TravBuddy.com: Budapest Travel Blogs and Reviews

Caving in Budapest...

Wed, 14 May 2008 07:53:04 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 08, 2008

Well, I finally made it to Budapest, still surprised that I made it out of that awful train station in Bratislava alive and with all of my belongings (I think…)

But after missing the train and having to wait 4 hours for the next one, I arrived really late at night with no hostel booking. I had one random brochure for a hostel that wasn’t too far from the station, so I headed there despite the fact that it didn’t look too appealing to me being an “Australian” hostel… I just needed to get somewhere fast cos it was almost midnight and I wasn’t sure about reception hours in Hungary.

So, I arrived there to a semi friendly/semi hostile welcome from a power tripping receptionist at the hostel over the intercom. Once I went inside though, he was all smiles and pretty much didn’t leave me alone for the rest of the night. Ugh. I was trying to put a long day behind me and all I wanted was to sit quietly alone and write my blogs and listen to music, but he just kept trying to start conversations for hours. Ugh. Take a hint from my one word responses man!!! I couldn’t sleep cos I’ve had a lot on my mind the last few days, but I was tempted to go lay in silence in my room just to get away from him. Drainer. Finally he went to sleep in the other room and I was in peace until 5am when I was finally close to being able to sleep. I was shocked at how quiet the hostel was for a Saturday night, but was actually ok with that for once, wasn’t in the mood for people in general. I guess being away for so long and sharing dorms with so many people every now and then I crave some personal space and want everyone out of my face. Especially with my brain and emotions working in overdrive so much the last few days.

Anyway, finally got about 3 hours sleep and then I was up and ready to hit the town. Had planned out the day on my map, everything marked since I had no sense of direction at all after arriving in the dark. So, walked to my first destination - the Danube River. I find the water so peaceful and relaxing, so had planned my day so that I could pretty much follow the river all day detouring off to see the sights but following the river pretty much the whole day. So anyway, detoured off to my first Church of the day, and somewhere between the river and the Church I lost my map. Ugh. There goes my plans. But I figured, most were pretty big sights, so I tried as best I could to seek them out the whole way along the river. I actually ended up doing pretty well considering my notoriously bad sense of direction (where are you when I need you Justin! LOL!!!) Saw some great sights… The parliament building is amazing, it’s huge and the security there is intense. There’s loads of Churches around, Má tyá s Templom, Halá szbá stya and heaps more. The castle is beautiful too, I stayed up there for hours, a couple of which I spent sitting looking out over the river reading. It was nice, so tranquil (except for the noisy tourists which I just tuned out after a while…) and helped me clear my head a little.

In the evening I went back to the hostel only to find that I really was staying at the most boring hostel on earth, and of the small amount of people there, the last person went to bed before 11pm. It was nuts, I mean, It’s the weekend, nobody has to work, and everyone is still so unexciting. Oh well, 2 quiet nights in a row never hurt anyone I guess. Probably good for me to try to get some sleep… Not that I did. I mean, I tried, but just couldn’t. But eventually I went to bed at some ridiculous time in the morning just to escape annoying-reception-guy, and as I needed things to get worse, I got attacked by bedbugs during the night. UGH!!!

I had already booked a different hostel for the following night which looked somewhat more interesting, and was a little closer to the city centre… So in the morning I packed up and got out as soon as I could. I wanted to go caving so I had to be organised, plus I just really wanted to get out of there. Moved to my new hostel, dumped my bags and went to check out more of the city. It’s an interesting place, some parts are really nice and others seem kind of sketchy, like the train stations… But I guess as long as I’m not hanging around train stations for hours at a time (like in Slovakia!) then I have felt safe the whole time.

So anyway… CAVING!!!

I was really excited to try caving, I’ve never done it before but a few friends have done it here in Budapest and all have said it’s fabulous fun (ok, they didn’t say fabulous, but you get the point!!!) So, booked a spot and went to meet the group, there were some really cool people there. The trip out to the caves was random to say the least… We met under a dodgy staircase at a bus stop outside a train station… And then we got a bus out to some suburban bus stop where we got off in what seemed like the middle of nowhere and then got another bus out to what was DEFINITELY the middle of nowhere, walked along a dead road and then into a house where we handed over cash and got geared up (check out the photo’s… Our outfits were H.O.T.T!!!!!) signed our lives away on the waivers, and trekked through the dirt to the cave entrance.

