After melting in the sun at the border crossing we just wanted to get to our camp ground and to cool off. We had found one just over the border in a town called Szeged, the place looked nice on the net and it had a large lake you could swim in, so we were pleased when we arrived that it lived up to our expectations and we enjoyed cooling off in the lake. Looking at the forecast we decided we would spend Sunday keeping cool and would head into Szeged city on Monday when the forecast was for slightly cooler.
As we had entered Hungary we had noticed how much cleaner the sides of the roads were and how the verges were greener and mowed and this continued into Szeged, it was a lovely clean city with lovely green parks, fantastic architecture in its buildings and very little graffiti, we really enjoyed looking around, but it was warming up and by the time we headed back to camp the gauge on the bike was reading 41°! Time for another swim.
We left Szeged the next day when the forecast was for around 30°, much better. We headed to Budapest via a city called Baja. Riding through the flat farming land was nothing like the other countries we had been in, the roads were good, slightly windy and little to no traffic and the roadsides were still green and clean, we also noticed that the air was so much cleaner, we could see what hills there were well off in the distance, we were thoroughly enjoying the ride. Baja too was a nice clean city with a fabulous square surrounded by lovely old buildings and malls, the square was cobble stoned. In Budapest we stayed very close to the city in a Bikers Camp. It was a very small camp in someone's back yard, it was well set up, but they had walkers and cyclists also staying there and I think I counted 18 tents in an area roughly 10X15 metres, very tight. Budapest went past our expectations, the Danube was now cleaner as was the city and the buildings were amazing. The views from the castle overlooking the city and river were brilliant and with the clear air you could see for ever. From Budapest we headed north to a ruin overlooking the Danube before heading south to stay on another lake, Balaton Lake in the south west. This area was crazy with lots of holiday makers down there, there were people and cars all over the place. We spent a few days here as we wanted to get the oils changed in the bikes gearbox and rear drive, they were well overdue and the dealer wasn't able to get us in until after the weekend, so a forced break, but a good one. There were some Hungarians camped near us, three families that quickly became our new adopted families. It was crazy, they just wouldn't take no for an answer and kept feeding us and giving us drinks, I'm sure we put weight on. The food they were feeding us was mainly fish they had caught in the lake, it was very nice having fresh fish. We did go out one day to see a nearby castle and a couple of times we went for walks around the area, but generally we took it easy and enjoyed the socializing and cooler weather we were having, we even had a drop of rain! After our rest we had the oils changed on the bike and headed out of Hungary with great memories of the people, country and cities.
P.S I forgot the most important part. On the way to Lake Balaton we stopped for our 50,000 Km photo!