Hungary and Northern Croatia

The ice fog was still thick in the air as we rode into Hungary. We followed quiet country roads to Esztergom where we were greeted with a wicked view of the Esztergom Basilica, perched high on the biggest hill around. It snowed a few centimeters that night, but by morning the sun was out and everything was melting into a huge sloppy mess of slush and road grime. With only 50km to ride to Budapest, we had thought it would be an easy day… but didn’t count on the busiest, narrowest roads of the trip, how tired we were, and how long and stressful those 50 kms would actually feel. By the time we rolled into Budapest, our bikes and bags (and us!) were covered in a thick slime of slush, dirty puddle spray, and road salt, and we wanted nothing more than to get clean and put our feet up for a few days.

It was a much needed break. It’s always hard to be away from friends and family at Christmas, but this time we had learned from past mistakes and set ourselves up well. We rented a nice comfortable apartment where we could really relax and treat ourselves a bit. There was a huge, bustling Christmas market to explore, gluhwein to drink, and huge bowls of goulash eat. On our first day off we spent the entire afternoon soaking in some of the city’s famous thermal baths, strolling lazily back and forth between different temperature pools until we looked more like prunes than people.  Over the next few days we visited Buda Castle, the City Park, and hiked up Gallert Hill for a great view out over the city. We also sat on the couch and watched movies and ate all the delicious food that is hard to carry on a bike. After scrounging through multiple different grocery stores in search of ingredients we even managed to pull off a pretty decent Christmas dinner.  

Rested and rejuvenated, we set off on a 4 day ride to Pecs, where we wanted to spend New Years Eve.  I read somewhere that there isn’t much wilderness left in Hungary, but we must have found a pretty good portion of what is left, because much of the riding was through forests and green spaces mingled with small farms. The weather had warmed up quite a bit since Slovakia, making for some nice nights in the tent. One surprise though… apparently bikes aren’t allowed on most Secondary, and even Tertiary roads in Hungary!  We only found this out after taking a small ferry across the Danube, riding up onto the other shore, and being confronted with big signs once we reached the highway. With literally no other option, we rode on past the signs, braced for the lights and sirens which thankfully never came. 

We spent the last 2 nights of 2017 in Pecs, which is a smaller city than Budapest, but felt much more vibrant and interesting.  New Year’s Eve was bright, warm and sunny, and we wandered around the centre of town watching the festivities build. Over the entire day the energy ramped up as the streets got louder and busier, filling with costumes and horns and firecrackers. We had an awesome time hanging out and experiencing it all, then did the responsible thing and went to bed before midnight so we could get an early start on the next day. We fell asleep to endless fireworks cracking all over the city.

New Year’s Day came early and I was pretty glad I hadn’t had any more beers than I did, because we had a long ride ahead of us and our first real border crossing! We rode out of Hungary and into Croatia on dead-quiet highways as everyone else recovered from their parties. 

We were only in Croatia for 5 days before crossing over into Serbia. One thing that stuck out from those few days were the number of buildings and houses we passed which were still showing scars from the Yugoslav wars of the 90’s.  Many residences had bullet holes in the plaster, and a few looked as if they had been destroyed and abandoned, never repaired. It made us wonder about the people who used to live there, and the ones who still do. Being so recent, there must be some pretty raw wounds among those who lived through it, which would be anybody over the age of 25. It would be interesting to hear some first-hand stories, but we did not get the chance. Vukovar especially had some pretty poignant reminders of instability.  The city’s water tower was heavily damaged by fighting but has been left in place on purpose as a symbol of the suffering endured. The train station is also still standing, but full of the holes that were blasted through it while the city was under siege. It’s quite sobering to see these very visible signs of war amidst otherwise normal, lively cities and towns.

Another spot along our route was Osijek, the region’s capital, which has a beautiful waterfront along the Drava River. We ate our sandwiches in the sunshine while looking across the river at the picturesque buildings of the city. After basking in the warmth for a bit, we hopped back on the bikes and followed a bike path along the water to leave the city. 

We’ve been lucky with the weather for this stretch. Every day in Croatia was sunny and warm, and we felt a bit silly wearing t-shirts while our panniers were stuffed full of winter clothing. It’s definitely not what we were expecting for January, but it’s been a nice treat.  On our last day the temperature hit +18C! We didn’t camp at all in Croatia because this areas still has issues with unexploded minefields, but as long as it stays like this we’ll be living pretty comfortably once in Serbia.

