Another UK bank holiday. Another chance to get out of London and check out more of Europe. Destination: Budapest. We flew out of Heathrow with the Hungarian airline Malev. Our first experience with them wasn't the greatest with their computers down so we had to be checked in manually. This also then meant that fuel calculations, etc caused the flight to be delayed about 45 min. We were already in the plane, so wasn't too bad, as it just meant a little extra rest time.
Photo taken from Buda side of the Danube, with the Parliament building in the background
We arrived at around 4pm, with the sun out - we knew we would want to get to the hostel/apartment and head out as soon as we could. After a little bit of discussion as to how to get to the hostel with Lisa, we eventually went for the airport mini-bus. It was a airport-to-door service, so worked out quite well - the drive into town was kind of interesting.
First thoughts of the city and its surroundings was that we really couldn't tell which country we were in.Maybe it was because Hungary/Budapest aren't on the world map too much - and maybe because it really has its own vibe and feel, and can't really be compared to other cities in Europe (although the Paris of Eastern Europe does fit the bill fairly closely).
We had tried to learn a few (key) phrases during the week up to when we arrived, however, both Lisa and my attention span was a bit lacking. So we settled for hoping that people we would speak to would know some english. That, and being able to point at things seemed to work pretty much everywhere we went. Lisa got asked by locals several times during our stay there for directions/etc - she was convinced that she looked like a local, and I guess the fact that they asked her and not me would prove her at least a bit right.
Al in the front of Heroes Square
We quickly got accustomed to the very easy to use public transport. A 3 day unlimited travel pass got us to pretty much everywhere we wanted to - the train/buses would often be colour co-ordinated or have nice large numbers making it quite easy to work out which one to get on.
Getting into a quick list of highlights then:
1. the baths - I think I enjoyed these more than Lisa did. I was hoping to go and visit them more than once, but time was the enemy - We ended up visiting the Szechenyi Baths in the City Park. On a monday morning, it seems it is a bit of an old persons hangout. Nevertheless, extremely relaxing and a 2 hour visit there went extremely quickly.
2. the Danube - having this beautiful river go straight through the middle of Budapest makes for some great photos. We spent a fair bit of time walking along the water and admiring the views.
3. the food - with my chief restuarant guide by my side, we did quite well in the restaurant department. Unfortunately, it seems Budapest is hit with being a prime tourist destination, so there were a lot of 'tourist friendly' restaurants on offer (we fell for one on our last day there). It seems they are not authentic unless they have a gypsy band and dancers to accompany.
They certainly love their meat in Hungary!
4. Varhegy Palace - up on the Buda hills, plenty of things to see and do. Not to mention, an amazing view of Pest and the Danube. We did manage to get a bit lost jumping on a tram, which turned out to be heading in the wrong direction. When you only have those tourist maps, and you suddenly find yourself on a street that isn't on your map, it can make it a bit hard to find your way. A quick chat with a local got us back on our way, so it was all good!
On a side note, the return flight home went very smoothly, and Malev airlines turned out to be half decent. Arriving at 8pm with plenty of daylight around, our pilot seemed to decide on doing a bit of a tour of the london skyline. It was very cool (and I guess a bit google earth like) to fly over all the landmarks. Especially cool to actually see the Picadilly circus lights blazing out through our little window.
The countdown to Lisa's birthday and football fun in Munich is on its way - 14 days to go!
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