They gave us the whole spiel about staying together, communicating, and all that jazz, and split us into 2 groups cos there was so many of us. My group went last, so we stood out in the rain freezing our butts off until the other group had disappeared. We had to climb down a huge ladder, and of course I was the first one down, never shy away from a challenge…

The next 3 hours was intense to say the least… It starts out fairly easy, walking and crawling for the first few minutes… But after a while the space starts to disappear, and next things you now you’re slithering on your stomach and squeezing through holes that you never thought would be possible. Looking at some of them I was so sure that I was not going to make it through, and we always had to stay in the same order so I always had to go through first. At one point I had to get through a hole at ground level smaller than any we had gone through yet… it was hilarious… I go through with my arms straight ahead of me, and felt my helmet wedge in between the rocks… that’s how small the spaces were, my helmet would not fit through… Me being me, I was like “f**k… stupid f**king helmet is stuck… eeeek” while laughing at myself (and hearing everyone else killing themselves laughing behind me, but a little to the left and it was dislodged again… Ok, so at this point it might not sound like fun to some of you, but maaaaaaaan, it was a thrill… After I got through that the guy behind me went one better and got his butt stuck… now THAT was funny!!! A few times during the day there were points where you could choose the easy way or the hard way, and I was surprised that a few people weaked out and took the easy way, but each to their own I guess. There was one point though, that everyone had heard of… “The Sandwich”… We were all waiting for it, and finally we reached it… I don’t even know how to explain this little stretch of cave… Imagine lying on your stomach on a rock, and there’s another layer of rock right above you, with just enough room to turn your head and look at the others behind you… Anyway, The Sandwich was one of those points where you could choose to go through or walk around the long way… Only 4 of us were game to go through (3 of us were girls!!! Ok, shutup boys, I know that girls are smaller and bendier, but let me enjoy it!!!) Anyway… the guide explains that he’s going to take the rest of the group around the easy way, and we’re going to go through alone… And then he gives me directions about how to navigate us through to the other side. I was expecting simple directions like “just go straight ahead”… No… The directions went for 5 minutes and included things like “you’ll get to a wall, and there’s a hole at the bottom… Don’t go through that hole, put your arm up left and you’ll find another hole…” And many other confusing things… But we dived in anyway (literally!!!) and figured we’d find our way through… Only took a minute to forget everything we’d been told, but we got through fine!!! We were doing so well that we actually went a little too far and the other group had to catch up! Anyway, fun, fun, fun!!!

After it was all over they’re smart enough to have a bar right next to the caving place, so our whole group went and had a beer or 2 before heading back. In our excitement nobody had really payed too much attention to which way we had walked and where we had to get on and off buses, so it was a shamble of seven of us pretty much guessing our way back to town. Luckily at least one person had a sense of direction, if I was alone I would’ve been sleeping in the caves for the night!!! And really, after sleeping in a cave in Turkey in comfort, it’s not something I need to do again on this trip!!!

So, we found our way back ok in the end and all headed back to our varied hostels, I think that everyone had the same thoughts in their head… Hot shower! A couple of us arranged to meet up later that night for some more drinks.

By the time we met up it was about midnight, but we headed to a bar anyway and sat drinking beer and “shooting the sh!t” (my new favourite expression), trading travelling tales and laughing about the days efforts. At the bar I ran into a couple of the guys that we had been out drinking with in Bratislava too (did I mention what a small world backpacking is… Just to top it off, another of the guys that we had been hanging out and watching hockey and eating poutine with was in Budapest also, but despite trying to catch up we didn’t end up meeting, but I’ll get to that later.

