Day 5

In the morning of our fifth day, we were around 300 kilometers away from Kolozsvár. Hard to believe, right? We added 85 more kilometers to this distance, just in order to get to know the wine region of Tokaj, the picturesque fortress of Boldogkőváralja, and passing the border between Hungary and Slovakia, the city of Košice too. Here we spend our well-deserved day of rest. Waking up in Tokaj, on the bank of the Tisza river was pleasant, and in the hours preceding morning the mosquitoes realized that picking fights with the bikers is futile! Everyone ate well, packed up and after a short meeting we also checked our bikes, so there would be no problems on the road.

And since we went to the famous wine region of Tokaj, we couldn’t leave without getting a taste of the ruse of winemaking. So after 20 kilometers we arrived at one of the oldest wineries of Tállya. We thank the Homoky family for receiving us at their winery and for acquainting us with the uniqueness of the wines of Tokaj and the contribution of their family for their existence.

Before departure we made the mega-sandwiches of the Bike Expedition, and after we were full we rolled on towards Boldogkőváralja. Our road started separating from the Hungarian Plain, we were met with smaller hills, and even the heat was replaced by summer showers, which we haven’t seen in the last three days.

At Boldogkőváralja, it turned out that the road leading to the fortress could stop the Tatars, but not us! After admiring the fortress from the outside, snuffling in the past, we set off with renewed strength. Before passing the borders, we stopped in Vizsoly, where Károli Gáspár priest was the first person to translate the whole Bible to Hungarian. Since we found the museum closed and it was pretty late too, with an ad-lib Religion class from Zsolt, we hastened towards Tornyosnémeti. Passing the border was not hindered by anything, so we could roll on in the third country, Slovakia.

Only 20 kilometers separated us from Košice, but we still had to enter a big city, which required great concentration; and now we had the opportunity to try out biking at night. We entered in the city in a disciplined manner, and even from the city limits we could smell the delicious pizza waiting for us. (Thanks to the previous orders made over the phone, the pizza got to the school before we did :P). Arriving at our supposed accommodation, we were surprised that the vocational school with which we agreed upon the accommodation was hermetically closed and nobody was waiting for us. We didn’t dawdle too much, we sat on the ground just like the good bikers we are and heartily ate the pizza, while Zsolt made some phone calls to find out this: they were indeed waiting for us, but the dorms are not next to the school, but at one of the residential areas of Košice. But anyway, what are those 3 more kilometers? We are thankful for the Hungarian-Slovak taxi drivers, who talked with the Slovak teacher, and finally we found the dorms and packed into our comfortable rooms, half asleep. Then came the well-deserved hot shower and soft bed, into which we could lay with one of the most pleasant of thoughts, that the following day is a REST DAY, we’re going to explore Košice!

Postscript: Around midnight Zsolt and the others went to buy fresh drinks in the rooms, and when coming back, to put it poetically, he flew up with the Audi, but landed successfully, so the old car gratefully awaits the following commands for the next route