skip to main |
skip to sidebar
We cycle the eight miles, into Vienna, along an excellent cycle track which runs alongside the River Danube and Danube canal.
I am rather disappointed to see, the Danube is not blue, as in the song, but, a rather green/brown colour.
It is true to form for Austria/Germany, well maintained, clean, well signposted, and plenty of "radler" (shandy) stops.
We do the usual sight seeing things, St Stephens Basilica.
Statues, of people we have never heard of, this guy was a Fieldmarshal.
Presumably, a Fieldmarshal who led from the office, since he lived to be 84. "Send another 10,000 forward!, oh, and could you pass the port".
Some nice public gardens, the best part of any city, in my humble opinion.
A rather magnificient, and beautifully maintained Parliament building, well, the politicians always take good care of themselves don't they?
Vienna is another beautiful European City, I am not really a city person, but our European neighbours definately know how to make their cities "people friendly", why can't we do this?
We have had an amazing run of good weather, it is weeks since we saw rain. But, that all comes to an end on Tuesday night, with a thunder storm.
Wednesday, I manage a 12 mile cycle ride along the Danube, out of Vienna, while Kathleen is laid up with the usual "leg problem", ie big red blotches on both legs.
By 16:00 on Wednesday, it is raining again, so the plan is to move on, tomorrow. Kathleen has spent some of her time looking at our route home, and has realised, we are still 1,000 miles (approximately), from Calais.
I suppose we should not complain about a bit of rain, since we have had day after day of glorious sunshine, but, Thursday comes, and it is raining again.
A dismal drive in pouring rain across northern Austria. Not mountainous like the south, not that it would have mattered, visibility is so poor you cannot see the scenery.
We arrive at Birkenstrand Camping am Wolfgangsee, near St Gilgen, Abersee, another ASCI site.
The site is about 1.5 miles from the village of St Gilgen, on the shore of a lake. It has the potential to be a beautiful place, if it would just stop raining!
It looks very like the Lake District, including the rain!
Actually getting out of Budapest proves not as difficult as finding our way in.
We arrive at the campsite at midday, to find the gates closed, the Reception office is closed 12:-14:00.
Once we get in, Thermal Camping, is an excellent site, German/Austrian quality facilities, excellent.
While we wait for the site to open, we go looking for a supermarket, to buy some provisions. We find a Tesco!
After lunch, I have a little explore, ie search out the Catholic Church etc, I find a church no problem, but the notices are obviously in Hungarian, and may as well therefore be in ancient Greek.
I find a "Wine and Potato Pancake Festival", a bit of a strange combination.
In the evening, we go along to the Wine Festival.
There are to usual parades with people dressed in what look like costumes from the middle ages, followed by speaches by local notables, which no one appears to pay any attention to, but, the most interesting bits were:
You "hire" a wine glass for 500HUF (350HUF = £1), then you wander around the various "exhibits" sampling the different wines.
The wine is not actually free, you have to pay about 200HUF, per glass. They obviously assume people are here for the culture, since they are giving out small (ie correct) amounts of wine, but Kathleen note that some locals are asking for their glasses to be filled up, and so joins the local winos in insisting on a full glass.
There are tables and chairs set out, where you can eat your potato pancakes if you wish, or just watch the folk music type groups on the stage.
When you have had enough, you take your wine glass back, and get back your 500HUF.
Saturday, we cycle along the excellent cycle tracks, visit the town to attempt to decipher the church notices (we find a German speaker who can converse with Kathleen), eat ice cream, then return to the van to lie in the sun.
Sunday, Kathleen goes to church in the morning, then we have a bit more explore on our bicycles.
We then discover, the Wine and Potato Pancake Festival has morphed into a sort of old fashioned fun fair, staffed by people dressed in what I assume are Gypsy costumes.
There is a chap wielding a bull whip, not too sure with what objective in mind (if any).
But, mostly the "side shows" are aimed at children.
There is one where they have a barrel on a pole, there is a large hole in the barrel, and the children have to throw balls and try to get them into the "mouth".
Another where they roll Walnuts down a hollow tube, and the children have to hit the walnut with a mallet as it emerges from the pipe.
The old favourite, walking on stilts of course.
Another, involving walnuts, they spin the wheel, and the children have to throw the walnuts into the pots attached to the wheel.
and, finally, one which seemed to interest the older girls mainly, we were not too sure exactly what was going on, lots of blushing and giggling, but we think it was a variation on "reading tea leaves", but here, they appeared to be "reading the beans!".