Next day I woke up with the nastiest flu I’ve had in a long time… I don’t get sick often, and I’ve been pretty lucky so far while travelling. It sucks getting sick away from home. Nobody to make you hot tea and vegetable soup and tell you that everything is going to be ok. As it turned out, everyone in my hostel seemed to have the same flu. Ugh! And on top of that I was trying to deal with some nasty bites from some very hostile bedbugs at my last hostel. Ugh. And, I woke up feeling like I had spent four or five hours at the gym from the workout we got caving. Good way to start the day! But I headed out anyway, I wanted to leave the next day so it was my last chance to see the city one more time. Spent the day in typical me-style… Walking for about 8 hours looking at churches and architecture, parks and stuff like that. Just pretty much being a tourist. Went to have a look at the Old Synagogue, they have a nice memorial, a museum, and a Jewish Cemetery there which was all very interesting stuff. By the time I was done with sightseeing and had bought a ticket to Serbia for the next day, I was absolutely exhausted and ready for bed. Well, not quite for bed, but ready to go and slump at the hostel being anti-social for the evening. So I didn’t end up meeting up with anyone that I was supposed to, but to be honest I really wasn’t up for it.

Got up early and got my stuff together, with my disastrous public transport run lately I wanted to get to the station early to make sure I didn’t miss my connection. Took me about an hour to walk there which meant that I was an hour early, that was all good… After waiting a lifetime for the platform to come up on the screen I went and sat for a coffee in a café at the station to kill some time. Hands up if you know why I don’t wear a watch??? Answer: Cos I’m an idiot!!! I was sitting very distracted by my French phrasebook (I’m trying very hard to learn some French right now, it’s such a sexy language…) so I’m sitting at my table talking to myself when I thought I should check my phone for messages… Switched on my phone and looked at the time… Eeeeeek… It was 13:18... And my train was leaving at 13:20... Crap!

Paid my bill, grabbed my bags and ran for my life!!! I haven’t seen myself run with my bags on, but it must be a hilarious sight… My big pack is as big as me, and if I had long enough to turn and look around I’m sure there would have been a lot of amused faces. But I definitely didn’t have time to turn around!!! By some miracle I made my train, and here I am, sitting typing my blog and wondering how I’m going to kill the next 7 hours of my life on this train. I think I’ll go back to learning French.

So, until I write some more in Serbia…

Au Revoir,

Miss you all… 22 days til I land in Oz!!!

Peace!

Seh.

xox

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day 3

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:39:23 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Oct 03, 2003

left hotel spirit really early at 5.15 am to catch train to Budapest but we missed it and had to catch the 7.15 am one instead.

we arrived in budapest at 10am and went around the city and had some food. went into some gift shops and i purchased 2 hungarian fridge magnets for mom and a budapest t-shirt for myself.

we then went on a 3 hour escorted tour of budapests old and new town. this is the only destination that i have not got any photos of. however i have it on video tape. beautiful city.

we went to restaurant on the train station and i had goulash.

train left budapest at 20.00 and on the train me and dad got talking to a man from germany who was drunk and got off the wrong station. oh the fun of travelling. we arrived back at bratislava at 23.45.

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Budapest

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:08:29 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Aug 08, 2007

Traveling around in the “Spa capital of the world” has been truly enjoyable. There is so much to see and experience. I loved the spa/bath culture in this city. Not only are they relaxing but also help alleviate certain medical ailments. My favourite baths are the Turkish ones, the Gellert Hotel, and the Szechenyi ones. All are very unique and offer great décor.
The Szechenyi Furdo (Bath) is the largest of its kind in Europe. The city also boasts the largest synagogue in Europe and the third largest parliament building in the world. To get to Szechenyi Furdo I took the oldest Metro line on continental Europe to Heroe’s Square. The square commemorates the 1,000 anniversary of the Magyars arriving in present day Hungary. On both sides of the square are two museums – the Fine Arts Museum and the Palace of Arts. Beyond the square is the City Park and Vajdahunyad Castle (worth checking out). It is through the City Park that one finds the Szechenyi Medicinal Baths.

After relaxing in the many, MANY different pools, steam rooms, and saunas I went to the parliament building. Built in a neo-gothic style, it is very impressive and imposing. Make sure to check out the inside as well as it is even more beautiful on the inside and the Hungarian Crown Jewels are also to be found inside. Not too far from the parliament is the beautiful Saint Stephen’s Basilica, where the Holy Right Hand of the founder of Hungary, King Saint Stephen is on display.

All of the above are located on the Pest side of the city. The most beautiful and historic part of the city however is located on the Buda side of the Danube, more specifically on the Castle Hill. It is here where you will find the former Royal Palace. Nowadays it houses two impressive museums. You will also find 700-year-old Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion, from which you have a stunning panoramic view of the city. The views of the city are especially beautiful and romantic at night time when all the major sites are lit up…it is for this reason that the city is often referred to as the “Pearl of the Danube.”

