madrid + hungary
I started planning these 3 months of travel a couple of months before I departed, but the week after London had always been an unknown. There was a possibilty of my other half joining me (if rosters worked out) but no specific locations locked in. I’d imagined I might end up by myself on a random European beach with a good book in the “worst case”. As it turned out we ended up meeting up in Madrid for a few days, before I continued solo to Hungary.
Madrid was a place we’d talked about going since we saw the episode of Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix show) where he ate his way around Madrid. I’d pinned all the spots on google maps and we said “we should go there one day and just eat at all these places and do nothing else”. And that’s exactly what we did. We checked out the city as we walked from spot to spot, but didn’t go out of our way to see any sights unless they were near somewhere we wanted to eat. It was bliss, sleeping in, following our stomachs to a breakfast snack then wandering to our chosen lunch spot. For the more popular spots we did lunches to avoid queing too much, then we’d do quieter tapa-y spots for dinner. We didn’t only follow Phil though, we also found a few spots of our own and we really didn’t eat a bad bite in Madrid. I really enjoyed the fancier spots we tried, with their theatrical presentations and unique ingredients, but also savored the laid back markets where you’d grab a giant plate of Jamon and Sangria and watch the world go by. If you like good food, get your butt to Madrid.
While I was eating as if it were an Olympic sport, my mum was sending me almost daily messages telling me about all the many many kilometres she was doing on her bike, in training for our upcoming trip to Borneo. I started to get worried about my bike fitness so decided the best use of my next few days would be a cycle trip of some sort. While doing some research over some meal or another in Madrid we came across Lake Balaton, a 2 hour train ride from Budapest, Hungary, and it sounded like the perfect 3 day cycle trip. So when we parted ways in Madrid I hopped on a plane to Budapest and then headed directly to Lake Balaton via train. After a great gulash and a good night’s sleep I jumped on my rented bike the next morning and began my 210km adventure around the lake.
It was just reaching the end of Summer and their high season was coming to a close, this meant a few restaurants were closed but also that it was much quieter than usual apparently. None of the ride was on major roads and the few spots where you share with cars are kinda sleepy back-roads, the vast majority is a totally separate dedicated bike path that wraps around the lake. Lots of tree-lined loveliness, wide open fields and plenty of lake views. It was a great solo bike trip location - the route was pretty well marked, I felt very safe, there were plenty of places to stop and eat or drink along the way, and even the occasional bike repair/tyre pumping station.
The first day I decided to make the toughest and did about 80km, it included a lovely part where the route left the lake side for a bit to head up hill and weave through vineyards and wineries, but for the most part was fairly flat. It was a hot day and I was looking forward all day to jumping in the lake at the end of the ride, but when I got to my accomodation for the night I totally flaked on that plan. Whilst on the map my accom looked a short bike ride from the lake - in reality that short ride was 100% up hill and once I saw that the place I was staying had a pool, my mind was made up. I spent the afternoon lazing in the pool until the sunset then headed a short walk away to a very local restaurant. Run by the chef and his wife, I think it was in the front room of their house with just a few tables. They were pretty grumpy when I greeted them in English initially, but once we established that we had German in common and switched to speaking that, then everything was ok. I enjoyed a huge schnitzel and fries to top up the energy stores for the next day and took myself home for an early night.
After 75km of cycling on day two I found myself yet again stymied from my lake swim, with what I’d thought (based on pictures) was lake-side accomodation turning out to actually be lake-view and up a huge hill once again. This time the place had a Jacuzzi with a lake view though, so once again I saved my legs from a repeat hill, and skipped the lake swim. The final day was much more chilled, just 55km and only one beastly hill but with a great view to make it worthwhile, it was not as much lake-side riding, more through the streets of holiday homes lining the lake. I finished just after lunch and found a great spot for my one and only lake swim (lovely) before getting some celebratory snacks and drinks and getting back onto the train to Budapest.
I ditched my bag at my hotel then headed out to check out the city, it is absolutely stunning and I for sure want to go back to see it properly one day. I got to some of the spots right on sunset which was pretty epic and just kind of wandered around from view to lovely view until dinner time. I had done the last three days very much on the cheap so decided I would go a bit fancy for dinner, had a gorgeous 3-course meal at Stand25 Bistro with one of the best deserts ever, Somlói, a pile of chocolatey, gooey, creamy goodness.
I loved Hungary and my time there was far too short, as I was already hopping on an 8am flight the next morning to start making my way to my next stop.
