Szarnyaskerek Gyor

... to be built around 1000 AD but have been destroyed multiple times (by warfare or fire usually). They are then built up, presumably of similar architecture as the original. Entire "old town" areas have been rebuilt like this. The result can be a beautiful area that feels so much like it must have been at its peak. The core of the question is not the aesthetic quality but whether this is truly the old town and its historic buildings.

Sharon leaves ...

... of buildings from the 1700s plus and a river that sits at its walls. Nothing remarkable but a decent place to chill for a day or 2. Very few people makes it a little dreary. Since we can't find any nightlife, we go to a very nice restaurant (no English menu) then call it a night. Sharon is filling queasy so it is probably the right move. We are staying at a nice hotel which makes for a nice change.

... like it would have been impossible to attack. It also had the foundation of the first church north of the Danube river, which was constructed in 400 AD. One of the earliest European churches!

Now we have two more full days of riding. So far the riding hasn't been too bad. The only thing that hurts is our bottoms. We really enjoy the group of people we're biking with and plan on seeing the sights in Budapest with a few of them for a day before going on to India.

yikes... i wrote this entire section and the computer shut down... here is the cliff notes version: Yesterday I slept til 3...no more jet lag! Today I am heading 2 hours west by train to visit kornel, a friend i met in panama - also friends with karolina, my budapest host. I arrived with no problems and we walked around for a bit. Too bad i did not take any photos of the small town. It was very pretty! Kornel and ...

... last 1,000 years or so and as such the artistic and architectural styles run the gamut from baroque and rococo all the way back to romanesque statuary in the cellars that was defaced by the invading Ottoman Turks.

It's also one of the biggest wine producers in the region, making some pretty tasty stuff.

... som sa poducil tajom 'Petrzalskeho parkovania'. Povodne som si myslel, ze sa ideme len tak previest do mesta ako to robievam, ale Fero navrhol hradzu na lavom brehu Dunaja, kde som bol naposledny pred vyse piatimi rokmi. Co som ale netusil bolo, ze do obeda prejdeme na korculiach 24 kilometrov a posledny kilometer bude naozaj ako na maratone - neuveritelne dlhy. Na zaciatok to bola samozrejne velka sranda, lebo sme isli povetre a sil sme mali na ...

Today was a day of disappointments (though not without a few pleasantries). We drove through insane traffic to the northern outskirts of Budapest to a neighbourhood called Obuda. I planned to go to Aquincum -- a museum with Roman ruins. It was drizzling and miserable. When we arrived, the sign on the door said they were open every day except Monday. That was fine... it was Tuesday. But the doors were locked. We ...

Balatonkenese - Szekesfehervar - Zámoly - Csákberény - Mór - Pusztaván - Dad - Szák - Komárom distance 155.57 km, time 08:21:19, maximum speed 44.9 km/hod, average speed 18.6 km/hod Vstávam o 06:20 s predstavou, ze si ráno zaplávam. No keď vidím tie zdesené pohľady asi 12tich ranných rybárov, vzdávam sa práva zaplávať si. Po klasických hamburger based raňajkách plánujem trasu, kadiaľ s Valérom pôjdeme. Určujem ...

So, as we were out East, in the area of Gyor, we headed out to a place called Pannonhalma, to visit a old Monastery/ Benedictine Abbey. Sadly, we didn't get to see any of the monks, but the tour was still interesting. We saw the first extant sample of written Hungarian, in a charter given by Geza (Hungarian leader) to this Monastery in 1055. This monastery has been functioning for more than 1000 years as it was established in 996 ...

We biked from Bad Deutsch to Bratislava (historic Slovak capital); then continued to bike from Bratislava to Mosonmagyarovar (38 miles)

Our Hungarian tour guide would not travel into Slovakia (he said he wasn't "licensed", but we really wanted to go, so we crossed the border and biked about 7 miles into Brataslava without support. We toured the town which was a wonderfully preserved university town, with nicely ...