September 11, 1994
Szentgottard
The Amazon Hotel was at least consistent. Our breakfast was nearly raw, inedible eggs atop slabs of ham. Hardly nourished, we wandered the streets of Keszthely for a better choice - and found a shop where Rachael purchased a lovely long bluish skirt; a colorful, animated public market, with stalls offering strands of paprika and garlic, wild mushrooms, gladioli, plus the standard fruits and vegetables and ladies underwear.
The road to Zalaegerzeg traverses a series of five parallel ridges - dropping sharply to a stream bed, climbing steeply out the other side - until settling into a steady, level shot for the last 20 kilometers. We arrived in Zalaegerzeg at a bit after noon, and even though we found little to do there (it's really a pretty unattractive town) we took almost two hours doing it. We had lunch out of the supermarket - a big block of cheese, a block of bread, pop, and a bag of milk - which we dined on sitting on the grass in the shade of a building.
From Zala we continued west up the Zala River to Orizenpeter, another 40 km away - or, in this case, 50 km since I missed the turn to Zalalofo and we had to backtrack. The further east we traveled, the quieter the roads and countryside became, until by Orizenpeter there were more bicycles on the road than than cars, and more horse carts and pitchforks in the fields than tractors. The final miles of the day were really quite lovely, crossing from the Zala basin to the Raab, where we coasted most of the last 10k to Szentgottard.
We pulled in for the night at the only hotel in town - a modern, dormatory-like facility with shower and a clean bed for only 1200 florints. At the attendant's advice (as near as we could tell, since we shared no common language), we later walked 100 yards to a tavern/restaurant where we enjoyed breaded turkey, fried cheese, chocolate pancakes and wine for 1000 florints, and were captivated by the energetic character of the patrons. Especially enthralling was a mysterious card game played with abandon at a neighboring booth.
Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 435 miles (700 km)
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