The second day I spent in the city I visited Margitsziget, an 2.5 km island in the middle of the Danube. The island is an oasis where tourists and locales alike get away from the hustle and bustle of the large metropolitan city. Most people come here to enjoy the swimming pools, biking trails and to picnic. Medicinal spas and thermal baths can also be found on the island.
In the evening I went to do some shopping on the pedestrian street of Vaci utca. At the end of the street there is Vorosmarty square where one can find the famous Gerbaud Pastry House where you can eat delicious pastries in a beautiful turn-of-the-century setting.

The city of Budapest was amazing. Although more tourists are beginning to discover the city it still isn’t as touristy as many other European cities and thus maintains a certain amount of charm and authenticity that many other cities have lost.

I booked my arrangements through www.europetraveltours.net.

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Budapest Metro

Sat, 03 May 2008 06:28:40 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, May 03, 2008

It took us about a day to figure out the Metro system in Budapest, but once we got it, it was quite easy. We started with bying single tickets for all 4 of us, but that would have gotten pretty expensive in the long run, so we found that it would be much better to buy a 3 day tourist ticket. Theses passes are good for all public transportation in Budapest. Metro, tram and bus. The metro has 3 lines. They are blue, red and yellow. We started by takeing the blue one, the found that the yellow one stopped closer to our appartment. There are Metro stations in easy acces thruout the city. We also tried the tram once, but that was only for a short distance along the river Danube. It was more that we wanted to say we had rode the tram as well...lol Thinking back we should probably have tried the busses as well, but I think we would have been scared to death after a busride, considering how they drive there.. haha.

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Replay Cafe

Sat, 03 May 2008 05:39:33 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, May 03, 2008

This is a nice and friendly café & restaurant. We ended up here after Gudny buying her son a new cam, and needed to charge the battery. We stopped here, and Gudny asked if they could be so kind as to charge the battery, and we'd buy something to drink while waiting. They agreed to it, and we sat outside at a nice table. The location is at a no-car street, so it was no noise here. And with the weather being so nice, it was a good place to chill for a while. The staff are friendly, but like most other people we came across in Budapest, they speak very little English. But I guess as long as you somewhat understand each other, it doesn't matter... lol

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Géllert Hotel & Spa

Sat, 03 May 2008 05:31:02 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 22, 2008

This Spa is the most famous one of all the spa's and thermal baths in Budapest. It lies within the Géllert Hotel and yes, the interiour are quite spectacular. Increible cieling hight, huge colomns and great decor everywhere you look. BUT.. I have to say we got a bit dissapointed. To get to the changing earas and the one pool we were actaully allowed to use, we walked for I think almost 5-10 minutes. It was up, down and straight forward before we got there. We were shown the 2 changing rooms we had paid for, and boy were they small. It was slightly difficult when we were 2 adults in one. But of course we made it. :o) The swimming pool water was COLD! But the smaller pool at the one end had the hot water I was there for. It felt great. Although since this was it, we wondered why w had paid that much for so little? And while there, we all agreed that had we known it would be like this, we would rather have gone back to the Zschéhenyi Bath at the Pest side. We didn't stay there for that long. Think we were there only 45 mins, before we said enough is enough. But we decided to see if we could get some foot massage, so after showering and getting dressed, we headed upstairs nd found the Thai Foot Massage. Turns out it was 6500 HUF for 30 minutes each. And being 2+2, we couldn't afford it. All in all I feel that the building and interior of this Hotel and Spa is awesome... what you get for your money is NOT and quite disapointing.

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Auguszt Confectionary, Coffee Shop

Sat, 03 May 2008 05:27:30 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, May 03, 2008

Auguszt is the oldest confectionary family in Budapest. They have three shops, each of them unique and special in their own way, but all are beautifully old fashioned and all have excellent cakes. If you travel to Budapest, you have to visit and enjoy a delicious piece of cake!

