Preview of Maddinames's blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maddinames/1/1273087495/tpod.html This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Esztergom, Hungary Entry Title: "Danube bends..." Entry: "... around towards Budapest (for those who don't know it - well I didn't!). We had to (painfully) find out that it's not only crossing the bridge from Sturovo (Slovakia) to Esztergom (Hungary), as Sturovo train station is a few km out of town, so we had a bit of a walk...like about 6 km! We found in Gyoezoe a nice older guy from the Esztergom rowing club, who we had arranged with to rent a canoe for the next 3 days. He welcomed us with our first experience of somewhat sweet Hungarian sweet Rose wine. I was a bit sceptical about the trustworthiness of our canoe, as it looked as if it hadn't seen the water for quite a while, but luckily although we managed to break out the middle bench during loading our whole luggage onto the boat, it turned out to be leak-free. We explored Esztergom for a couple of hours, including a walk up to the Basilica before heading back to camp in the garden of the rowing club overnight. The next morning (Tuesday 27th April) we set off paddling past the impressive Esztergom Cathedral towards Visegrad, where we wanted to spend our first night. The scenery of the Danube bend is lovely, really picturesque with trees and very occasionally signs of civilisations with little villages. As we approached Visegrad the impressive citadel above the river was already in sight from around the bend of the river. There were a few campsites in this area, but Gyoezoe had said that one of them was closed. We tried anyway, and pulled the canoe up onto the river bank but realised that the campsite was across the road and we'd have had to carry the canoe with all our stuff over there, so decided to carry on along the river a bit. On the opposite side of the river there was another campsite so we tried there. The campsite wasn't really officially open, but they turned on the hot water in the shower block for us and were happy for us to stay there! The nearest town to here was Nagymaros, where we walked in and had a look around. Nagymaros is completely non touristy, and so felt like the real deal, a normal small Hungarian town. We did manage to find a supermarket so that we could buy something for dinner though! The next morning (Wednesday 28th April) we headed off again in the canoe and entered the right hand arm of the Danube where it splits just around the corner from Visegrad. This is the smaller arm of the Danube and so the river got a lot quieter and more peaceful that it had been the day before. We didn't have quite as long to canoe today so we were in Szentendre by about 3.30-4pm ish. The campsite that we found in Szentendre was on Pap Sziget (Pope's Island) and was interesting. It was covered with a white fluffy seed, which gave it a very odd appearance. Again it didn't seem to be properly open so there was only one toilet block open and had quite an abandoned feel. It was about a 20 minute walk into the centre of Szentendre so after having set up camp we headed into town. Szentendre is a really picturesque little town with winding cobbled streets, with lots of churches, restaurants and cafes. We decided that, even though it is completely not Hungarian, that we fancied a pizza and had a really good one near the river before heading back to camp. We'd been told not to arrive in Obuda, on the outskirts of Budapest until after 3pm the next afternoon so we decided to explore Skanzen, an open air museum about 3 and a half km outside Szentendre. Unfortunately the buses to the museum don't run very often and so we decided to walk. The walk was along a long, dusty, hot road so wasn't enjoyable! The museum was interesting though, with different areas for the different geographical areas of Hungary. It is spread over 62 hectares, so we didn't manage to see it all in the time that we were there, but we saw a market town on the Great Hungarian Plain, a village in Southern ..." Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maddinames/1/1273087495/tpod.html Photos from this trip: 1. "Esztergom, Hungary" 2. "Under the bridge from Sturovo to Esztergom" 3. "Camp at Esztergom Rowing Club" 4. "Interesting architecture in Esztergom" 5. "View over the Danube from Esztergom Basilica" 6. "Self explanatory, I reckon!" 7. "View of Visegrad Citadel from Nagymaros campsite" 8. "Danube!" 9. "And again!" 10. "Over the rooftops of Szentendre" 11. "Pap Sziget campsite" 12. "Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest" 13. "Nighttime view over Budapest" 14. "Fisherman's Bastion" See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0124-832c-47cd?ytv4=1

• published: 31 Mar 2011
• views: 255