Hungary, Slovenia and into Austria

Cycling Lake Balaton, Hungary 

As we left Romania and headed through the open border into Hungary we certainly felt that we would return to spend more time in both Romania and Bulgaria on another trip - especially the coast which we had heard lots of good things about. As we travelled into Hungary we could tell we were moving towards Austria and Germany - the roads were in good condition with excellent signposting, the surrounding countryside very tidy and organised, the towns and villages we passed through much more modern.

Lunch! Cheese Langos and chicken filled Gyros

Our first stop was in a car park of an Arboretum at Szekesfehervar, which was right on a cycle path so handy for a pedal off to explore our surroundings. We stayed a couple of nights then headed to the Lake Balaton area and a campsite for a few nights (catch-up on my washing). Hungary is a land-locked country so they make a big thing of the Lake, it's a major tourist attraction with a cycle path which circumvents the lake, on the way are lots of cafes and restaurants with large lawned areas for people to laze in the sun or swim in the lake. We stopped and had lunch, it was lucky they had a menu with pictures because we don't speak a word of Hungarian, it may look like a pizza but the base is entirely different- it's deep fried dough, no wonder it was so tasty! I'm often asked how we get on with language in all these different countries and the answer is that we get by with asking in English first, sign language, pointing at things and Google translate, it also helps if you don't get too disappointed if you don't get quite what you wanted!

Leaving the campsite but not wanting to leave the area we found a Park4night spot in the wine growing area, just a car park but great views across the countryside to the lake, there was also a water fountain nearby with a constant flow of icy cold spring water. We had a very
peaceful night here but the weather changed from hot and sunny to cold and wet so it seemed a good idea to move on into Slovenia. We always try to use bad weather as "down time" for moving on our next destination, unfortunately there was a huge band of rain across Central Europe and from this we could not escape!!

Great place to stay, loads of walks and cycle rides but the rain would not stop!

We easily crossed the border into Slovenia (dusty old border control point with nobody in it!) and headed to the small town of Ruse where we stayed on a dedicated Motorhome parking with free facilities including electric hook-up which was very useful whilst we sat in the van for two days waiting for the rain to stop - which it didn't. At times like this we are eternally grateful for all the films downloaded onto our hard drive (Thanks Paul!)
So once again we hit the road and headed into Austria, here we fell in love with the breathtaking scenery, the snow capped mountains,the lovely towns and villages, but most of all the abundance of amazing cycling on well marked tarmac trails - we also had wonderful weather! Ebike heaven!
Don't miss my next blog post to find out what we got up to in Austria!

Our favourite stopover in Austria at Zedehaus