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Budapest in three days

Sat, 03 May 2008 05:26:11 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 18, 2008

I arrived Budapest on the 18th of april on 6.30 am...and i found my friend Kitti Laszlo (viaggiatrice) waiting me at the airport in this early time.. then she took me to the train station in where i can leave me laggage...and then my trip just started...she took me and we met some friends from couchsurfing....and we had a very nice sightseeing tour around budapest...we went to the parlaiment,the Bazilika,Walk along the Danub, the citadila...and on the second day we been to Szentendre......and on the third day we been to Janos Mountain Look out.... i really dont know how to thank Kitti for all what she did....i really recomend her for a good friendship and great travbuddy in Budapest...THANK YOU KITTI:)

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Gellért Hotell & Spa

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:47:14 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 22, 2008

Before entering Gellért, we wanted to get some good shots of the Cave Chappel. This chappel is actually carved into the rock, and is pretty darn cool. Unfortunately it's open only to groups of 10-15 people, so we didn't get to see the actual chappel. Only the exterior and the entrence. But it gives you an idea on how it must be like. :o)

Gellért Spa.. this was a disappointment. :o(
It's supposed to be the best Spa in Budapest, and it's deffinately the most famous one.

It's grand and the arcitecture and interior are quite magnificent, BUT... first of all, it took like forever walking to the changing area. We went a bit up, then straight forward, around some corners and then down... felt like you were in a labyrint. LOL...
The locker rooms are extremely small. And being 2 adults in one booth was ok, but nothing more. I almost felt like I should have gotten out when Gudny changed, and vice versa. It was a bit hard not bumping into each other. Guess it was easier for the kids.

The pool area; yes, it's large and the arcitecture is quite spectacular. Sculptures and fountains and large, great colomns. I think the pool area is from the time when the turks where there. (Could be the reason why they call them turkish baths... lol) Anyway.. this swimmingpool were big and looked great, but the water was COLD! No way I was gonna swim in cold water and it wasn't why I was there. Bummer... we just sat there for a little while and didn't really know what to do and to make of it. Then I decided to check out this small pool at the end of the room. I had seen it as we walked in, and wanted to see whether this pool too had cold water. Guess what? It was HOT! Oh heaven... :o) I called Gudny and the kids, and they came over. It was really great to relax in the hot water. But still it was kinda disappointing to think this was it? We actually tried to check out the thermal bath area, but as we walked in there, there were this guy who asked us where we're from When we answered, he said; Bye, bye! Ok.. off limit for us obviously. Another bummer. I also found that the area where they have artificial wawes doesn't open till May1. Bummer nr. 3, and I felt sorry for the kids. They had been looking forward to this, (as had Gudny and I) and it turns out there's nothing much to do there. So we agreed that it was too boring and got ready to leave.
As this is a spa, they have different types of massages, so we wanted to see if we could get some footmassage. And the kids wanted that too. We figured out where the Thai footmassage area was, and went there. But to our disappointment, it was way too expencive for us. It was like 6500 HUF for 30 minutes and with 4 of us, we just couldn't afford it. So then we just shot some pics of this marvelous building and hall and was on our way.

We crossed the bridge over to Pest and stopped by the famous market. Yes, it's large and there are lots of salesstands there. BUT (again) so much of the same stuff. First floor are the grocery, meat and wine stands. Second floor are a lot of china, leather, Hungarian brodery stuff and just a lot of, sorry to say it, crap! We hardly found anything we liked there. So this was just yet another disappointment this day.

We decided to call it quits, and just went home.

Ok... it wasn't a complete waist of time. The hot water at Gellért was great! :o))

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the Castle and Fishermen's Bastion

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:17:06 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 21, 2008

Good morning at 9.30am... AGAIN.. lol. We started to seem like a bunch of sleepyheads. hahaha. But we got up and got ready. Had some breakfast and was out the door by 11.

We went over to Oktogón and took the metro to Bacsjy-Zsilinzsky út. Gudny had spotted a photostore nearby the first day, and wanted to get some more memorycards. She also wanted to buy a camera for her son. She got him a nice Canon cam and we both got MS cards. From there we walked down and stopped at a restaurant called Replay. They were nice enough to charge the battery in Kristoffers new cam, so we sat down and got something to drink in the meanwhile.

When the battery was charged, we went on and walked over the Chain Bridge. And from there we headed up to the Castle. The Castle is really old, but only the exterior remains. After burning completely 4 times, there's absolutely nothing left of the interior. Too bad actually. Lot of history is lost in those fires. We got some nice shots of the building, the Mythical bird and also the view over the river and Pest.