Monday, we are on our way, leaving Hungary, so, no point taking our remaining HUF's with us, we call at Tesco, and with some difficulty, buy food and booze until we have spent the remaining 12,000HUF (about £40).
Then, on our way to Austria and Vienna, to arrive at Doneupark Camping (Klosterneuburg). Doneau, we think, is the name they call the Danube River.
All looks good, usual high Austrian standard of site. There is a cycle track (we are told) into Vienna city centre (about 18km away). We check out where it starts, and plan to do the whole thing tomorrow.
The campsite (Camping Haller, Haller Urtca, Budapest) is fine, typical City Centre site, you only come here if you want to see Budapest, it has no other attractions as far as I can see.
Tuesday, we set off for Budapest centre, well Pest centre to be exact. As you probably know, Budapest is actually two cities, one each side of the Danube (a little bit like Newcastle and Gateshead, on the Tyne). One is called Buda, the other is Pest. We are actually on the Pest side.
As I mentioned in a previous post, EU citizens can actually travel free on public transport, but, I am one month short of 65, and being honest, I dutifully stand in the queue at the metro station to buy a day ticket. This may well have been my downfall. But, at least at this point, I know I had my wallet!
We start at Nagyvarad Ter (Ter, means Square, I think). The first problem is, there are absolutely no signs to tell you which platform for which line, and when you have found the platform, nothing to tell you in which direction the train is going.
We mill around for a few minutes, then ask someone.
We board the metro.
Nothing untoward, I have to stand, one person bumps into me, and makes elaborate apology signs (I think he must have been the one!).
We get off at Deak F. Ter, and head for a cash machine, no wallet!
Momentary disbelief, it was in a "closed" pocket, and the pocket is still "closed", but, there is no wallet.
We hop back on the Metro, and head back to the last place I had it, thinking maybe I dropped it, etc, but, we know really, it has been stolen. Money, Cards, Driving Licence, gone.
I would like to pretend I am an organised individual with a list of card numbers, and a list of phone numbers to ring in these circumstances, but, I am not.
So, while I busy myself on the computer, finding card numbers and numbers to ring, then stopping the cards. Kathleen attempts to enlist the aid of the chap who runs the campsite. He is sympathetic, but to be honest his interest wanes as soon as he knows we have other cards and will be able to pay him.
Any doubts about lost/stolen are put to rest, by the time I ring the first card company (Santander), their computer system has already detected attempts to use the card to draw cash, fortunately, the transaction has been blocked because they do not know my PIN.
We console ourselves with the knowledge, thing could have been worse, our passports were not taken, and we have other cards we can use, but the day is more or less wasted.
We rescue some of it by finding a supermarket and getting provisions, then I take a cycle ride to explore (me) It is only 0.5 miles to the Danube, then another 0.5 miles to the centre.
The traffic is not too scary for a cyclist, there are some cycle tracks and no one seems to object to you riding on the footpath and using the zebra crossings to cross the road.
Wednesday, we decide, given my licence has gone, and the French Bank where I have a Euro account want me to report it to the Police "if possible", perhaps we should visit the Police Station and report it. Their tourist blurb says the will provide an interpreter. So, off we go. An amusing little incident when we enter through a door clearly marked "Police" to find ourselves in an office. A bemused young lady takes us to the correct door. Excluding the bit of amusement, what a waste of time that was, we waited for half an hour, no sign of any action, so we gave up.
After yesterdays experience, we decide to take the tram, rather than the Metro, this is painless, the only problem being a total lack of signs to tell you direction, stop name etc.
We buy tickets for the "Hop on Hop off tour bus" to sight see (boring in my view, but each to their own). Naturally, you do not dictate where the bus goes, it just follows its set route, yes, you can "hop off", but then you have to wait for the next bus.
You could do as well on the tram and enjoy it more in my humble opinion.
Leaving aside my grumbles, Budapest is interesting.
It is plain it has been neglected during the communist era, but, they are working on fixing that, and the basics are grand indeed.
This building has once been covered in murals, but now the are faded and hardly visible, it will be stunning if/when it is restored to its former glory.
There are some spectacular bits of masonary missing, I would not like to have been underneath when this bit came away!
Can you imagine the health and safety at home, they would have the whole street closed off!
We cross to the Buda side of the river, and travel to the top of two very high hills, one is called "The Citadel", the other has the Castle and St Mathius church (unfortunately being renovated inside, so it is not possible to visit it).
The views are spectacular.
Kathleen cannot resist doing the tourist thing of standing next to the Guardsman, as if he does not have enough to put up with, standing there in the heat for goodness knows how long.
