After a very good sleep, we woke up with a nice mood and still felt so lucky to be there. Péter had a quick round of morning swim in the pool outside meanwhile I prepared oatmeal for our breakfast. The respectable host came to ask if we need anything for the breakfast and later brought 1 liter of milk to us after I asked for 1 glass only. Such a generous person! Before leaving the house, he asked us about our schedule in order to be back to say good-bye in time. We said that we will leave in 40 minutes after finishing our breakfast and the packing. He answer with a big smile: "Sure. Just take your time. I'll be here when you leave. AND DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE 30 EUROS ON THE TABLE". Excuse me? What?
 |
| Morning swim, free....not! |
I was transfixed for a moment and started to have a bad feeling about this whole thing meanwhile Péter still thought that the man was just joking. "What 30 euros? Yesterday you said that both camping in the garden and staying in the room are free, didn't you?", said Péter. The old man looked at Péter, smiled wryly: "There's no free lunch! Are you two that naive to think that travelling around the world without paying is possible? I, myself, paid a lot for the hotel when travelling to lake Balaton, Hungary as well." In spite of the anger and indignation witnessing a scam, Péter tried to keep calm and explained to the mean owner: "Yes, we know many people who travel around for years without paying for the lodging as they got free room from the locals. Even the food is free for them. Have you ever heard of Couchsurfing?". Didn't care much about what Péter said, the old ass just repeated that he will be back in 40 minutes and he need PAYMENT.
The owner went somewhere by car, left us behind, speechless in the room which we were so grateful to sleep in without paying. Some moments of thinking, Péter told me to change quickly and pack everything as fast as possible, we need to leave before the liar got back. After some minutes, we had our bikes ready to go, made sure that the gate was open and we led our bikes to the road in front of the house. I stayed there and watched out meanwhile Péter went back in to return the keys and say goodbye to the wife who had been watching us for awhile. It was quite strange that she didn't ask us for 30 euros or anything when seeing us leaving in such a hurry. She even tried to wish us a good trip with her poor German and waved friendly to us. I'm sure that until now she hasn't figured out why the two lovely cyclists left a full pot of oatmeal in her kitchen and ran away...
After 5 minutes of cycling away from that terror house, we looked at each other and sighed with relief that we had been out of the crazy situation. Hmm, not that easy...The boorish man chased behind us with his car, took over and blocked our way so that we had to stop. It was a thrilling moment when he angrily opened the car and came to us aggressively. He punched Péter's handlebar bag and said that if we didn't have euro then Forint was fine or else, he would call the police to arrest us. How ridiculous! We should have been the ones who called the police, so we told him to take his time, call! The mad man scrolled down the contact list of his phone for a while, long enough for us to know that he was not about to call any policemen, probably just his friends or family members. Seeing a big chance of a group bullying, we gave secret sign to each other so that each of us tried to find a way to leave this spot and keep going. After checking the coming cars from both sides, Péter shout to me: "Now!" and we both rid like hell away from the greedy man. This time he didn't follow us, only his curses.
Luckily, just 50 meters after that, we bumped into a gas-station and a block of industrial storages behind it. We made a turn and entered one wood factory. Hiding ourselves and the bicycles behind the fence and industrial trash bins, we both kept silent while the disappointment covered our minds. After listening to our story, the manager of the office said that we could stay as long as we want and nothing bad could happen within the border of the factory. Such a sad start of a day!
 |
| Running away from the evil man |
We just waited there hopelessly with empty stomachs and awaited 50 km ahead for almost an hour. Couldn't postpone the start more, we decided to move on even though we both were afraid that a group of gangsters might have waited for us out there. Checking carefully and moving slowly towards the national road, we felt relieved that no one seemed suspicious. Just to make us feel better and safer, we gotta choose a 10 km longer route to get to Brno.
All day long, even though we had to cycle only 60km, I still felt the heaviness in my head and didn't enjoy anything. Until we got to Brno, met up our Couchsurfing host - Mihai, a Romanian man who has lived in Brno for 4 years, our faces were still covered by sorrow. Mihai is a very friendly man, he shared everything he has with us and we had nice talks about cycling tours. He has the real Couchsurfing spirit!
That evening, we also met Jan, a good old friend of Péter since 2011. He brought us to a wonderful restaurant - Pegas. There, we had a chance to enjoy great beers and delicious Czech food.
All day long, even though we had to cycle only 60km, I still felt the heaviness in my head and didn't enjoy anything. Until we got to Brno, met up our Couchsurfing host - Mihai, a Romanian man who has lived in Brno for 4 years, our faces were still covered by sorrow. Mihai is a very friendly man, he shared everything he has with us and we had nice talks about cycling tours. He has the real Couchsurfing spirit!
That evening, we also met Jan, a good old friend of Péter since 2011. He brought us to a wonderful restaurant - Pegas. There, we had a chance to enjoy great beers and delicious Czech food.
 |
| Roast shoulder of pork with sauerkraut and 2 kinds of dumplings |
 |
| Slices of beef in vegetable cream sauce and Bohemian dumplings |
The nice evening recouped the whole nervous and irritating cycling day. Tomorrow, off the road we go again...
(To be continued...)
No comments:
Post a Comment