A brief Hungarian Rhapsody

Probably the best thing about living in Austria is all the Catholic holidays which mean we get days off school. The 1st and 2nd of November are All Saints and All Souls (can't remember which way round) days. Most Austrians go and sit around in cemeteries on these days but a group of us decided to go to Budapest for a night. It only takes 3 hours to get there by coach and we only paid 16 Euros return so it was pretty good. We arrived at the coach station by 7am only to find that one person didn't have their passport. She had to get the next coach which wasn't til 11, and because he's so nice, Bill decided to wait with her. Abby and I got the coach we had intended to and just had an extra 4 hours in Budapest. Before the others arrived we went for lunch in an amazingly cheap Turkish restaurant and went for a wander down by the Parliament. We walked along the Danube to the Chain Bridge. Everything is so beautiful.

memorial for the Jews who were shot into the Danube in 1944-45

One of the best things about Hungary is that it's so cheap. Our hostel was only about 10 minutes from the city centre and it was only 8 Euros a night. Bargain! Oh, an the food and beer is also incredibly bargainous. We went to a bar just by the river on the Buda side and got a beer for less than 2 Euros! We were pretty impressed. 

Once Leah and Bill arrived we headed out to make the most of the cheap drinks (even though it was only about 3.30!) and went to a cocktail bar where I paid 2 Euros for a Cosmo. Actually I paid 9 Euros for 3 Cosmos but that's by the by... Because the clocks had gone back it got dark really early so we thought it was time to go for tea. We ended up at quite a nice restaurant where we got two courses of traditional Hungarian food (goulash and some other stew type thing) plus a glass of wine for about 10 Euros.

 Abby, Leah and Bill on the Chain Bridge. At night, obviously.

We wandered around the city, which is beautiful when all the lights are on, especially down by the river. I remembered a really nice bar called Szimpla that I'd been to when I was in Budapest before so we spent ages wandering around trying to find it. It's very well hidden as it's one of the numerous "ruin pubs" which just look like derelict buildings from the outside. This one has it's own brewery and the beer is amazing, and very cheap. The toilets are quite interesting though- the toilet roll is outside the cubicles (what's the point of that?!) and two of the three were just holes in the ground. Nice atmosphere in the bar though.

The next day we had breakfast at the hostel (toast with Dairylea type cheese and stone cold coffee) and then wandered in to the main square as we wanted to do the free city tour. I did it last time and it was brilliant, the guide was called Adam and told us all about his life in the Eastern Bloc. This time the guide was a tiny girl called Anna who had an awesome eastern accent. I am going to start practising so I can improve mine as I feel that this accent is an important life skill. Anyway, I saw things I'd seen before but it was nice because it wasn't chucking it down with rain this time, it was actually quite sunny.

the view of the Parliament from the Castle on the hill

After the tour, the guides told us where to go for really good but really cheap food. It was awesome! I am definitely going to try and make paprikas because it was delicious. In the afternoon we wandered around and went for a beer (again) and found the market hall which is huge and full of lots of lovely, tacky souvenirs for junk-loving people such as myself. I am now the proud owner of some stacking dolls. Oh and we had langos, which is a kind of savoury doughnut with no hole in it, covered in sour cream, cheese, chilli, basically whatever you want. Mmmmmmmmm. The only thing we didn't get time to do which was on the agenda was go to the Communist Statue Garden but next time we go we're going to do a whole Communist themed visit! I can't wait! 

Everybody say Budapest!