The public transport system is reputed to be one of the best in Europe, and our experience supports that (theft excluded of course), Metros, Trams and Trolley buses seem to run every few minutes.
We round the day off with a pleasant meal and drinks in cafe by Danube, as the photograph suggests, perhaps a few too many drinks.
Then it is time for our cruise Danube River Cruise (all included in out hop on hop off bus ticket).
We are one of the last to arrive for the "cruise", we are asked if we would like either three beers or two cocktails.
I assumed this was each, not between us.
Knowing Kathleen's less than adventurous habits, I ask if we can have cocktails and beers, on the basis I would swap with her, if she did not like hers.
Seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
A couple, who were in the queue, thought this was hilarious. Once they had stopped laughing, they introduced themselves as Leonard (a German) and Emily (a Swiss). Leonard tells me, he studied medicine (he did not actually say he was a Doctor), while Emily is "Therapist", doing Acupuncture etc. It turns out, they are bit strange, into alternative therapies, reincarnation and all of that, but we have a great time, drinks, chat, and laughs.
The boat trip, was spent talking, laughing and drinking.
Kathleen gets a free consulation on the red blotches on her leg, drink less coffee, take more vitamin C, try acupuncture (or was that for her shoulder).
We missed almost all of the sights, but so what.
We get back to the site on the tram without misshap, except we are forced to detour into a small bar for the Pensioners Toilet Trip. There a few locals drinking some very dark coloured spirit, I ask them what it is "jagermeister" is the answer, but Kathleen is not up for trying it, or allowing me to.
We find even more Brits have arrived at the site, not good enough, they get everywhere!
Then, we chill somemore.
Thursday, we return to Budapest centre, even more adventurous this time, we use two trams, and have to change at the appropriate place.
We visit St Stephen's Basilica, very impressive, and the Synagogue, equally impressive.
To be honest, I prefer the street scenes, like this quadrangle tucked in the centre of a large apartment building.
We move on visit the famous Central Market, which had been recomended to me by an English woman we met in France. Very interesting, but crowded.
The only thing we have not visited, which was "on my list", is the city park, with its outdoor thermal bathing pools, but Kathleen's legs are not up to walking around a large park.
We are off to Budapest.
Kathleen has done her homework, since we have to navigate there and find the campsite using just our road atlas and a map of Budapest from the tourist information office in Keszthley.
We take the "easy" option, M7 motorway along Lake Balaton, until we reach the Budapest outer ring road (M0), as you can see, Hungarian motorways look pretty much like any other, except they are almost empty!
All goes remarkably well, we do have a little hiccup on leaving the outer ring road (the M0), when we end up going south instead of north on the M6, but, that is rectified in only 3km and we are soon going in the correct direction on the M6, then onto the A6 and into the outskirts of Budapest.
All goes well, until we reach the Lagymanyosi bridge over the Danube, first problem is, for some reason, they have changed the name of the bridge, it is now the Rakogzi Bridge.
Then we miss a turn.
From there on everything goes pear shaped.
It is usually around this time in these adventures, that I ask myself, why do we do these things?
In an attempt to turn around and get back to where we should have been, we end up in a small side street, and then things get even worse, there are road works, and the gap between parked machinery and vans is too narrow for us to get through. One of the workers attempts to guide us through, but even with wing mirrors folded in, it is impossible. We have to wait until they move some of the equipment, before we can squeeze through.
Plan B, we spot a taxi rank, Kathleen hops out of the van and engages a taxi driver to guide us there. This he does, with only one (rather scary) U-turn over some tram lines, for 1500Florints (£5), money well spent I think.
The site is good, typical city centre site, crowded and a bit cramped, but the facilities are good, the WiFi is free, and the owner is friendly and helpful.
The metro is (we are told), a short walk away.
Kathleen learns that all EU citizens 65 and over, get free travel on the metro, trams and buses, she is made up.
Kezsthely cont.
The site is good, better than I had expected for a former Communist country, it is only about 8 years since they saw the light, so I am surprised at how good the infrastructure is.
Facilities are clean and functional, not as plush as we found in Germany and Austria, but OK. One "interesting feature", is the showers, which are just like a row of domestic shower cubicles, the only space to undress/dress and hang you gear is outside of the shower cubicle. The cubicles do not have doors, just a shower curtain (some do not even have that). They are not mixed, but, still very friendly.
The day starts warm and sunny, not quite as hot as yesterday.
We set off on on the bicycles to explore, have a coffee, and well, probably a beer or two.
We had assumed, this was a small place by the lake, but, it turns out to be a sizable place, even with a Tesco! (wonder if I can get my clubcard points here?).