The Presidents residence sits right next to the Castle and are also quite impressing. We walked passed and followed a trail over to Fishermen's Bastion and St. Michaels Church. The church were undergoing renovations, but the Bastion was amazing. Now this is a construction I liked a lot. Most of the buildings I saw in Budapest were quite grey and dirty, but the Bastion was white and the arcitecure like nothing I've ever seen before. And the view from there were also marvelous. We spent quite some time up there. Also much due to the great weather.. :o))

When we were on our way back, we decided to take this sort of cart that run up and down from the street to the Castle. As we had walked up, we found that it would be fun to ride this down. It's pretty steep, and you get a great view, although we regretted sitting in the back on, and not the front one.. lol.

Being back on streetlevel, we walked across the Chain Bridge again, and wanted to take the tram over to the Market. As we stood there, waiting for the tram we saw this babystroller sign on the sidewalk. Funny.. they have they're own place waiting for the tram.. lol

The tram ride lasted for only a few minutes, and we got off at the end stop, and walked over to this market our guide from the boat had bragged so much about. As we were pretty hungry by now, we decided to get something to eat. The only restaurant we found was on the second floor, called Fakanál Étterem and was also the only place to sit down to eat. There were other food stalls, there as well, but without seating options. So we ordered our food, and took our time. But as we sat there, eating, we noticed that they were starting to close up? Huh? It was 4.45pm and they were closing? What kind of restaurant is this we thought. But then, as we started to look out the windows and onto rest of the market... everything was closing. So much for wanting to check out the market... lol. Oh well, we just agreed to go back and see it the next day.

We checked the map, and found that there were a blue metro line not too far from the market. We went over and jumped on, and jumped off after 2 stops, and the on again to the yellow line and took that to Oktogón. Then we walked home... Another day full of adventures was over :o)

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Boat trip, Heroe Square and Szécheneyi Bath

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:41:41 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 20, 2008

Good morning... or should I say Good late morning? LOL... We woke up at 9.30 am ! WTF? I had slept for more then 12 hours.. guess I was tired, huh? And so were the others it seemed, since they too had slept for a long time.

Gudny and I got up and got dressed. Then we rushed over to a Supermarket we had seen the night before. We needed to get something to eat for the next days, and also for breakfast. After shopping groceries, milk and stuff, we walked back. The kids were up, but not completely ready. We let them shower and get ready first and made them breakfast. Or to be completely honest, Gudny made them breakfast... lol I just made my own.

After everyone had eaten, showered and gotten ready, we walked up to the metro station called Nuygati, and purchased a 3 days public transportation ticket for all of us. We found that to be better, then keep buying single tickets all the time. It costed 1300 HUF for all 4. Not bad at all.

We took the metro down to the Deák Ference station. From there we walked down to the river and shot some pics along the way. Think we stopped and got some icecream too. We went on to Pier 8, and waited for the boat to come and take us the rivercruise. It was a wonderful, sunny day and we just chilled in the sun.
As the time get close to 4pm and the boat were arriving, we got a bit dissapointed. It looked more like an old fishing boat, then a cruiseboat. And compared to the other boats we saw, it was.. well, an old piece of junk... lol. Anyway, we got on, and for a while we started to believe that the 4 of us and a couple were the only people joining. But no, the boat actually got almost full.
We started on our river cruise, and it was quite interesting to see the city from this view and also listen to the guide telling some of Budapests history. She told us that the tallest buildings on the Pest side is no taller then 96m. This is because they don't want to ruin the view from the Buda side. :o) She asked the quiestion; why not 95m or 97m? But couldn't really answer that herself... lol. She also said that Hungary is just the English name for the country, but their own name is Major, or something like that. Not sure how they spell it. There are about 120 - 130 hotsprings in Budapest, and they are mostly located at the Buda side. There's only one thermal bath on the Pest side, the Schéchenyi Baths. The most famous one is the Gellért, located close to the river on the Buda side. (see another journal).
The boat cruise took about an hour, and despite the boat we were on, it was a good cruise. We also found that the longest word in Hungarian contains 40 letters. Our guide said the word, but no one could repeat it... hahaha.

