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Published: August 23rd 2023
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The afternoon heat is stifling. Our washing was dry within 30 minutes and not long after we ventured out we were hot and sticky all over again. There was only one real destination this afternoon and that was the basilica. And it was a sweaty walk uphill to get there, but Oh so worth it when we did.
As you can imaging the inside was huge but not over stated. There is a lot of maintenance going on do we couldn't see the inside of the dome which is a real shame. We explored the crypt under the church in cool air, we lingered a while down there. The highlight was, gowever, the walk up to the dome that Tom and I did (Jeff has a slight aversion to hights). There were 411 steps to the top and we walked a full 360 degrees around the dome providing views up and down the Danube into both Hungary and Slovakia. Hopefully the photos do it justice.
Dinner was at a place that served authentic meals which we like to sample. I had a baked dish that was scalloped potato on the bottom smothered with sour cream then the meat from
a pork knuckle and bacon and then covered with cheese. Delicious but the serve was so big I couldn't finish it - Tommy to the rescue.
We left later today because our host had to fill in the paperwork for our stay. There are a lot of regulations around guest houses and reporting so it takes as long as it takes. When we left it was just before 9:30am and already 26C.
We got out of town slowly and it for the first 5kms we were in shady parks but that soon turned to a road for the next 20kms. Not our favourite thing but not much we can do about it. Morning break in the shade was a relief as the temperature climbed.
There wasn't a lot of river view today and there were rivulets between us and the Danube anyway. People use these as their beaches which isn't a bad option if you are land locked. We found a nice park and had lunch in a Japanese garden, not something we expected to see in Hungary. After lunch our pace slowed a bit as the heat took hold, by this time the temperature had reached
the days max of 37C. About 11kms out we crossed the river and then wound our way into the centre of town to our accommodation. The drivers here seem to fluctuate between normal and batshit crazy so we have to be extremely careful.
Our apartment is great again. I spent a lot of time doing research on the accommodation from Vienna to Budapest and pre booked it all some time ago. From here on in it'll all be done one day ahead so we expect the standard to fluctuate.
A great coincidence is the World Athletic Championships are on while we are here. We tried to buy some tickets online last night but there aren't any available so we'll swing by the stadium tonight and see if we can buy some from scalpers.
Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day after 5 consecutive days riding.
Distance travelled today: 72kms
Distance travelled so far: 2,833kms
Note:
We are in a cash delemma. We all have a non-trivial amount of euros on us in cash, and Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria, while in the EU, still use local currency and not euros.
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Michael Carra
non-member comment
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Hi Mark, churches are a great place to get releaf from the heat. Stay safe.