There is a palace, which formerly belonged to a wealthy local family, but the Russians confiscated it in 1948. It has now been restored to something resembling it's former glory, but not to the family who originally owned it.
The main square and main street are pedestrianised and look very western already, but, without the familiar brands (ie Costa, McDonalds etc).
Most tourists are German and Dutch, with a few Polish and Czechs, so English does not appear to be widely spoken.
We manage with English and Kathleen's German to buy a belt for me (my packer forgot to bring my belt, you just cannot get the staff) and order coffee and sandwiches. We actually get what we (thought) we ordered.
The money is confusing, they are not in the Euro, and things look initially expensive. Our bill for two coffees and two sandwiches was 2140Florints. But, given the exchange rate of 325 Florints to 1 Pound, that is only £6.50, so not expensive at all really.
Fortified, we cycle along the lake, for 12 miles, this involves ordering beer, but that is almost always manageable.
In the afternoon, we have a thunderstorm, but it is a half hearted affair with only on clap of thunder and a half hour of heavy rain, but the rest of the evening and through the night is windy and cold.
Saturday is scheduled as hair washing day, so a cloudy start is not a problem.
Once the hair is sorted, we walk into town, and visit the Palace. All very grand, but no photographs allowed.
Then, a very pleasant meal in a cafe, less than £20 for both of us, including bottle of wine, main course, sweet, coffee.
Kathleen then does the church bit, while I amuse myself reading the news via the free wifi spot I have found in the town square.
By now it is dark and we succeed in getting ourselves lost walking back to the campsite, everything looks different in the dark. Clearly, we eventually figure it out, and get back just before another night time shower.
Sunday, Kathleen eventually gets a mobile phone signal! Cannot explain why it took three days for it to hook on to the local network.
Another cycle ride along the lake, we make it as far as a golf club, about four villages away, I will not even attempt at spelling or pronouncing their names.
An amusing little incident as I struggle to order drinks, at the golf club, in German (I have got so used to everyone speaking German) and it turned out the waitress could speak perfectly good English.
We return to the campsite to relax, before driving to Budapest tomorrow.
Kathleen really has mastered the art of relaxing, they say, practice makes perfect, and she has clearly had plenty of practice.
As the sun moves around, Kathleen is forced to move to the pitch adjacent to us, to keep in the sun.
Shortly after she sets herself up there, a German couple arrive in their campervan, and she has to move. He seems a little surly, although his wife is friendly enough. Later in the evening, as Kathleen is doing her Peter, Paul and Mary session on her guitar, the German appears giving the thumbs up, he is a 60's music fan, so perhaps not so grumpy after all. Before long, we have the Danish couple next door clapping along as well. All is peace and tranquility after a few bottles of red.
We are soon in Austria and we are cruising along through spectacular scenery.
Armed with our “vignaitte” to travel on their motorways (8Euro for ten days), we can also cover some distance quickly, then, only about 5 miles from our planned stop for the day, we get a puncture.
Damn!.
Fortunately, it is the front, righthand side wheel, so I can get at it on the hard shoulder, without being "on the traffic side".
We get into our fluorescent “safety” vests, Kathleen sets up the warning triangle (the first time we have used any of this stuff) and prepare to change the wheel on the hard shoulder.
Not a pleasant experience with three lanes of traffic speeding past at 70mph plus, less than a metre where I have to lie on the ground to retrieve the spare wheel from under the van.
Needless to say, I do not linger to take photographs of this!
All is completed, without incident, and we travel on to our chosen campsite (Thermal Camping, Bad Waltersdorf).
After we have checked in, an very efficient Austrian lady comes to see us about the tyre.
Kathleen is sceptical about how much she will know about tyres.
The Austrian lady is the model of efficiency, makes a note of all of the tyre markings (size, type, etc), notices it is a Bridgestone (not easy to get I know from past experience), so takes a note of the same information from a Pirelli tyre which is already on the van.
She has quite a nice chest too. Almost worth getting a puncture for.
She phones a garage, they do not have a matching tyre, but, one is ordered, with delivery promised for Thursday, or earlier if possible.
You would have to have seen this to appreciate it, she was just so efficient, all of the above took only five minutes. On her belt she had a little sort of bag, in which to had everything to hand, notepad and pen to note the details, mobile phone to make the call, notepad and pen again to give me a note of the Garage name and address. I am sure Herr Flick ('allo, 'allo) would have loved her.
In the interim, it is no hardship to stay here, the site is excellent, with the kind of spotless and high quality facilities you expect to find in Germany or Austria.
