I had finished the ’50 Shades trilogy’ and was now on the train to Budapest reading ‘Monday to Friday man’. Bit of a pithy holiday read but it passed the time. I had downloaded a good book on Hitler by Ian Kershaw, on the recommendation of Mike from the Insider Tour Berlin, but didn’t feel that my holiday was the time to read it; I opted for pithy holiday books as opposed to studying Nazism. My train left at 12.22 and was the EC275, the journey was just over four hours and once a group of noisy travellers left, the carriage was quite quiet and pleasant. I finished my book and decided to take in the scenery that was whizzing past me. There were some fields full of sunflowers, acres of them. I’d never seen so many, it was beautiful. I arrived at Budapest with what seemed like the world and his wife and joined the long cue to obtain more currency I didn’t understand. There was an earnest discussion taking place ahead of me between a large group of young British girls with enviable-easy-to-carry-backpacks about how much money they should take out. I got out my trusty IPhone and went to ‘the app for that’. Now then, the Hungarian currency is the Forint or HUF and the exchange rate is around 350 HUFs to 1 GBP, I wasn’t sure where to start and wished I had planned this bit a lot better so I was more prepared. One of the girls in the group, who had a lone boot dangling from her backpack, suggested 22,000 HUFs so I started there. It worked out to be around £60 so I got out 25,000 HUFs when it was my turn.
I found a ‘friendly’ taxi driver who spoke fractured English, I showed him the address of my hotel and asked for a price before I got in, he said 600 or 700 HUFs, I had calculated that the guesthouse I was staying in wasn’t that far away and that price seemed enough. He was asking me if I had been to Budapest before, typical cabbie conversation although I realised in hindsight he was actually gauging my local knowledge and naivety of Hungarian culture. When we got to my guesthouse, he asked for 7000 HUFs.
Shocked I gave him a 10,000 note and the git taxi driver took a further 1000HUFs as a tip. I had NO IDEA how to argue with him and make sense so weariness took over and I resigned myself to the fact I had just been fantastically ripped off, dammit.
The guesthouse was quite pleasant, I had pictured a much small place tucked back in the road as that was how the descriptions had seemed on Expedia but it was huge with five floors, lifts – hurrah, and Reception staff that spoke good English. I had been making note of any discernible smells when I arrived and I have to say that there was one here. My Dad had once described a visit to Antwerp as not “liking it too much as it smelled like old socks” and this sprung to mind as I climbed the steps to the front door. My room was huge; I had a flat screen TV with multiple English language channels and free Wi-Fi. My previous hotels had had an en suite private bathroom and tea and coffee making facilities whereas this guesthouse had a shared bathroom on each floor and a coffee machine in Reception that you needed to pay for. I decided to have a wander outside to see what was close by. I’d found that my GPS system on my phone worked without the aid of Wi-Fi and the was my saving grace when YET AGAIN I took a wrong turn and got a bit lost. I did find a little restaurant though which made me smile:
I’d read on Trip Advisor that there was a restaurant somewhere nearby called Olives which was recommended so using the flashing blue dot on the phone I walked towards it. It was in a hotel called the Radisson Blu Beke and it was the perfect chance to try out my polite Hungarian. A veeeeery patient waiter spent quite a long time with me as we perfected my saying please and thank you. I think I was amusing him a bit; hopefully he was smiling with me and not at me!
I heard more English speaking voices and it turned out that in a line of four tables, we were all speaking English. After my two days of near silence in Brno and travelling, I spoke to an elderly couple from Australia who were doing a cruise and another couple from Birmingham. Found my way back to the guesthouse just as an impressively loud thunderstorm started. Noisy guests and thunderstorm aside, I slept well.
The next morning I had a wander around and found a nice little place called ‘Sweetwater café’ which was a cafe and a book shop. Pointing and nodding resulted in a café au lait and a chocolate muffin, to which I said ‘köszönöm’ (gusonom), feeling a little braver I then asked where the toilet was, ‘hol van a WC?’ (hol vun uh vaytsay?) I was answered in Hungarian and thankfully pointed towards the correct door – hurray. I had a further wander up to the Octagon:
There were an incredible amount of wedding dress shops on my wander, not just one or two, sometimes it was every second shop.
This chap just made me laugh, a Hungarian friend has since told me: “He is Csoki, from the film: Uvegtigris! :)”
Buda and the Danube
Pest and the Danube
I found a nice restaurant and asked for a glass of wine, fehérbor (fehayrbor) looking out on the Danube. I had Bobby Darin’s ‘Beyond the Sea’ playing and a lovely view ahead of me, it was bliss. I had found an open top bus tour that I would take the next day so could investigate Buda some more.
The next day I walked up to the Octagon and found a hop on hop off open top bus tour. For around £20 I could tour around both Buda and Pest on several different bus routes plus a river cruise. The weather was hot and I could be an utter tourist on an open topped bus, there was also a voucher book for a free drink and goulash – perfect!
The bus took us along to see the Opera House, Heroes’ Square and Budapest’s oldest zoo.
The Synagogue
We went past the Széchanyi Bath, across the Chain Bridge and Liberty Bridge and up to the hills of Buda. We saw Gellért Hill and Citadel and THE most amazing view:
The bus then took us past Fishermans’ Bastion
and then back over Elizabeth Bridge
It was a hot day and there was a nice Hungarian lager for sale. I sat in the pub for just under an hour with Oasis ‘Don’t look back in anger’ playing in the background.
I got onto the cruise boat and made my way up to the top deck. I was sat near a small group of Americans who had been in Budapest for a few days. They had visited their son in Warsaw and he had driven them from Warsaw to Budapest. We briefly discussed Auschwitz which I was originally going to visit but I changed my mind. I’ll get there.
Budapest Parliament
Budapest University
Afterwards I went for a lovely meal in a restaurant close to the Danube, The Imperator.
The wine was a local one. I was eating long haired Hungarian pig and there was a piano playing ‘It’s a wonderful world’. I’d experienced yet another amazing day seeing both old and new parts of Budapest, the buildings, like Prague, were dilapidated in some places and brand spanking new in others. I was slightly disappointed to see a Tesco Express as well as a giant Spar but had at least sampled some of the local culture. I went back to the guesthouse to prepare for travelling to Vienna the next day.
Sarah Downes