The Hungary Round-up

ODO start: 2187

ODO finish: 2569

Total kms: 382
Actual country name:   Magyarország
Flat tires: 1 

Ferries taken: 1 (Across the Danube river)

Days in Country: 11

Days riding: 6

Nights camped: 2

Number of road rules broken: 2 (riding faster than 40km/hr, and riding on the highway)

Distance ridden illegally on the highway: 15 km

Number of Christmas Markets visited: 2 (Budapest and Pecs)

Grocery stores visited in search of Christmas dinner ingredients: 4

Coldest riding temp: -5C

Warmest riding temp: +14C

The Croatia Round-up

ODO start: 2569

ODO finish: 2751

Total kms: 182
Actual country name:   Hrvatska

Days in country: 5

Days riding: 3

Nights camped: 0 (Landmines!)

Farthest distance in one day: 102km

Time spent cooking dinner on a sidewalk before the police showed up: about 10 mins (They thought we might be illegal immigrants.)

Warmest riding temp: +18C

Slovakia

Our first taste of country #5 was a bluebird day, topping out a 600m pass in the snow. The air was fresh and sparkling, and we were feeling strong and stoked to be back on the bikes after so much time off. With the border directly on the summit, we had ridden up in Poland and were about to ride down into Slovakia.  A nice fast downhill is a great way to enter a new country!

We zipped down and picked up a side road to take us up and over a second pass to Oscadnica. This side road started out bare but the further we went, the more the snow and ice started to build on it. The riding was better than we were expecting though, our tires were actually pretty grippy. Up and over the second pass we went, tired now but with another fun (but cold!) downhill to our destination.

It was hard to top such an amazing first day. The next 2 days were much harder, and saw us fighting headwinds and busy roads with our tired bodies. The fatigue always starts to really build after day 3 of riding, and this was a 6 day push for us.  

It was worth it though, when we rolled into the driveway of some friends! We had really been looking forward to visiting Andrej and Miska in their hometown of Skalka nad Vahom. It was an awesome few days of catching up, hanging out, and seeing where they live. They were so kind and generous to us. They took us into Trencin and Bratislava where we explored the cities and, of course, the Christmas Markets.  They kept us well-fed and made us some traditional Slovakian dishes. We were even lucky enough to see the one-night-only Christmas market in Skalka, which was the smallest one we saw but definitely the coziest and friendliest. It was hard to leave, but when we did we were well-rested and riding high on the good vibes from our time with them.

This part is where the riding got really interesting. We found a shortcut which connected 2 quieter roads so that we could save some distance and avoid a busy highway. This shortcut was a mountain bike trail that went up and over a pass, that we were pretty sure would be passable this time of year… with maybe a bit of pushing.  It turned out to be less of a trail and more of a steep grassy slope with some old tire tracks that were mostly filled with ice and snow. It was passable… though we pushed the entire 2.3km and dubbed it the “Ice Road”, struggling as our boots and heavy bikes slipped out from under us.

The Ice Road topped out at a little ski resort, and it really started to feel like winter. The descents became bitterly cold, and we bundled up like we were going skiing every time we had to ride down.  On one descent the temperature dipped to -8C and as we sped up to 45km/hr and the wind chill made it feel like -20C!  Long uphill sections became a welcome way to get some blood flowing to our frozen fingers and toes. For the nights that we camped, we filled our bottles with hot water at night and they were still partly frozen in the morning. We started cuddling with the eggs and anything else that we didn’t want to freeze solid overnight. 

A highlight of this section was the climb up to Banska Stiavnica. It’ a small town tucked deep in the mountains that we’d read about and really wanted to see. The deal was sealed when Andrej and Miska told us that they had a cabin nearby where we could spend the night.  This was our biggest pass of the trip so far: Over 600m of climbing to an 800m pass, with most of the gain happening over only a few kilometres. It was steep and hard, but at the top we were rewarded with a stunning view of Kalvaria Banska Stiavnica, perched on a hill, bathed in the pink glow of the sunset. We sped down towards our waiting cabin and warmed up beside a wood stove that night.

In the morning, it seemed as if an ice fog had descended over the world and it didn’t lift for the rest of our time in Slovakia. The temperatures only showed -2C, but it was the coldest -2C I’ve ever felt. Huge frost feathers clung to every surface, growing every day because no sun could penetrate the cold to melt them. We were really getting what we had signed up for with December riding. 

Slovakia might have been my favourite country so far. It’s hard to top how awesome it is to see friends when you’re traveling in an unfamiliar place. Though we’ve known people in almost every country we’ve passed through, this was the first time our route actually made a visit possible.  I also can’t ignore how good it is to finally be feeling fit and strong on the bike. Iceland was a huge push, with no real fitness, that really burnt us out. In Denmark we were cutting our days to avoid making my knee worse, and Germany and Poland we spent more time resting that we did riding. Finally, in the last few days of Poland and all of Slovakia, I feel like I can ride again. Take this and add snowy mountains, nice roads, and sunny days, and this is a section that will be hard to beat.

