Budapest to Nagykanizsa

Leaving the apartment complex garage turned out to be a lot easier than driving in👍. The drive took about 3 1/2 hours.

Road safety doesn’t seem to be the first thing people think about in Europe generally, or Hungry in particular. It seems that as long as you put hazard lights on you can park anywhere - double park on the street , park on the footpath, or on the pedestrian crossing!!!! Road workers don’t bother setting up diversions. On the way we came across a council truck stopped in the middle of the road facing the wrong way. There wasn’t any warning signs or a stop/go man - just 8 guys working (well 4 working and 4 watching) on filling in a pothole. You just had to stop, try and look around the 🚚, and if you thought no one was coming, drive in the wrong side of the road to get around. At least it keeps the driving interesting 🙄.

The drive itself was okay if not riveting. We stopped off at a bar/cafe for lunch. All cafes sell alcohol, and all bars sell barista coffee (only fair I guess). We had a bit of trouble with the language (at one stage reverted to miming eating). I started to use google translate and the bar person/waitress hopped on to her phone to also use a translation app (apparently Aussie accents not heard out here very often). Me translating in to Hungarian and her translating into English. The double translation had some issues but we finally got a toasted panini each - though neither me or the waitress were quite sure what I was trying to order!!!!

Nagykanizsa is more of a stopping point for us on the way to Slovenia rather than a destination. Having said that a nice enough city/town. We had a bit of a walk around and dinner at a hotel. Anne had beef goulash soup and a side of grilled vegetables and a side of roasted potato croquets. I had an enormous roast pork with fries. Neither of us could finish our meals. The whole lot, along with 2 bottles of sparkling mineral water, cost $23 - very good value even for a cheapskate.

We stayed at the “Oazis” hotel that didn’t really live up to its name. It was in the midst of renovations and our room definitely hadn’t been renovated yet. At one stage I turned off a light and the switch fell off the wall onto the floor. No jugs to boil water (“we don’t supply electric jugs” - why would you supply coffee/tea cups then?). A sink to wash dishes/cups but no tea towels to dry up. 2 spoons and 2 forks but not a knife in sight (no sharp objects allowed?). And funniest part “we don’t supply toilet paper” (why the hell then do you supply a toilet ?). There was almost translucent blinds on the two windows and the two skylights in the room. Directly outside was an orange street light in misty light rain and this meant our room was bathed in the orange glow you would expect immediately after a nuclear holocaust. Some of you will know I carry blu tack and bandaids to cover the orange and blue lights of tvs etc. in hotel rooms because I need dark to sleep 💤. Unfortunately they don’t make enough blu tack and I only had about 20 bandaids. The cleaners the next morning will have wondered what the hell went on in there the night before. What added to the uneasiness of the night was the bathroom. I wasn’t sure if, inside, there wasn’t a torture chamber rather than a shower 🚿- have a look at the pic🤔.

Sleep was, let’s say, interrupted.

Tomorrow to Zagreb in Croatia for a couple of days.Read more