April 11: Aggtelek Cave, Hungary and a Walk to Slovakia

In the morning we took a 2.3 km cave tour in the Baradla Cave. It started in the hills near Vörös Lake and involved around 600 steps, mostly downhill, ending in the neighboring town of Jósvafő. Along the way were incredible limestone formations including the tallest stalactite in Hungary (19 meters high) and the Giant's Chamber where we experienced complete darkness for a minute and then a sound and light show with excellent acoustics. . 

 Both before and after the tour we hiked in the woods around the cave entrance.

In the evening we walked to Slovakia and back. The border was only about a mile and a half from our hotel.

Our hotel included access to a kitchen area, so we bought bread, cheese, and eggs at the local store and made a picnic dinner.

April 10 Eger, Hungary

We landed in Budapest around 3am, picked up our rental car and stayed at a nearby hotel. At 9 AM we drove about an hour east to Eger, known for its castle in which Istvan Dobo  temporarily fended off the Turks in 1552.  First we toured the castle and lunched at the restaurant appropriately named 1552. We had grilled goat cheese salad and beet risotto.

View of Eger from the Castle

View of Part of the Castle

Then we went to the Turkish bath in town which was tame in comparison to the thermal waterfalls in Jordan. Next we walked around the town.

The main square had a statue of Istvan Dobo and a minaret leftover from the Turkish rule.

Minorite Church in Dobo Square, the heart of Eger

Statue of Istvan Dobo who fended off the Turks in 1552

We had Gelato since Eger is known for its ice cream and then  palacsinta (Hungarian crepes) for supper. One palacsinta  was filled with herbed sheep cheese and the other,  farmer's cheese and cherries. 

 Afterwards we drove to our hotel in Aggtelek.

More pics here:

Jordan, April 7-9 Hammamat Ma'in Jordan: Hot Waterfalls

This trip came together by accident.  We had booked a trip to Egypt but had to cancel it at the last minute. We had until the end of April to use our tickets. So we chose Jordan since it was the cheapest option. Initially our plan had been just to hang out in Jordan, re-do the things we loved, get our scuba diving certificates, and do the things we had been unable to do when we visited there last September. Then we realized that we would be there during Ramadan.  So we decided to visit a friend living in Bonn, Germany. The flights to Germany all had a long layover in Budapest, Hungary, so we decided to fly to Budapest and take a train to Germany.  After we booked our flight to Budapest, our friend suggested she come a week early to Bulgaria and that we meet her there.  So we did.  Jordan, then Hungary, then Bulgaria. Not very efficient when you look at the map, but it worked well for us. We called this our Matroyshka Trip since it was a trip inside a trip inside another trip.

Our flight went well. We flew Royal Jordanian Airlines.  The flight originates in Detroit and picks up passengers in Montreal where Kristen lives. The only snag was that Kristen was held at the check in for 4 hours in Montreal and only allowed to go through security after my plane had landed in Montreal and an agent had examined the credit card I used to pay for Kristen's ticket. Turns out that the card used to book the flight needs to match the ticket, and I had paid for both ticket upgrades with my credit card.  I'm not sure why the ticket agent didn't tell us that, but now that we know, we won't let it happen again. 

We left Montreal around 11 PM  on Thursday and arrived in Amman Friday at 4:30 PM, getting through customs and picking up our rental car by 5:30.  We checked into our hotel at sunset and went immediately to the hotels thermal pool and waterfall and soaked for an hour, ate dinner and then went back to the pool until bedtime. 

At 6 AM we got to the public waterfall (reserved for hotel guests until 9 AM. )  This was the waterfall Herod used with a sauna at the top built by the Romans.  Last fall there had been a few people there. This time we got to it by 6 AM (Could probably have arrived even earlier) and had it to ourselves for at least an hour.  Last fall the air had been hot and the waterfall even hotter. This time the air was cool enough that the heat from the waterfall felt good.

