building with lots of decoration and could only be a theatre house.

We then went upstream, at first cut off from the river by train tracks, but then along the riverside pathway towards the city centre. It was very active with lots of eateries and lots of pedestrians. When we got to the Pelofi Bridge we decided to cross from Pest to Buda. It was more pushing than riding as the pedestrian routes were very busy. We continued upstream (we were now in Buda) where there was a cycle route and far more cyclists. At the next bridge we crossed back. It was getting close to lunchtime so we googled McDonald's and found one quite close to us in a side street. We quickly rode there, found a pole to secure the bikes to and had our usual lunch. We decided to leave the bikes there while we went to explore a bit and find tourist office. We walked down the busy Vaci utca, a major shopping street which is also notorious for its clip joints! Going past the Burger King we discovered that it had very accessible toilets and made good use of them. It was only a few hundred meters to the tourist office where Marianne got all sorts of useful stuff and especially a map. After an ice cream, we were ready for the afternoon's cycling.

Our route took us back to the river past the Hungarian Parliament Building, which is a magnificent pseudo Gothic pile. Modernists may mock such revivalist architecture, but it is really beautiful. We then we crossed to Margaret island, which we had completely missed on our visit twenty years ago. This was lovely natural area, the island being 2.5 kilometres long, and we rode from one end to the other. It was hot and we were thirsty, but Marianne found Coke Lite (at a cost!) which was a godsend. The island was very busy with lots of locals enjoying the sunshine. Then we rode on to Buda again. Our destination was now the Castle Hill so we had to cycle upstream again to almost across from the parliament building. In the late afternoon light this dramatic building looked stunning and we took a lot of pictures. We popped into a Spar in a recycled industrial building to buy water and then started heading uphill.

The streets followed the topography so tended to be rather winding and it was hard work pedalling uphill to get to the castle. I managed to pedal the whole way, as it was much easier than walking, but Marianne without gears had to do a bit of pushing. We got to the start of the very grand staircase and chained the bikes to a fence and went further on foot. The late afternoon light created a magic atmosphere. The views from the Fisherman's Bastion on top were as superb as we remembered, but there were far more tourists, in particular orientals doing their national pastime of taking selfies. On the square above the Bastion is a statue of Stephen 1 of Hungary seated on a horse. We wandered about on the square, but couldn’t get into the Matthias Church as there was a wedding taking place. We got to see the bride throwing her garter so the wedding was real. This is a magnificent space, with lovely buildings and an elevation overlooking the city that makes it particularly special. The castle itself is a bit down along the hill so we went back to the bikes and rode along a path that lead to the road to the castle. The views from the castle are equally good and with more space for tourists to spread out so did not feel as crowded. Marianne went right to the end of the viewing decks and I waited for her and enjoyed activity on the Danube far below. As we were leaving we noticed the Matthias Fountain and went to have a look at it. It is a superbly detailed Neo-Baroque work dating from 1904 and is regarded as a perfect artwork for its time.

It was getting late and we needed to find a place to eat, but we first had to get down the hill (the lift was too small for bikes). Marianne’s chain came off and almost at the same time my watch strap broke. The chain was put back quite easily, though with greasy hands, but of the pin that had fallen out of my watch strap there was no sign. (I did without a watch until we got home.) It was a fast ride down the winding streets at the back of the castle. It was quite a challenge for Marianne, who had the back pedal breaking bike! As we got to the bottom we went past a couple of restaurants. We decided on Mrs Columbo and had a really fabulous meal. Potato scones might not sound very appetising, but they are highly recommended!. We spent a while relaxing and thinking about a lovely day in Budapest that would soon come to an end.

Then we rode to the river and crossed a bridge back to Pest and retraced our route to Haller. We got back as the sun was setting, exhausted, but content. Got the bikes back on the camper ready for leaving and went to shower. We had a German couple as neighbours and they explained that they wanted to leave early so had got their manoeuvring done so that they could leave without disturbing people in the campsite. We had had an excellent couple of days in Hungary. Tomorrow we would be in Croatia.

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