So here’s a question for you.  Julie and I visited the Eastern European country of Czechoslovakia many years ago, including its two largest cities, Prague and Bratislava.  In 1993 Czechoslovakia broke into two different countries, The Czech Republic with its capital Prague and Slovakia with its capital Bratislava.  As Julie and I crossed the border from Poland into Slovakia were we going to a new country or a country we had been to before under a different name?  Or is it both?

Slovensky Raj National Park covers a large section of the Tartas Range in the Carpathian Mountains of northern Slovakia.  Bordered on the south by open rolling fields, the park itself features some of the highest peaks in the mountain range, deep gorges, outstanding walking trails and over 350 caves.  It is a playground for outdoors enthusiasts in the region and a very busy place in high summer as our campground in the park showed.  There was a United Nations of people all drawn here to enjoy these special mountains.

Our target was the Dobsinska Ice Cave, A UNESCO World Heritage site, deep in the national park and steep half hour walk up to the entrance after following a winding road through the mountains and forests.  The short story is that water leaks into these massive underground caverns which are permanently kept below freezing.  So instead of water forming stalactites and stalagmites through the limestone rock they form spectacular ice formations and fill huge sections of the caves with ice up to 26 metres thick.

We took the first tour of the day, walking through the ice tunnels, up and down stairs, around the beautiful ice sculptures, really a special treat.  The tour was all in Slovakian, not our strongest language, and the charge for taking photos was 10 euros, absolutely ridiculous, so we bought some post cards afterwards, took photos of them and posted them here.  Not great but you’ll get the idea.

But we’re only passing through Slovakia on the way to Budapest Hungary.  Unfortunately we picked up a screw in one of Tramp’s paws and it was causing a slow leak we had to fix so we stopped in the town of Roznava and found a guy who told us to follow him to another guy who was able to take the errant screw out of the tire, plug it and top it back up with air without taking the tire off.  The whole fix job lasted ten minutes and cost us 5 euros plus a few well-deserved handshakes.

I’ll say it again, Tramp is a fabulous ambassador for us.  When we tell them the truck is from the US but we are from Australia it is like opening the doors to the royal vault and inviting us in.  There are great people everywhere in the world who are willing to help you if you are friendly, polite and appreciative.

We were passing through the little small rural town of Fil’akovo when we spotted a fabulous old fortress on the hill.  Being suckers for these sorts of things, we drove through the town to its base and explored this great old castle.  Now mostly in ruins but striking a dramatic pose on the hilltop, the castle saw its heyday more than 500 years ago before crossing the border into Hungary, our 32^nd country on our Follow the Sun trip.

Perhaps more amazing, we passed our 100,000-kilometre mark on our Follow the Sun trip (or a less sexy 62,137 miles), an amazing milestone.  And for that 100,000 clicks we’re on our third continent, our second truck and still our first marriage – I think a pretty good showing so far!

We crossed over the border into Hungary and made our way to its capital, Budapest.  When you think of the great cities of the world Paris, London, Rome and New York might immediately come to mind.  But when you drop down into what might be the ‘second tier’ of cities the list is longer and perhaps more contentious (but always fun to debate!).  Maybe Florence, Venice, New Orleans, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Cairo, Istanbul, Jerusalem…the list – and the debate – goes on and on.

For our money Budapest has to be on that second list, hands down, no argument, shut the book.  Budapest ticks every box – dramatic setting, fascinating history, rich culture, stunning architecture, friendly people, legendary night life, they do the lot with style.  Budapest flies under many people’s radar, and that’s fair enough, but to see it is to fall for it hook, line and sinker.

We gave Tramp the day off and caught the local bus to the nearest Metro station for a trip downtown.  Budapest is spectacularly divided by the Danube River and gains its name from the two different towns – on one side the rich historic town of Buda and on the other side the more agricultural Pest.

We spent the morning on the Buda side, using the second oldest funicular in the world to explore the walled grounds which include the Palace, once home to kings and queens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the beautiful Matthias Cathedral.  The highlight of morning was the views from the walls, looking down on the Danube and the beautiful Pest side of the city.

