Komarno, Slovakia to Esztergom, Hungary, 35.1 miles (50 km), 2 hours 48 minutes, 475 feet (145 m) elevation (climbing).
Unfortunately for me, my day started in the middle of the night. I ended up with food poisoning and it woke me up about 3:00 am. It was probably from a grilled chicken salad I ate for lunch the day before when we arrived. My husband had eaten pizza and had no issues at all. I should have had pizza instead of being punished for trying to eat healthy! I was really nervous now because how was I going to ride when a call to the bathroom was almost instantaneous? I'd also run out of probiotics which I had been taking and I'm sure that didn't help my situation at all. So, I delved into my medical supplies, took the little pill for my problem, and waited.
I knew I needed to be careful because if I didn't drink enough water, I would wind up being dehydrated as well, and that would start problems that we were not equipped to deal with on our own. Consuming enough water and electrolytes today was going to be a really crucial factor for me. Luckily, we had small packets of Gatorade powder with us, had purchased a large bottle of a sports drink in the Czech Republic that we hadn't drank, and had empty water bottles in our bags that we didn't dispose of. We filled all our empty bottles with water and made sure we could make enough electrolyte drinks should I need those instead of plain water. Now all I had to do was get some food in me that wouldn't make things worse. I just love that the breakfast buffets in Europe have a huge selection of breakfast options. I was able to eat some Greek yogurt and granola along with a little oatmeal. I was hoping the yogurt would help restore my stomach. I wasn't going to risk eating eggs today.
Directly across the street from our hotel was a bakery stand. I noticed it while we were eating breakfast. I was curious as to what they were advertising on the sign. I thought it was baked goods or other food but was surprised to discover that 'pekaren' is Slovakian for bakery and 'pekseg' is Hungarian for bakery. On our ride that day we saw examples of both languages being used on signs everywhere and as we rode into towns, the town name on a sign would be presented in both languages.
We left a little later than usual, 10:00 am versus our usual 8:00 to 9:00 am. I wanted to be sure my stomach would settle before we set out. It was really a nice sunny day, too. Even though it was pretty windy, I was relieved that there was no rain in the forecast. We started our ride through the old city we explored the day before. Before long, we were back on the trail along the Danube River.
The trail would sometimes veer away from the Danube and it would look like this:
We did ride through a few small towns and/or villages on the way. There was always something interesting to see:
We had one unnerving moment that day. We were riding on a bumpy country back road in the middle of nowhere that bisected fields of crops when we came upon what looked like a derelict, abandoned house. It was not. There was a family living in it. We noticed several young children, quite a few of them, standing outside and looking at us. As we passed, their mom or eldest sister, exited the house to look at us, and one little boy, no older than eight or nine, who was next to the road, started screaming angrily at us. I have no idea what he was yelling but it was a little scary. I have a feeling they were squatting there because the condition of that house was hardly livable compared to other homes we'd seen so far on this trip. I was relieved that we were only yelled at, and no one threw anything at us or stepped out in front of the bike to stop us. Sometimes you can feel really unprotected on a bicycle, with good reason.
Not much farther after that, we went through a small town and then our route eventually turned back to the Danube again, where the scenery kept getting better:
We arrived in Esztergom and needed to cross back over the Danube to get to our hotel, which was in a very weird location, on a hillside, which required a climb up the side of a hill. Just what I didn't need after a long ride with stomach problems. I was never so glad to see the hotel as I was that day. I felt like a wet noodle. This is another shot of the Danube as we crossed over. Our hotel is just on the other side of the river to the right and little ways up that hill you can see to the right.
While I was happy to finally be at the hotel, I was not happy to be in the tiny room we were given. The small twin beds and the crucifix on the wall really made it seem like a nun or monk's cell, which I'm sure it was back in the day. There was barely room to maneuver around our luggage to navigate to the exit door or to the bathroom. The room had a tiny foyer with door to close it off from the exit door, but that foyer wasn't big enough to store anything in if we wanted to quickly exit the room. This room wins the second-place prize for the worst room we've had this entire trip. This was not the best day to have this accommodation, but I sucked it up. We were due for a marginal hotel room after the nice places we'd stayed.
When you book these bicycle tours, you get to pick the level of accommodation, and I think that can be interpreted more by price than by the state of the hotel.
Since we had made several rest stops during the day, it was later in the day when we arrived at the hotel. After we showered and rested, it was time for dinner, which turned into me being whiny about walking far. Hey, I didn't feel that great, so I wanted something close by. We set off with a plan, stopped and looked at a few things along the way but didn't do any major exploring. When I realized just how far the place my husband suggested was, I balked at the distance, so we ended up eating at the Prima's Palace Restaurant which was a really great place for several reasons. One, it was the closest place to eat to our hotel that wasn't fast food. Two, they had a plain chicken and rice dish on the menu, the ONE thing I really needed to eat for dinner after being sick (and a cup of tea). And three, the atmosphere was really cool. It was a little pricey but given that I refused to walk further, ha-ha, this was where we ended up. This is a picture of another area of the restaurant we walked through on our way out:
I was so grateful not to have to suffer through a meal that would most likely disagree with my stomach. I was also fortunate to have survived the ride without any major mishaps. This is why I travel with precautionary non-prescription medication, and I always make sure those medications are not illegal in countries where we are traveling. When we got back to the hotel, I was thinking maybe it wasn't so bad to have a bed to myself that night, small as it was!
If you would like to read more about our three week-long bicycle tour starting from the beginning, in Prague, Czech Republic, here are the links to our previous tour days:
Day Zero in Prague (Weather or not I wanted to)
Day One.... The Hills are Alive .... and I am not
Day Two....Vistas and Grocery Stores (and an angry cashier)
Day Three.... Are we Hiking or Cycling? (Today it was hard to tell....)
Day Four.....My Favorite Place on the Entire Tour (and a nod to the Beer of Kings along the way)
Day Four and a Half (I couldn't do it justice in one post)
Day 5 ...... Will This Day Ever End???
Day Six... Pausing in Passau (AKA This is the way we wash our clothes.....I think....)
Day Seven - Off down the Danube (If we'd only had that meeting.....)
Day Eight - We needed a day like today.....
Day Ten Cycling the Danube - Cloudy With a Shot of Melk
Day Eleven Cycling the Danube... A rare short mileage day!
Day Twelve Cycling the Danube - Aahhhh Vienna!!!
Day 13 - Our Day in Vienna (It's not supposed to be this HOT)
Day 14: Vienna to Petronell-Carnuntum (Apparently, I can speak some Italian.....)
Day 15 Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia (Rain and broken Chain...)
Day 16 Bratislava, Slovakia to Gyor, Hungary (There's a snake in the grass....)