                                                                      

The Slovakia Round-up

ODO start: 1772 km

ODO finish: 2187 km

Total kms: 415

Highest pass: 800m

Days in country: 12

Nights camped: 2

Most km in one day: 63

Coldest riding temperature: -8C

Number of layers worn on the upper body for a cold descent: 6

Number of Christmas Markets visited: 4 (Bratislava, Trencin, Skalka nad Vahom, Vienna)

Biggest money suck: Day-trip to Vienna

Poland

In our early planning of our route through Northern Europe, visiting Poland was added as a possibility.  Its location was somewhat inconvenient to our desire to visit both Prague and Vienna.  We could nip down the eastern border with Germany and then ride further east into Czech Republic and to Prague before turning around and heading southwest to hit Vienna and Bratislava (Slovakia).  We toyed with the idea of skipping Poland entirely and staying in Germany or skipping Prague in favour of more time in Poland.  When traveling by bike, small detours that take a couple hours by car or rail can take days and days.  For our winter riding we generally plan for about 50km per day by bike.  We can do 60 or 70 if we push or even more if conditions are good (as they have been recently).  The goal in trip planning is to balance low traffic and interesting routes with being able to get a reasonable distance each day.  In some cases we suck it up and ride the most direct route (also known as the ‘highway’) to skip through dozens or hundreds of kilometers of farmland and other times we find ourselves pushing our bikes up a steep road-less pass for several hours to connect interesting routes (see our upcoming Slovakia post!).  When it came to Poland, visiting Prague from there would involve a 250km detour southeast then back southwest.  That would take five days, plus a few days in Prague so about 8 days.   In the end, a few pictures of Wroclaw’s alluring central square sealed the deal.  We’d prioritize Poland, and go to Prague if we had time.

As our previous post explained, we bailed on Germany and took the train to Gorlitz where we rode across the border to Zgorzelec in Poland for the night.  In the morning we caught a train to Wroclaw (Vrosslov).  The first thing we noted was our train to Wroclaw was actually much nicer than any of the trains we caught in Germany.  From there, Poland just got better and better.  Wroclaw is probably my favourite city.  Everyone was super friendly and very helpful.  People would wait patiently as we struggled through what little Polish we could remember at the check-out, slowly count our Zloty’s to pay and as we were about to leave say in English, ‘Thank you, have a nice day!’.    Everywhere in Poland we felt really comfortable.   They seem to have hit a balance between being efficient without being sticklers for rules.  There are rules, but people are obviously quite casual about them.  We fit right in with this easy going and hardworking bunch.  Krakow was the same experience, as was our beautiful ride from Krakow to Zwardon.  

A highlight of our time in Wroclaw was definitely the Christmas market.  Every day, no matter where we were headed, we seemed to find ourselves amongst the crowds drinking delicious mulled wine around an open fire.  I think overall, this was our favourite Christmas market.  It was a lot more polished than Bratislava’s market, but not as over-the-top as in Vienna.  The energy in the market was high every day.  The stalls selling mulled wine were consistently packed with smiling and energetic people and the setting around the colourful central square couldn’t be more perfect.

The magic of Wroclaw hit its peak when Elaine went to a physiotherapist.  He checked her knees and said ‘not big problem, small problem’.  He massaged, pressed and squeezed in all the right places and in one session took her knee pain down to a totally manageable level.  We left by train the next day for Krakow, where it was decided that we were ready to pedal again!  

From Krakow we followed bike lanes all the way out into the countryside, not sharing the road with a car for nearly 20km.  Once on the road we were treated with incredibly courteous drivers who nearly always gave us the entire lane while passing.  Generally, if there was oncoming traffic, the driver would either slow down or wait for an opening to give us the lane as they passed or slow right down and carefully pass us.  In 145km I can only remember one vehicle that squeezed between us and oncoming traffic without significantly slowing down.  This definitely isn’t usual.  From Zwyiec we headed up our first major pass since leaving Iceland, topping out in the snow at over 600m.  We’re really happy with how our bikes handle snow and any anxiety we had about riding in winter are gone!

Poland left us wanting more and although we were excited to see Slovakia, we knew there was so much we hadn’t seen in Poland.  Most of our travel was done by train and I feel like one day we’ll have to go back and pedal a larger portion of this wonderful country.  We never did make it to Prague or even the Czech Republic but we’re really glad we spent as much time as we did in Poland and look forward to going back.

 

Poland Round-Up

ODO Start:  1627km

ODO Finish: 1772km

Total Kms Pedaled: 145km

Days Pedaled: 3

Train Kms: 420km

Days in the country:  14

Days of glorious sunshine: 13

Nights camped: 0

Furthest day: 60km

Biggest money suck:  Christmas market mulled wine

Christmas markets visited:  2 (Wroclaw and Krakow)

Most unforgettable place:  Block 11 at Aucshwitz

Snowline in Poland:  500m

Highest pass: 600m

Number of Dwarves hiding in Wroclow: 400+

Number found:  less than 30