Budapest

Good trip from Bratislava back to Vienna. Then an excellent trip from Vienna to Budapest. The train was a rail jet with first class facilities which included the recent New York Times International newspaper. How good was it to catch up with the world news. Claire did the crossword and I played with the Sudoku. The buffet car food was great.

We stayed at the Bellevue B&B which was about a hundred metres walk from Buda Castle. We had a fabulous room with balcony, excellent Wi-fi, a lounge and a good shower. It’s a rarity to get all these together. Our host Andreas really looked after us and made various recommendations on where to go and what to do. If you’re staying in Budapest the Bellevue B&B is my recommendation.

The showers and rain we experienced in Bratislava followed us to Budapest. Still we ventured out to get our Budapest card and explore the metro system and the city a little.

Our second day we decided that a visit to one of the famous thermal baths was in order. It was a great deal of fuss to get the right ticket with towel, change room and locker to experience the thermal pools, but it was worth it. They had various pools at different temperatures with bubble and whirling pools as well. It was great considering all of the fuss getting in. Claire can now say that she has worn everything in her suitcase at least once. Peter had to buy swimmers.

Next we went back to our room to get changed and then headed off to the Pest side of town.

Parliament, view from the Buda side.

At first we struggled then we decided to travel on some of the trams and found a magnificent castle and then an amazing square.

Vajdahunyad Castle

Anonymous

Millennium Memorial

Heroes Square

Then next day we had decided to climb the steps and visit the Buda side and take a guided walk of the district. Some advice to future travellers to Europe is that the guided walks open your eyes to the town’s features.

Fisherman’s Bastion

We had a tremendous day. We left just after 9am and got home 12 hours later. The guide was invaluable in showing us the sights but also giving us an insight into the Hungarian people and how they experienced the various stages of the history (including the Soviet phase).

Matthias Church

After the tour had finished we went into the Matthias Church and then into the Labyrinth under Buda Castle which we really enjoyed especially because of the Hungarian sense of humour. What fun, see the photos.

Excavated evidence for Homo consumes

We had decided to eat up at the expensive Buda side of town. After exploring the region we notice that the prices were much higher as most of the Hungarian celebrities lived up there.

As it turned out there was a Palinka and Sausage festival in the grounds of the Buda Castle, starting that night with booze and food and music. We decided to stay up on the heights and experience the festival. We tried Palinka quite early. It was incredibly strong. Peter had to finish Claire’s drink. The things that a loving husband has to do.

Buda Castle

We soon found a couple of places that sold wine and beer. This ensured that we were not going to get too palinkaed, which was going to happen eventually to most of the local population.

The music from two groups was exceptionally good. The first was a two man group doing a few English songs and then some local Hungarian music that while we didn’t understand was very good. The second band was heavier but very talented musicians and singers. They reminded Claire of The Panics.

Buda Castle at night.

While sitting down to eat we met another two couples of Aussie tourists.

We believe that counting our kids and the other people we know that are still back home that there are only 942 people left in Australia (give or take a few).

Because we left early in the day we were not dressed to experience the festival too long after the sun went down. Also we realised that people would become more Palinkaed as time went on so we decided to retreat back home. As we did the views of the city were exceptional.

Chain Bridge and St. Stephen’s Basilica

Fisherman’s Bastion

Because of our unintended visit to Krems we decided to chop a day out of Budapest. It’s a shame because Budapest deserves at least four days. Still we again had fun.