Day 26 - 3 countries in one day

Day 26, june 28.

Wheeeeee, wheeeeeee, these are our excited voices as we zoomed along the cycle paths with the fairly strong winds behind us! It was a fabulous day riding, the sun shone the whole day and the strong breeze (enough to stop us from over heating) kept pushing us along for most of the way. We left Hainsburg in Austria at around 8.30 and by 9.30 we had arrived in Bratislava which is the capital of Slovakia. This beautiful city is the only capital in the world which borders on two nations (Austria and Hongary) From a distance we could see the castle which has a magnificent position on top of the hill overlooking the Danube.

 We stopped and looked around the main square which is a heritage listed historic centre with some interesting old buildings and also had our morning tea there. I ordered my usual 'hot chocolate' arrived but looking different then I expected as in a cup was 'hot chocolate' but more of a tick and sauce like variety, not quite what I had in mind. Never mind I did get my chocolate hit for the day in one huge go!!!!

Boy that wind blew my hair

Before too long we cycled into Hungary which is a country I have previously enjoyed visiting. I love the small villages where you see people having a slower, and maybe more relaxed lifestyle, going about their daily business. Most house have their own vegetable garden and orchards. Along some of the streets you will find here and there a water pump and there always seem to be a small local shop. Today I saw a field of smiling sunflowers which looked great, also a field of purple flowers (don't know the name and no, it was not lavender - Graeme telss me they were Statis) and a field of capsicums as well as the usual fields of wheat and corn. For tonight we have stopped in the village of Dunazeg at a local bed and breakfast. The family is most friendly and helpful and it is nice to see how they live and work. Here there is also a huge veggie garden and we have received a basket full of apricots (ripe and juicy).

We are at the final stages of this trip as we only have a few more days to go before we reach Budapest. The tricky bit is then to work out how to best get back to Holland! We have done some initial investigations these last few days but have not decided to fly back or take a train. 86Kms today