Budapest – Solt – Moacs
I really liked Budapest and could have stayed here for a few more days. But if you are only on the road with your BIKE for a few weeks in within one year, you are different to the long-term traveller. Yes, there are cyclists who are on the road for years and then naturally stay longer in certain places where they particularly like it. In the next few days, I’ll be heading south, still along the beautiful blue Danube, the second longest river in Europe. I often come across place name signs with very peculiar names. Szigetszentmiklos, for example. I would like to hear how this is pronounced correctly. Since the pandemic, the proximity to the population has unfortunately become more distant. This is also very noticeable on the tour. Spontaneous conversation has become rare and you meet fewer people. At the moment, I’m still in Hungary, but I’m getting closer and closer to the next border. The entry requirements to get into Serbia remain strict, i.e. although vaccinated, Swiss citizens need a negative PCR test < 48 h to cross the border.
Today I have to go to SOLT in the morning for the test and then cycle the same day to Moacs, the border town to Serbian and Croatian. In Moacs it is summery warm so it is a pleasure to can eat outside in the restaurant even in the evening. I am quite perplexed because the waitress greets me directly in German and also hands me a menu in German language. Somehow it’s obvious that I don’t understand Hungarian. Imagine a Hungarian tourist (without speaking a word beforehand) being given a menu in Hungarian when visiting a restaurant in Germany? During the night, I hear my mobile beeping and look at the display while still half asleep. I want to know whether the next 10 days are to be spent in quarantine in the accommodation in Moacs or whether it is worth my while getting up early to travel across the border. The test result has just been sent. OH shock, the document can only be opened with a tricky password… Do you speak English?
*Dear Madam or Sir, you can find the laboratory report in the attachment. The character password to open the attached findings consists of the last 5 digits of your identity card number (either the Hungarian social security card id number if it was given during the sampling, or otherwise the given identity card number), the last 2 digits of your year of birth and the 2 digits of your month of birth without any spaces.*
Hello!!! Now it’s getting really exciting and I’m wide awake in the middle of the night! Let’s see if my English is good enough to open the document… Hastily I take my ID card and write down the supposed password on a piece of paper. In the hope that it is correct, I type the secret code into my mobile phone and before releasing it, I use the spell from the fairy tale „Ali Baba and the 40 thieves“. OPEN SESAME. Wow, the PDF is cracked and there is good news for me. That means I can go back to sleep right away and in the morning I’ll be off on my beautiful, light blue gravel bike given name “FLOW” to get to Serbia.
