Day 18: Miles from Budapest

Komarno to Esztergom (55km)

I was on the river quite early this morning, hoping to get to Esztergom in time to watch the Springboks game. Minor incident at breakfast when I bit into what I thought was cheese, but turned out to be butter. From the picture below, you can see that my mistake was inexcusable and the unpleasantness deserved.

It was a nice day on the river, the Danube still acts as the border between Slovakia and Hungary, but this time I would be staying on the Hungarian side. It was a completely uneventful day on the river, not even anything as interesting as bug in the eye and I arrived in Esztergom in perfect time.

I wandered up to the hotel and managed to watch the thoroughly unimpressive Springboks beat Argentina before heading out for dinner. I hadn’t realised, but today is a national holiday in Hungary, St Stephens Day, named after their first king. As a result, everything was closed and I mean everything. I headed back to the hotel and settled for the sandwiches that Wolfie had given me that I hadn’t eaten, but would do fine as a makeshift dinner. Out of the five mainland European countries I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in, I have now managed to hit national holidays in three of them, not planned and not ideal for a hungry traveller. Still, another good days paddling, tomorrow I finish with the Slovakian part of the river, heading exclusively into Hungary, aiming for Budapest where I’m confident there will be open restaurants, even if there isn’t it won’t matter, I’m certain there will be a couple of familiar faces, ready to welcome me.