In Search of Southern Weather

The weather in Liptovsky rivaled some of the darkest days I'd ever experienced in Hobart. The temperature hit the negatives overnight and made a respectful effort to stay as close as possible to that during the day.

On the plus side, after the race finished we found a spacious shelter with plenty of space for two tents and our camp kitchen which was in range of WiFi and a short walk from power points, a great place to dry out all our dew-soaked gear from the night before. The following day Dan put in a few training sessions on the water while I made a contrived effort to start this blog, only getting around 500 words on paper.

Early that evening we began heading south, initially threading our way through a rich, green pass in the Tatra en route to the Hungarian border. The country was quite low but consisted of lots of low, but quite steep hills and knolls. We camped on top of one overlooking a town about 30km south of the border crossing.

The following morning we found ourselves in Budapest's outer limits within about an hour of driving. The city is logically set out and easy to navigate, leaving only the usual parking difficulties when you don't have any local currency yet. Dan sat in the car to avoid a fine while I went for a walk to draw out a little money and see if I could see our accommodation that we had previously booked online. In comparison to many cities in Czech Budapest seemed somewhat dilapidated, though as a visitor I did not take this at all as a bad thing.

The city centre where most tourists visit still teems with locals; shopping, on their daily commute to work or simply enjoying the city. Prices are nowhere near as heavily inflated as Prague. We found one shopping mall exclusively dedicated to food; it had no supermarkets, but rather many small venders. The quality, price and range of food was amazing. It wouldn't be difficult at all to visit Budapest on thirty Australian dollars a day, even with daily visits to the city's omnipresent thermal baths.

In this mall I picked up on no other languages other than Hungarian, despite being right in the city centre, with the exception of one small group of Americans. They were walking past and heard us speaking English so came over for a chat. The Texans seemed incredible friendly and warm hearted but I think I began looking at them in an entirely different light when they revealed they were in Hungary to spread the word of god. They were Jehovah's Witnesses!

It felt great to feel like we were escaping all the negative effects that come with peak season in Europe. Prices were low, fewer tourists meant greater immersion in the local cultures and interactions with locals and things just generally seemed slower. After having a huge lunch with goods we bought from various venders we headed back towards Octogon Square, near which our accommodation was supposedly situated.

We weren't walking around with the sole intention of finding it but I'd have to say, even including trying to ask a few people, it took two hours to find the hostel. We expected a large, obvious streetside reception but instead we finally found ourselves standing in front of a door marked by a modest plaque. We pressed the call button to be greeted in rapid Hungarian. I replied with a single word; booking. The door opened, letting us up three flights of what would have once been quite ornate stairs. The hostel occupies the top floor of the building which is hollow in the centre with wrap-around balconies. Each room had four beds, feeling very empty in the vast, high-ceiling spaces.

We stashed our stuff and headed out shortly after, wanting to relax in the baths that makes the city so famous. Back on the street we followed the Danube for a while until we reached a bridge. Crossing half the span we descended some steps to the distinctive island in the Danube which the Americans said houses several baths. We were surprised by the sheer size of it. I was expecting it to be hundreds of metres long, not for it to be measured in kilometres of open parkland. After a bit of hunting we found a bath which was unfortunately shut in the off season.

The baths would have to wait until morning; supposedly Buda, the part of the city on the southern bank of the Danube, had numerous choices. Budapest was historically two cities, Buda and Pest, divided by the sheer width and volume of the river. Not having much other choice we began to walk back on what was a rather long journey in dull, slightly drizzly spring weather.

The next morning we headed out of the city, driving towards the southern town of Hivez. We arrived in Hivez without problems to find a cold, blustery day but it didn't matter. This town boasts a large thermal lake. After paying around fifteen Australian dollars, which we thought was rather steep for Hungary, we had access to the lake and the extensive facilities lining a good portion of its eastern shore.

The water wasn't hot. It would have probably been warmer than the best tropical water I've swum in but it certainly wasn't the kind of warmth the mind tends to conjure up when you think of the word “thermal”. The lake was idyllic. If there was no wind I would have been content floating in it for hours, swimming in between the lillies that grow in its mineral rich waters.

After about an hour and a half it was time to move on, the warm water was no defence against the heartless breeze slightly whipping up the surface water on the lake.

Entering Slovenia we soon exited into the north eastern city of Maribor, renowned for its mountain biking. Seeing we were only passing through we didn't get to try any unfortunately. We soon found an outdoors store after I asked a shop attendent. The staff were extremely hospitable, volunteering the number of a top climber in Slovenia who could help us find second hand bouldering mats and help me find locals to head into the mountains with. After chatting for what would have been close to an hour we left, a freshly purchased Via Ferrata kit in my hand.

We arrived in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana late that evening, just in time to enjoy the last of what seemed to have been a very sunny day. Dan wanted to have a session and find somewhere to leave his boat so we headed to the slalom course, the water glowing turquoise in the evening light. 

The next day the weather would crack up entirely, delivering three straight days of wind and rain where the temperature wouldn't peak over 15 degrees. So much for that southern sun that enticed us to come to Ljubljana so quickly...