We stopped in Brno and Bratislava, and I couldn't help thinking of this scene from the movie Eurotrip. I mean, to be fair, we didn't get out of the bus, but everything looked really industrial and grey!
Anyway, we arrived in Budapest at 2 p.m. and went straight to our hostel. Don't want to brag too much about how cheap this leg of the journey was, but for four nights at a hostel, each person's share of the bill was just 18 Euros! The staff there were really helpful and gave a lot of advice about what to do and where to go. By the time our four days in Budapest were over, I think we had done everything they had recommended!
It was fun going to the ATM and withdrawing 40,000 Forint! I had to pay for the entire hostel bill in cash, so I withdrew a little more than the other girls. Also, enjoyed the look of the money.
1000 Forint = approx. 3E50
Budapest was my favorite part of the trip for several reasons, but one thing that made it even more fun is that the four of us knew several other people who would be there at the same time. The first night, we went to dinner at Koleves with a language assistant from Lyon and his friend. The next day we met up with a language assistant from Privas, and later on with two language assistants from Pierrelatte.
On Sunday, we visited the Basilica.
Inside the Basilica...Beautiful!
It was a Sunday, and not a lot of things were open. We walked up a street where the Opera was, stopped for a coffee, walked by the Terror Museum and decided not to enter, made our way up to the park to check out the Szechenyi Baths we would be visiting the next day! It was a grey day... Here is a photo interpretation of the ambiance of the park.
Re-enactment of park ambiance.
And then.... this!
Photo evidence that fun does exist in this park!
This is across from the Szechenyi Baths.
Fun sound at every subway stop in Budapest (and a photo of my purse).
On Monday, we went to the baths! There are several to choose from in Budapest, and we chose one of the more famous ones, the Szechenyi Baths. It was so cool! We arrived around 3 p.m. and stayed until 7:30 p.m. It was probably 30 degrees outside, which made the water feel even warmer, and it looked really neat after it got dark with the steam coming off of the pools.
Szechenyi Baths. So cool!
There were tables in a couple of pools where people played chess.
There were quite a few indoor pools and some saunas, including an aromatherapy one, a "solarium" one, and one that was 80-100 degrees... Celsius! Only stayed in that one for about a minute.
The next day we went to the big indoor market for lunch.
Cabbage rolls and stuffed peppers.
Side note: The day before I discovered how much I like poppy seeds. This is a pastry full of poppy seeds! Or maybe this was the sour cherry/poppy seed one... I went there for breakfast a couple of times.
Beautiful day for a walk to the Buda side of the Danube!
The group near the castle on the Buda side.
Our hostel was on the Pest side.
Cathedral on the Buda side. Loved the colors on the roof!
Parliament building.
After our walk on the Buda side, Katrina and Anna went to the opera, and Nikki and I and an Australian from the hostel went to a "progressive dinner" at two restaurants we really enjoyed from the days before.
A great restaurant that the hostel receptionist recommended.
The three of us ordered three things to share: rabbit, chicken with beets, and "curd cheese" pasta.
We had plans to meet up with Katrina and Anna after dinner, and we ended up meeting earlier than planned because the opera in Budapest was in Italian with only Hungarian subtitles (unlike in Prague where they had both Czech and English), so they had left at intermission.
Budapest is known for "ruin bars," which I guess means a bar owner took over an abandoned... apartment complex or something and built a huge bar with lots of different rooms, and there are exposed brick walls. I'm not exactly sure what the definition is, but we went to two of them, and it was something like that!
This was at a place called Instant. They have a brochure that advertises their "Enchanted Forest," which refers to the flying rabbits in this photo. I love the wording in their brochure:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Let's not exaggerate, Instant is the best place in Budapest. Newer or noisier places? Possibly. Places more out-of-the-way? Surely. Cheaper or more expensive places? Probably. But in the true sense of the word, there are no better places."
I'm sold! Let's go! :)
Hungarian I picked up (spelling?):
thank you - koseynum
women - noi
men - ferfi
toilets - toalety
Cheers! - Agasheg!
I would like a large coffee. - Kerek eg hosou kaveet.
Leg ferfi! - Be a man! (learned this when I had some trouble trying the local drink called palinka)
I highly recommend Budapest! On Wednesday morning, we made our way to the airport to head to London!
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