Kayak Trip Day 42: Dunabogdány to Budapest – The Finish Line

Events from this article happened on Friday the 23rd of August, 2019. We paddled the Danube between Dunabogdány and Budapest in Hungary. Budapest was the original goal of this kayak trip, so it was a big moment for us. The idea was to paddle from Budapest to the Black Sea in 2021 again. Then we decided we could paddle a few hundred kilometers further. Anyway, the total distance of day 42 finally exceeded our previous record of 36.0 kilometers, which makes it the longest paddle day as of yet. Dunabogdány – Our Last Stop before Budapest We stayed in DunabogdányContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 41: Štúrovo to Dunabogdány

The events in this story happened on Wednesday the 21st of August, 2019. Jonas and I paddled Zucchini from Štúrovo in Slovakia to Dunabogdány in Hungary (Zucchini is our inflatable kayak). After Štúrovo (Slovakia) and Esztergom (Hungary), the Danube river makes a sharp turn southward. The river is now completely in Hungarian territory. This was a distance of 29.7 kilometers. Our Two-Night Stay in Štúrovo/Esztergom Our Booking apartment was next to the pedestrian zone of Štúrovo. Štúrovo is yet another spa town, like Kúpele Patince. As it was August and the height of summer, this meant that there were loads of families out andContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 40: Kúpele Patince to Štúrovo

The events in this story happened on Monday the 19th of August, 2019. We paddled from a Slovakian resort town called Kúpele Patince to Štúrovo, also in Slovakia. This stretch of the Danube river forms the border between Slovakia and Hungary. Across the bridge in Štúrovo is the (more famous) Hungarian town of Esztergom. This was a distance of about 33 kilometers. Our Stay in Kúpele Patince As you may know from my previous post, we didn’t stay in Kúpele Patince by choice. We wanted to stay in a town called Moča, but Booking canceled our reservation there. The ownerContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 39: Komárno to Kúpele Patince

Narrated events in this story happened on Saturday the 17th of August, 2019. We intended to paddle Zucchini from Komárno to Moča on the Slovak Danube, but the accommodation in Moča fell through. Booking.com helped us find a replacement stay instead in a place called Kúpele Patince, which is a Slovak holiday village and the substantiation of a nightmare. Our Stay in Komárno Our three-night stay in Komárno was pleasant, but we didn’t explore as much as I’d hoped. One thing that consumed me during our stay was my desire to find a better spot to enter the Danube for the day we’dContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 38: Gönyű to Komárno

Events in this story happened on Wednesday the 14th of August, 2019. We paddled out of Gönyű on the Hungarian side of the Danube to Komárno on the Slovak side.  Three Nights in Gönyű Gönyű isn’t exactly the center of the universe. Its biggest claim to fame is that for years it had a right-angled trapezoidal football pitch. Until 2012, when they corrected the shape of the field and wiped out the one thing that might pique anyone’s curiosity. It’s a relatively small town with one supermarket, two and a half food businesses, and two hotels. Besides our own Business HotelContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 37: Danube Floodplains to Gönyű

Events in this story took place on Sunday the 11th of August, 2019. We paddled from a Protected Landscape Area called the Danube Floodplains in Slovakia to Gönyű, our first town in Hungary. In the Danube Floodplains, we’d freecamped for the first time on this trip. The total distance we paddled to Gönyű was 26.6 kilometers. Waking Up at Our Freecamping Site My alarm rang at 5:00, a few minutes before dawn. Slowly, we awoke and wrangled ourselves out of our sleeping bags. The storm had stopped a few hours earlier and we finally reached a deep state of sleep. IContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 36: Čunovo to the Danube Floodplains – Freecamping

Evens occurred on Saturday the 10th of August, 2019. We paddled our buoyant Zucchini from the Čunovo Dam to somewhere in the Danube Floodplains protected landscape area in the Slovak-Hungarian border region. We paddled 36 kilometers that day. At night, we freecamped next to the river for the first time on this trip. Leaving Čunovo for the Danube Floodplains We only stayed one night in Čunovo. For the morning, we managed to arrange breakfast at 7:30. The guy who had cheffed up dinner so enthusiastically the night before were not so fond of our early breakfast time; we had to beg forContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 35: Bratislava to the Čunovo Dam

Events in this story happened on Friday the 9th of August, 2019. We paddled our inflatable kayak from Bratislava to the Čunovo Dam in Slovakia. That’s a distance of 17.3 kilometers. At the Čunovo Dam, there’s a water sports center for whitewater canoeing/kayaking. Little did we know that on that day, there would be a sporting event organized by the International Canoe Federation (ICF). Our Stay in Bratislava We stayed in Bratislava for one week. Bratislava was our first stop across the historic West-East division of Europe. Finally, we’re in Eastern Europe! As with Austria, this was Jonas’ first time inContinue reading

Kayak Trip Day 34: Haslau to Bratislava – Austria to Slovakia

Events described… happened on August 2nd, 2019. We paddled down the Danube river from Haslau an der Donau in Austria to Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. This is the third country we’re paddling in on our long-distance kayak trip. Unfortunately, when editing the videos for this post and the previous one (Day 32), I accidentally deleted all of them from the tiny camera’s SD card. Yes, we’ve tried every recovery program in the world. Yes, I am angry with myself. So all the videos (if any) for this post come from my phone camera.  Our Stay in Haslau WeContinue reading