After the river cruise, we went and took the metro back to Nuygati and walked to the apartment. Cooked some dinner and relaxed for a while.

We discovered that there were a metro station even closer to the apartment, called Oktogón. As we were going to the Schéchenyi Baths, we took the metro from Oktogón and got off at Kodály Körönd and walked over to see Heroes Square. Pretty amazing.

After that, we went back to the metro station and got off at the next station, called Bajza Utca, and headed over to the Baths. At first we were worried it was closed, because the first entrance we got to, had a sign on the door saying something about closed due to renevation. But as we walked around to the other side, we discovered the main entrance and yay.. it was open. :o)
We got it, paid the fee and found our way to the changing rooms. Pretty darn big this building... lol. As we got out and into the pool... wow, it was so warm. The thermal pool held 38c, or about 100F. It was soooooo good just laying in the water and relax. It was good for both body and soul. The kids had a lot of fun splashing around and follow the waterstream in the middle circle. The stream there were so fast you could barely get out again. I thought it was pretty darn fun myself. And yeah.. I'm just like a kid sometimes.. hahaha...

After little over an hour we decided we had enough and finished up there. As we left, we got 200 HUF back on our deposit for each of us. Meaning me and Gudny got back 400HUF.. this is because we left within 2 hours.
Then we went and took the metro downtown again. We wanted to see the city with all the lights turned on. It's really a sight to see. And it gets somewhat "magical". It totally transforms from what you see in daylight. And I really liked the city by lights. :o)
We had planned on taking the metro back up, but found that by 11pm, it had stopped running, so we had to walk. It wasn't that hard after soaking in the hot water at the thermal bath... :o)

We went to bed almost right away. Tired after yet another long day. Looking forward to another day of exploring tomorrow...

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Fákanal Étterem

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:57:44 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 30, 2008

This restaurant is located on the second floor of Budapests biggest market, Nagycsarnok. Allthough there are other food stalls there, this was the only place you could actaullay sit down! The restaurant is quite simple, but with good seating space. They serve a variety of food, most of which I have no idea what was, so I have to admit I playd it safe and ordered a Wienerscnitzel and fried potatos. As did my Newphew. The schnitzel was so darn big, it almost went over the plate, and we had to cut it in half before starting to eat it....lol But the food was real good, and it wasn't expencive either. We enjoyed our meal, the restaurant and the company. You can pay in Euro there, but you will get your change back in HUF. I guess the only "negative" is that they close at 5pm, as did the entire market.

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update time

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:00:42 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Jan 03, 2006

sorry everyone, i know i have been real slack.

christmas was hectic, and everything in reykjavik is rediculously expensive, including going to a net cafe, so didnt spend more than a couple moments checking emails.

first of all, happy new year to you all from the big apple!!! new years here was great, somehow managed to get drunk twice in the one night.

second, jodee can you please forward this onto hilton somehow in order to get him my email address. thanks!

budapest:

beautiful beautiful budapest. my memory will be a little hazy, as this was a while ago now, but let's see...

got in from vienna on the sunday, and caught a metro train from the bus terminal into the city centre. budapest was the third city, after london and new york to introduce an underground rail system. the inside of their trains are a strange hospital green colour, sort of like the colour of a kidney dish, with these strange lights on the ceiling that looked like illuminated teets on a baby bottle. strange look. found the guesthouse, right in the centre of pest. the guesthouse is run by a guy called tomasz, who rents a large four bedroom flat and uses it as a guesthouse. being low season, there were seldom more than half a dozen of us in the place. we would drink beer together at night and share food and stories from our day in the lounge in front of the tv wathching old film clips and 'murder she wrote' in magyar.

first day went for a good walk through the city. checked out st istvan's basilica, a church that has been finished for only 100 years, so quite young. the interior was utterly stunning. a mix of gold leaf and frescoes and copious amounts of green red and grey marble. different from the others i have seen so far, and somehow more breathtaking. went down to the river to check out the parliament, the most impressive national assembly i have ever seen. nothing could have prepared me for the first glimpse of it i caught, from between other buildings. again so breathtaking. afterwards i walked across chain bridge to buda and cheked out the palace and st mathias church, home of the state jewels. whomever holds these jewels rules hungary, and here i was in a room with them alone, no guards, not even another tourist. after some more wandering and view admiring i wandered back across margit bridge which runs through margit, a park island in the middle of the danube. took a stroll through this beautiful island, sort of like central park new york, except on an island. everything was covered with snow and looking pristine. temperature was perhaps just below zero at this point.