There is a railway line running by the site, but the trains are very infrequent (noisy freight trains when they do pass). Must take care not to call them Germans, they are very particular about ensuring you know they are Austrians.
Wednesday morning, 09:30, we are told, they have our tyre, and we need to go and collect it at 14:30 in a town about twelve miles away. 140Euro, but, we have to have a spare.
A problem emerges, the site, in common with most sites in Germany and Austria, has a “quiet time” between 12:00 and 15:00. The gate is closed, no vehicles can get in or out.
This being Austria, the rules apply to everyone, even a McCaffery, so we have to drive out of the gate before 12:00 and park outside. Kathleen tries her hardest, but, soon grows impatient with waiting. I think she actually lasted until 12:05.
We head for Hapsdorf, looking for Konig Garage.
It is only 12 miles away, and we arrive way too early. They are very obliging however, and give us coffee, while a young man takes away our ruined tyre and returns with a new tyre fitted in a short while. We do a little shopping, and are back at the site by 14:55, with only five minutes to wait until the gate opens.
Now that the tyre problem is fixed, our thoughts turn to our first site in Hungary. We decide to check the distance, using the satnav.
Problem!
Before leaving home, someone (ie me) did not check that the Satnav included maps of Hungary. I reasoned, since they are part of the EU, they are part of Europe and the satnav covers Europe.
But, (and it is not often I admit this), I am wrong, we have no satnav coverage for Hungary.
We have an uptodate Road Atlas which includes Hungary, so Kathleen is going to have to dust off her map reading and navigating skills.
Thursday, we say goodbye to our Austrian tyre expert and head for Hungary.
The first part is easy, we head along the A2 motorway, past the scene of our puncture, and switch to another smaller road which takes us toward the border.
At the border, we have to buy another “vignaitte”, this time to travel on the Hungarian motorways (at least I think it is for the motorways, there only seems to be one!, but there are lots of signs saying you have to buy a “vignaitte”, so, we stop at the border. We are waved on by a sleepy guard, who points to a petrol station about 500 yards down the road.
Kathleen manages the transaction no problem in a mixture of German and English. One slight hiccup, she leaves her glasses behind, but the young man from the petrol station manages to catch us, before we drive off.
We actually manage the rest of the way to Keszthely, Balatontourist Camping Zala (ACSII book) without a single wrong turn.
But, it is not easy navigating in a country with such unpronounceable place names, how about Zalaegerseg or Csabrendek, how on earth do you pronounce them! I have to ask Kathleen to spell the place names out, so I can watch for the signs!
The plan is to stop at a site just east of Strasbourg, in Germany.
Getting around Strasbourg turns out to be more difficult than we thought, we have to exit the Motorway and head for a place called Offenburg.
The trusty TomTom instructs us to exit the motorway, onto an exit slip, which then splits into four different options, none of them signposted Offenburg. Needless to say, we get it wrong, the satnav patiently leads us round in a circle to rejoin the motorway, back to have another shot, wrong!
It is not the TomTom’s patience which is stretched now, but, round we go again, third time lucky and soon we are in Germany.
Despite the trials of the Satnav, we have made good time, it is still grey and cloudy, so we decide it is a good day for travelling.
We reset the satnav for a site much further into Germany. But, the tone has been set, Tomtom is in the bad books, Kathleen questions why it has planned a route, which, at first sight does look a little strange. We need to go, more or less due east, but, the planned route takes us north east, then south west. It does look a bit less than direct.
The satnav is duly ignored, and we follow Kathleen’s more direct route.
We soon find out why the satnav did not choose this route, we are crossing a mountain. I swear we passed a few guys in turbans leading Elephants it was that high.
We arrive at Sonnen/Erpfingen, Azur Rosencamp (N48 21’47” E9 11’0”). Not one of our better choices. The sentiment is not helped by the chap in reception who upsets Kathleen by insisting on seeing our passports before he will check us in.
Kathleen spends the evening quotes sections from Fawlty Towers, "don't mention the war".
Only one night here.
We take advantage of the free German motorways to eat some miles, east towards Munich, which we pass around on the north side, then South and East again.
Just before we arrive at our stop for the night, we are greeted with this sight, has there been a natural disaster we wonder, a flood, a hurricane?
No, it is the aftermath of a pop festival!, it goes to show, Germans can be untidy too!
We find this very pleasant Stellplatz, just off the motorway at Ubersee-Almau (N47 48’35” E12 29’33”). 11Euro, Electricity, Toilets, Showers, and ten minutes walk to the village, excellent.
It is sort of in the grounds of a working farm, which can be seen in the
We walk into the village and enjoy a meal and or course a bottle of wine.
