From Serbia to the thermal camps of South Hungary

Monday 12th July

Decided we didn’t really fancy going to Belgrade, so instead decided on bidding farewell to Serbia and getting into Hungary. Hopefully to find a nice cheap campsite with a thermal pool! Off we headed up north to the border near the Hungarian town of Szeged. Before leaving though we wanted and needed to register again with the police, as the free campsite hadn’t done that and we didn’t want to have any problems at the border. We had seen loads of Police stations on our travels, but typically now we needed one we didn’t see any. One we did eventually find told us we had to go to a different station, we couldn’t find it though so carried on to another town. Eventually we got our police cards signed and headed for the border.

We exited the Serbian side of the border fine, but seemed to choose a busy day to get into Hungary. The Exit festival in North Serbia had just finished yesterday and the border guards and customs were ready! They came in the motorhome screwdrivers in hand ready to take us apart, but were very surprised and disappointed when we told them we hadn’t actually been to the festival! Instead they gave us just a quick look and a few stamps on the floor, to check nothing was hidden there! Next thing we were driving away into Hungary and off to find a campsite on a Hungarian camping map we have.

We headed for a town called Morahalom, where our map said there was a campsite, but there was nothing! We found a map in the town that showed a campsite in a nearby town, so off we headed. Again we found nothing, this time with phrase book in hand we stopped a passing cyclist and asked in Hungarian where the campsite was? Now normally you ask a question from a phrasebook, which is great, but you can never normally understand the answer back! Never less a few points in the right direction and we would be off. When the guy spoke back to us mind, we were completely baffled! Hungarian seemed like a series of strange noises. Like the character in the cartoon Catch the Pigeon, who speaks like “eeck blip pah bbrrr brrr clunk”!! So we stood having a sort of conversation, him not understanding us and us wishing we had never stopped to ask! It ended up very uncomfortable and somehow we ended up following him down a couple of streets to a pension (bed & breakfast type place). We sort of tried to thank him in Hungarian, although he had no idea what we were saying I think. We then waited for him to cycle off round the corner, before making a hasty exit away from the village and towards another campsite on the map! We eventually found a campsite by a bathing lake in the village of Kunfenerto. Well a field with some toilets, that reminded us of a school playing field! Still it was late in the day and we wanted to stop, so this would be fine.

Tuesday 13th July

Decided today to head for a campsite with a thermal pool and enjoy the weather while it was hot. Off we headed across the very flat Hungarian plains. Still at least in Hungary the fields were broken up by woodland, unlike Serbia where all you could see for miles was flat agricultural land.

On the way to the campsite we passed by a large place selling fuel filters etc, now it was very much time I changed all the filters so we stopped off to buy some. We also needed another part connected to the fuel filter, as recently we had been leaking Diesel. Not only slightly dangerous I suppose, but more importantly it was costing us money! Thankfully the guy spoke English and within an hour we had hold of three new filters (Oil, Air & Fuel). He wasn’t able to sort out the other part, but contacted a Fiat garage for us. They would be able to order the part, but we would have to head there. As it could be one of two parts and they would have to see it first.

So off we headed back to the town we had just come from to the garage, assured that when we got there they would know all about it. Of course we got there and they didn’t have a clue what we were on about! One guy there spoke broken English and he ended up having to call his girlfriend to translate what I wanted, as our phrasebook didn’t really cover it! They had a quick look at the leak and asked to wait as they would be able to fix it rather than order an expensive part. So we sat the rest of the day in the sun at the garage waiting to be seen. They had a few cars to do before us, besides he understood we didn’t have a great deal of money and I suppose they were doing us a favour taking a quick cheap look. Anyway near the end of the day they had a look and within no time had changed the fuel filter for me and replaced two washers. Those two washes stopped the fuel leek. I was annoyed with myself of how simple the problem was and the fact I could of done it myself! Still I will know next time, that’s the thing with mechanics I suppose most of the time it’s just a case of trial and error. Still we paid a very small amount for the work and finally headed on our way.

We arrived at the campsite in Kiskoros in the early evening, as the reception desk to the thermals was closing. They gave us an electronic key for the gate and off we went to set up. It was basically a small field beside a thermal pool complex, housing a few outdoor pools and indoor ones. We had planned to stop for a couple of days, relax in thermals and enjoy the weather. Also get the filters changed, but as the price was a lot higher than we had expected, we would be only staying one night! Anyway the day had been hot and sweaty and one of the outdoor pools was still open for the campers, so off we went for a dip and a cool off.