And you thought Hungary was flat
Posted on 2018-11-05
Hungary is mostly flat, it's true. But following the Eurovelo 13, which traces the border between Hungary and Austria, is not quite so flat. To make things worse, on the first day we entered Hungary, we were hit with extremely strong winds coming from the south. The winds were so strong that, when we were cycling directly against it, we could only go at less than 10km/h, and when the roads turned and the wind came from the side, it almost blew us either off the road or right into the middle of the road, and it was not just extremely slow, but also quite dangerous for us to keep going. Thus we called it quits after just 30km and found a place to stay in Fertőd, where we initially just planned to stop to look at the Esterháza Palace.
On the second day, the winds were a bit less crazy, and we finally made it to Cák, where we had initially planned to reach the day before. Just before Cák, we passed through the surprisingly interesting town of Kőszeg. We had read nothing of the town beforehand, but Heiko needed to buy a postcard, and the postcard had so many interesting buildings on it that we went to find them all.
The area around Kőszeg is also one of the hilliest regions of Hungary, the Kőszeg mountains being on the easternmost edge of the Alps. We took an impromptu rest day in Cák, and our host recommended a hiking route through the forest to a lookout tower where you could have a panoramic view of the entire surrounding region, including Kőszeg town, the surrounding hills, and parts of Austria. It was a good refreshing day off the bike, that helped Hannah to recover from a slight cold!
View of Kőszeg, some nearby hills, and parts of Austria from the top of the lookout tower
The next day, we continued south to Őriszentpéter, a town inside the Őrségi Nemzeti national park that is popular with local tourists because of its natural beauty and hiking possibilities. On the way, we actually entered and left Austria twice, because the borders curved so much in this area that we crossed these borders despite cycling in a straight line. Thank goodness for the Schengen Agreement, that we did not need passport checks every 5km! In Őriszentpéter, we stayed with a host that was a friend and schoolmate of our host in Cák, in a cute little trailer that was more like a tiny house on wheels, one of the most unique places we have stayed in so far!
In Őriszentpéter, we couchsurfed in a trailer that looked more like a tiny house on wheels!
Unfortunately, we could not fully enjoy the natural beauty surrounding Őriszentpéter as the next morning was foggy, and it remained foggy until we left Hungary.