Trying to see Budapest in one day is not easy and the stinking heat didn’t help but we gave it a shot, declaring it a two ice cream day, walking across the river to the Pest side and resting for an hour on a boat for a cruise to see the city from another angle.  The 19^th century Parliament House, built in the fan favourite Gothic Revival style, is the largest building in Hungary and is a standout on the banks of the Danube.  Between the grand bridges, church spires, palaces and stately 150 year old buildings on both sides there’s a lot to love about this city.

We trucked on, the historic and second oldest synagogue in the world, the dazzling St. Stephen’s Basilica, the expansive Hero’s Square, the long walking/shopping street and many points in between.  Near the end of the day we caught a tram, our fifth form of transport for the day, back across the river to the historic Gellert Baths.

The allegedly therapeutic mineral hot springs baths of Budapest are a popular stop for visitors and the Gellert Baths, over 100 years old, are amongst the grandest in town.  Its quite an experience, the labyrinth underground and aboveground complex, different indoor and outdoor pools, different temperatures ranging from about 20C to 40C, the people using the different pools in different ways.  It was a great way to end the day before drinks in a bar overlooking the sun setting behind the Palace and dinner on the banks of the Danube.  Yes, Budapest in one day is possible and absolutely worth the effort.

Before we left Budapest and enter into more expensive countries we had two maintenance items to attend to.  First, we needed to upgrade our outdoor cooking solution and bought a substantial two burner cooker with 5kg gas bottle.  This is the setup we had used for a hundred years in Australia, a bit more work to set up but hopefully will keep the cook happy.

More significantly, our house batteries, those that run all the items in the camper, especially the fridge, had been losing their charge very quickly over the last few weeks to the point that the batteries would drain to zero overnight.  We had tried to partially address this problem by changing the plug system to a European-compatible solution that would allow us to plug into European campsites but this didn’t address the much larger issue that our batteries had somehow become damaged or for some reason were no longer holding their charge.  We’re not able to travel off the grid, as we prefer, without our house batteries working properly.

We found a great little caravan and camping service centre down a small back alley and the married co-owners of the business – Ottlier and Vicki – were probably hoping for a quiet Friday afternoon before the Hungarian national holiday long weekend.  But then Tramp pulled in and changed all that.  They dropped everything – he was the technical and electrical genius, she was the chief translator and administrator – and spent the next five hours testing our electrical system until it was absolutely clear that everything worked great except the batteries which would not hold a charge and needed to be replaced.  But replacing the large American batteries with like-for-like was not possible, instead we put in smaller but perhaps more reliable batteries.  A huge thanks to Ottlier and Vicki – we really appreciate their monster effort to getting us back on the road as quickly as possible.

We drove an hour out of Budapest, absolutely cock-a-hoop that we had solved all our problems – a rare moment – when we stopped at a remote campsite for the night.  As we pulled up we noticed water was pouring out of the back of the camper, an unprecedented disaster.  We quickly opened up the back and turned off the water pump but found all our indoor and outdoor storage lockers, including food pantries, tools and camping gear and kitchen storage cabinets were sloshing around in up to an inch of water.  We had lost about 35 litres from our water tank.  Devastating, to say the least.

And so for the next four hours, past our usual bed time, we cleaned, drained, hung out, dried and threw out various parts and places of our camper and camping gear.  It was an exceptionally depressing evening, so excited to have everything working and then this unprecedented unknown disaster.   But we’ve learned many times over that even though we love Tramp he has many break points.  We have learned to shoulder each problem and somehow solve it.

And so we did.  The next morning we isolated the problem to a faulty faucet control box under the sink which spewed water everywhere when the pump was on.  It was a very specific issue, which is good because it will be much easier to fix, but it meant we were without water for the time being.

Ah, the ups and downs of overlanding.  Every day is an adventure, most of them good but some test you.  Julie and I have been tested a few times but we keep smiling and hugging and getting on with it.  As you do!