Our ride today (Saturday, 9/6/14) was a 60 mile trip from
Budapest to Kecskemet, Hungary. It was our
first full day biking in Hungary, after 2½ weeks in France, Germany, and
Austria. The difference between those 3 Western European countries and Hungary,
a Central European country, was quite noticeable. Outside of the tourist-heavy
inner city of Budapest, the buildings and roads are much more rundown in
Hungary than in its western neighbors. In the countryside, the fields in the western
countries were generally well-tended, highly productive, agricultural plots of
land, while in Hungary the land is most often overgrown with brush. Even when
used as farmland, it looked far less lush and well-tended than in the western lands.
The difference must be due, at least in part, to poor
governance in Hungary that has driven away many of its greatest minds.
Ex-Hungarians have an incredible record of achievement in science and industry.
Among the many examples are John von Neumann, a key pioneer in development of
the digital computer; Edward Teller, developer of the hydrogen bomb; Andrew
Grove, founder of Intel, all of whom left under inhospitable times in the early-to-mid
20th century. Hungary has apparently learned little from the horrible lessons
of those times, with a right-wing authoritarian party in power now and a
neo-Nazi party as one of the main opposition parties.
Scenes from our ride today:
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| Leaving Budapest |
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| Lunch on the run |
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| Our hotel in Kecskemet. Our bikes are parked right beside the Jaguar. |
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| The Kecskemet city hall |
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