Inside the Sauna Area in the Public Waterfall

The Public Waterfall

The Public Waterfall with Tiers for People to Stand Under the Waterfall 

We sat under the waterfall until we got hungry then went back to the hotel for breakfast and then back to the hotel pool and waterfall until it was time to check out at 2 PM.

The Hotel Pool--They harvest the Water from the Waterfall

Breakfast at the Hotel Balcony

We drove back to Madaba and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Kawon Once Upon a Time bookstore, organic garden and vegetarian restaurant. 

Mystery Books at the Bookstore

The Bookstore Cafe

Flocks of Sheep and Goats often Crossed the Road

Parking was interesting. These cars are parked on a little triangular island in Madaba.

After an afternoon in Madaba we drove back to the airport to wait for our flight to the next leg of our trip-- Wizz Air to Budapest.  

Montreal, October 11-12, 2021

The second Monday in October, this year October 11 was Canadian Thanksgiving.

We celebrated with a food walk

First was  French Hot Chocolate from  Au festin de babette, the best hot chocolate I've had outside France, dark, thick and not sugary.

Bocadilla's in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal which specializes in Venezualian food. We shared Arepas and empanadas.

Apartments near dumpling Restaurant

For dinner we shared potato pizza from our walk and homemade dumplings from a restaurant between Kristen's apartment and the nearby park. 

And we had pistachio doughnuts for dessert.

On the morning of the 12th we picked up filled croissants from the patisserie on the way to the subway station.  I took the train home arriving late that night.  

Montreal, October 9-10, 2021

 We left early on Saturday morning and walked to where we had rented a car through Turo. There was a snafu in getting the code to the car which put us in heavy traffic, worse because Canadian Thanksgiving was on Monday, so there were more people leaving town. In some respects that was a bad time to go away for the weekend, but the weather was perfect for hiking--high 70s--and the leaves were gorgeous.

We drove to Mont Megantic National Park.  We had planned to hike up to the top and then back down, but it was so crowded that we weren't allowed to park at the bottom. Since we already had a park pass, we were allowed to drive to the top where we parked and then walked along the ridge and clambered over big rocks. 

St Joseph 

Then we drove to Magog where we stayed at a hostel. It was our first time, and we didn't really like it.  We walked around Magog and had Italian for dinner followed by ice cream next to the river.

Sentier Massawippi Sainte-Catherine-de-Hadley--early morning hike through the woods, gorgeous views, very few people, We arrived very early, walked down to the beach along the river and then walked back to the car.

Next stop was Coaticook Forest Luminare Gorge Park.  Arriving just as it opened, we walked across the longest suspended footbridge in North America.  We hiked until early afternoon then had lunch at the restaurant there and drove back to Montreal

The longest suspended footbridge in North America

The Belding Corticelli Factory which made thread and sewing supplies such as scissors.  It was built in 1883 and abandoned in 2004.

On top of the Lookout Tower

Montreal, October 7,8

 Kristen worked both Thursday and Friday, so I walked around. Thursday I took the metro with Kristen to her work and then walked up and down and around Mont Royal, a small mountain in the middle of Montreal near McGill University.  I walked about 15 miles total.

View from Mount Royal

McGill Space Institute--Kristen's office is to the left of the stairs.

St Joseph Oratory

On the way home we stopped at Chocolat Favoris  to get chocolate coated ice cream cones.  The best coated ice cream I've ever eaten.

Friday I ventured further afield. First I walked to the Jean Drapeau Park, crossing over the Jacques Cartier Bridge to Jean Drapeau Island, the site of the 1967 Expo World's Fair.  The island had been expanded with all of the fill excavated from creating the metro system in the 1960s.  First I walked around the island, along a river, past an old tower, and to the biosphere.

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Biosphere from Expo 67

Then I took the Metro to the  Notre Dame Cathedral. It was closed to visitors, but I had a hot chocolate and a chocolate-pistachio filled croissant at Tommy's, a nearby cafe situated in the old British Empire Building.

After that I walked to McGill and hung out in the park until Kristen came.  I had walked close to 15 miles total.