Almost Hungary
The weather improved quite a bit by the morning, but probably due to the schnaps, I had slept in. I got a nice breakfast, consisting of a gigantic omelet, I think it must have been made out of 5 eggs or so. When I wanted to pay, he refused and wished me good luck.
In high spirits, seeing the nice weather, having a full belly, I started riding through some hilly area, a lot nicer than the day before. The road was (at least partially) newly paved and went alongside the Samos river. Later, I yet another wooden church, I of course had to climb to its roof. Many of the villages were purely Hungarian. In the village of Hadad (Kriegsdorf), was the mansion of the Wesselenyi’s and there was also a beautiful church, however, it was damaged in an earth-quake. I took a rest in front of a restaurant, when a bunch of very friendly Roma kids came to talk to me and asked a bunch of questions. I invited all of them for an ice-cream, they thanked me about twenty times.
In Korond (Corund), I found what I think was the last wooden church of my trip, so I took a number of pictures; it was beautifully maintained. Then in Acas (Akos), I visited a Hungarian protestant church, very unique, as it had no painting on its outer walls, just the bricks. I wonder if it was due to the fact that the church had been ‘destroyed by the Tatars in 1241, burnt by the Turks in 1642, struck by lightning in 1747, damaged by earth-quake in 1834, but it is still standing, as long as God so wants’.
My next destination was a village called Ady Endre. I saw this name, belonging to a 20th century Hungarian poet, on my map and was curious to find out what this place would look like. Oh boy, did I suffer. These were probably the worst roads I have ridden on on my trip. First, it was a paved road, with the pavement being about twice as old as I am. Then, the pavement ended and it turned to mud, thanks to the rainfall of the previous day. Then it was rocks – everything was hurting by the time I got there. To cover the couple of kilometers to Ady Endre, I think I needed two hours. So I found the birth-house of the famous person, alas, it was not open as it was being renovated. I hope they will also do something with the road. Here I found out that he wasn’t yet 42 when he passed away.
Somehow I made it safe to the main road and it was a straight ride to the Hungarian border. It wasn’t a major road, and, in addition, not much traffic, when I saw a big traffic jam. I had to laugh when I saw the reason: it was a huge herd of cows walking home causing this hold up, with a tiny little dog heralding these cows, they had a huge respect of this little black thing. I got to Carei (Nagykaroly), having an impressive castle with lush gardens and some huge churches. The town is also the birth-place of Margit Kafka and Ady Endre also had lived here. There is also a big spa and a campground, but I still felt like riding. It was right on the Romanian side of the border that I found a nice motel and lay down.