Day 20 Baja to Bolt 52 miles

Hungary continues to be a pleasant surprise. I left Baja after breakfast and spent much of the day on excellent bike paths and quiet roads, including stretches along the Danube and EuroVelo 6. The countryside was flat and open, with little villages, houses covered in drying paprika, a pony playing beside the road, and bicycles everywhere. Even when I was on regular roads, drivers were remarkably courteous—slowing down, moving well over to pass, and often yielding to me at intersections.

The highlight came when I stopped to admire a yellow Catholic church in Dunapataj. An older man came out carrying bread, closed the gate and started talking rapidly to me in Hungarian. After some of my experiences farther south, my first thought was, Oh shit, am I doing something wrong? Then another man drove up who spoke a little English. I explained that I was simply admiring the church. He smiled, told me it was an old Catholic church, and motioned for the older gentleman to take me inside.

He gave me a private church tour. The man spoke no English, but he was obviously very proud of his church. He showed me the altar, statues and one of the church’s relics. With a little translation help from my phone, I thanked him, we had a hearty handshake, and parted as friends. I later learned the church dates to 1761 and that, when it was enlarged in 1934, the sanctuary was actually moved about 30 feet. Pretty remarkable little place to stumble across on a bicycle.

The friendliness continued when I reached Solt. At the grocery store a man struck up a conversation in broken English. I showed him my FindPenguins map—Athens to Copenhagen—and told him I was from America. He seemed genuinely impressed that an old guy was out doing this, told me I was really living life, and wished me good luck.

I finished the day at a very nice 2 bedroom house with a washer and a hot tub, a cold Hungarian beer, and an excellent dinner of cigánypecsenye—garlicky grilled pork with fries and salad.

52 miles farther north, one day from Budapest and 3 days a head of schedule. If only the headwinds would ease off a little.Read more