stood on margit bridge for quite a while, until i was too cold to stand there any longer and just gazed down the danube. with its stately architecture and wide streets, lovely parks and squares and the wide blue danube, budapest gives one a remarkable sense of clarity of thought. i felt a wonderful sense of relaxation here.

the other feeling to note is communicated to the visitor by the large number of monuments dedicated to the heroes of the last 50-60 years, in particular the 1956 uprising against the communist dictators, crushed quickly by the soviets. there is a lot of pride in where hungary is going, and respect from where the state has come.

went home and met my neightbours. some aussie-croats and american born chinese. we drank some cheap cheap beer and then agreed to check out a few things together the next day.

so the following day, off we toddled. back to the palace district in buda where we managed to make the worlds largest snowball. the americans were from LA so snow was a great novelty to them also. it was about four or five times the size of our heads. over the edge of the palace it went, with an enormous boom that sounded like a bomb! then into the labirynth under the palace we descended. a little cheezy in parts, with some strange exhibits here and there, but also a litte spooky in other parts.

on the final day, i decided to check out the synagogue, the largest in europe. as synagogues go, it was pretty flashy, but still humble in comparison to the catholic cathedrals. on the way i stumbled across an amazing old moorish building down a back lane. one of my guiding philosophies is that whenever i know where i am going, take a left, then a right, another left and so on until i get lost and don't know where i am going anymore, and again i wasn't disappointed. the builing was ornate externally, but run down and decrepid. on the inside, through bars and boards, i could see stained glass and intricate moorish murals and frescoes. here was a run down old building, out of use, but still so beautiful. so intrigued by this building i was, that i returned again that day for another look. i must have looked strange to the locals taking such sustained interest in a vacant building. the whole block is currently undergoing gentrification, so hopefully this building will be spared the wrecking ball and be restored to its former glory.

after this i headed up to heroes square, where statues of the founding fathers of hungary look down upon a beautiful granite square. i'll attach a pic of this, as it was quite splendid. finally, i rounded out my day with a couple of hours in the turkish baths, laying around in 38 degree water from far below the surface, under a perfect clear blue sky, the vapour trails of high-flying jets streaming across the sky. this was the perfect ending to my little european jaunt, and a good way to get ready for the onset of the silly season back in london.

the trip to the airport was a little laborious, but soon i was flying over budapest, the ring roads below confirming my feelings of a city inspiring clarity in the mind. the towns of hungary sailed below, before the cloud set in shrouding a continent i look forward to returning to one day. so many destinations in europe, all so unique. i have only scratched the surface of a few of them, but i am very happy with what i have seen, felt, smelled, tasted and heard. budapest in particular is a wonder, as it sits juxtaposed between old east and west, and now dynamically emerging from it's communist covers.

that's all for now, i will share my experiences of christmas in london and then iceland shortly. i will attach also one pic from iceland as i have to share straight away this otherworldly fantasy land.

take care all, and all the best has we head into the new year.

jared xoxo.

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Fakanal Etterem Restaurant

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:37:58 PST

Budapest, Hungary>, Apr 19, 2008

At this resturant you might not have a lot of choices but enough to find something to eat. We were all hungry and this was the only one that you were able to sitt down properly and eat at compare to the other food stalls around the 2nd floor. I ordered a Real Goulash which tasted really good. I could have rice or potatos to it but i told him i'd have what tasted best with the Goulash, so potatos it was:) Kristoffer ordered a WinerSnitzel, served with potatos, which was so large it almost came out of the plate LOL Kristoffer was a bit unlucky and managed to spill Coke over part of his plate, but managed to save some of it. He almost finished the remaining food. You do get a lot of food for the money so i think you get some value indeed for what you pay. You could pay in Euro's as well there but don't expect change back in Euro cause that won't happen. I didn't have much HUF on me so i payed in Euro and didn't mind getting the HUF back since they would be spent anyways.... http://www.fakanaletterem.hu/eng/etlap.html

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