Monday 30th May

We gave ourselves a sleep in and had a leisurely breakfast before packing up our stuff. We made the call to carry our bags with us for the morning as it would take too long to go back to our hotel. Typically it had to be the hottest day we had in Budapest and we were sweating up a storm. We wanted to check out the few things we had missed, so we found The Great Synagogue which is the second largest of its kind in Europe, seating 3,000 people. There was a tour to go inside but we passed. It was amazing to see how many of the external decorations they could make into the star of David. We then went back to the St. Stephens Basilica to get some photos without it raining and then up to our final monument – The Shoes on the Danube Promenade.

By this stage Hamish's shoulders were starting to burn from carrying both bags

The monument was pretty cool. So basically, the Jewish people in Hungary got just as much stick as the rest of Europe even though the Hungarians were on Hitler's side. One night a whole lot of Jewish people and Hungarians who had been safeguarding Jewish people were rounded up and shot by an execution squad with their bodies falling in the Danube. The 60 pairs of iron shoes were meant to represent the things they left behind. It was pretty incredible to see, and good to see that a former Soviet country took responsibility and wanted to memorialise their wrong doings.  

It was now time for us to start out journey home. We found the train station (not wanting to take risks with a taxi driver again!). It is fair to say that the station was pretty third world! But we managed to get some tickets and succumbed to getting McDonalds for lunch (which is against our code of conduct) and onto the right train.

We chillaxed at the airport before flying into Gatwick late afternoon and home. We definitely really enjoyed our long weekend, and in terms of destination it was right up there with the likes of Paris and Berlin, and made us keen to explore the rest of Hungary.

Highlight: The bronze shoes were quite incredible, and again the weather.
Lowlight: Carrying our bags around (correction: Hamish carrying the bags round)
Interesting Fact#1: There are 50 McDonalds and Burger Kings in the city of Budapest alone. They really love it. 
Interesting Fact #2: Hungry has problems with corrupt politicians who hold all the wealth. A third of people live below the poverty line in Hungry and the average wage is just 550 Euros a month - about NZD1100 - Hamish was in more at the fish factory.

Sunday 29th May

We allowed ourselves a small sleep in to compensate for the late night before and decided to go to the thermal baths to wake us up and refresh our tired tootsies. We walked up to the Széchenyi Baths and bought our tickets and found the right entrance for the respective changing rooms. It both took us awhile to figure out the locker system but we got there. The next challenge was to find where the actual baths were. We crossed paths with each other purely by chance which was lucky, but we still spent about 10 minutes going up and down the stairs of this massive building trying to find the dam pools as there were no signs in English at all! Eventually we found them, they were really cool. Like Roman style architecture with big windows and busts of people. It was built in 1918 and hasn't changed much. We counted around 13 different pools, all varying degrees of temperature. We mainly chilled out in the 38 degree pool, and Hamish snuck off for a sauna. It was really nice to relax and see how the Hungairans spent their Sunday mornings. 

We popped back to the hotel for a change in clothes and then headed out in the hot hot sun to climb one the tallest peaks in Budapest where the Liberty Statue lives - the Gellert Hill which which also has a citadel on the top. On the way up to the statue we also found the Gellert Hill Cave Church but there was a mass on so we could pop inside.

The Liberty Statue or Szabadság Szobor was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces during World War II. At the time of the monument's construction, the repulsion of Nazi forces by the Soviets was considered a liberation -- leading to the original inscription upon the memorial, "Erected by the grateful Hungarian Nation in memory of the liberating Russian heroes." Over the following years, public sentiment toward the Soviets decreased to the point of revolution, which was attempted in 1956 and subsequently damaged some portions of the monument. After the 1989 transition from Communist rule to a more democratic government, the inscription was modified to read "To the memory of all of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary." 

View from the top

Statue of St Gellert

We trekked up this hill in the heat (it was mid 20's by this stage) until we finally reached the top. The view was pretty awesome, especially as it was such a nice sunny day. We took some snaps and looked around before heading back down, finding the Statue of St Gellért (San Gerardo) monument and waterfall which were really cool. Feeling peckish we found ourselves a supermarket and did another little ritual for our European holidays, had a picnic on the banks of the Danube. We got ourselves some salami and cheese and rolls and tucked in. That sun was pretty amazing. 

Hamish touching the waters of the Danube.

So amazing that Lou got a weird heat rash on her legs, she chose to ignore it and we carried on to have a gawk at the parliament buildings. It sounds dull but these buildings were pretty awesome. Budapest was united from three cities in 1873 and seven years later the National Assembly resolved to establish a new Parliament Building. The architect was Imre Steindl, who said he was inspired by Parliament buildings in Westminister. Construction started in 1885, and finished in 1904, we felt sorry for the guy cos he died 5 weeks before it was finished.

We kept walking north along the river until we hit Margaret Island, which is a little island in the middle of the river where there are massive parks, fountains, sports arenas and gardens. It was a pefect Sunday afternoon and every man and his dog was out enjoying the sunshine (literally about the dogs, strange that so many people live in poverty here but so many more have pet dogs). We had a lie down in the park and watched the world go by with an ice block. Mint. Then Lou's heat rash got really really sore so we headed back to the hotel about 5pm so she could wrap cold wet towels around her legs. Not ideal. 

After about an hour the swelling had gone down and we got dressed to head into town for a quick dinner. We didn't have any plans so we kind of just wandered. We found this really great Italian place where as you walked in you got given like an eftpos card and you just went up to the kitchen and ordered whatever you wanted and then you swiped your card, you got your food and ate it and then on the way out you paid for whatever was on your card. Very advanced for Budapest I would say! The food was again really good and cheap. 

After dinner we strolled down to the river where we were booked on a night time river cruise. We got a great spot on top of the boat outside and they gave us blankets to keep us warm (it got a bit nippy when the sun went down!). There was an audio guide as well, which was really odd. The narrator was pretending to be the voice of the river…so it sounded a bit fruity and really camp. Hamish got very snap happy with the night shots, I think we ended up with about 200 shots of the bridges to choose from. It was a real highlight to see all the sights at night, especially as all the monuments were purposely lit up for night time viewing and the bridges looked mean as well. 

The new camera paying dividends.

Parliament Building

We wandered back to our hotel, vey content.

Highlight #1: The river cruise and the view from the top of Gellert Hill.
Highlight #2: The Eastern European summer!
Lowlights: The dam heat rash!
Interesting Fact: Margaret Island is named after Saint Margaret (1242–1270), the daughter of Béla IV of Hungary who lived in the Dominican convent on the island. The story goes that Bela and family were invaded and all her children were killed so she prayed to God and said that if he made the invaders go away and gave her another child then she would make her child be a nun. And look what happened.

Budapest - Saturday 28th May

Another bank holiday weekend, another epic trip into eastern Europe. We flew to Budapest on Friday after work and even treated ourselves to flying Malev Airlines (Hungary's national carrier), rather than the usual EasyJet or Ryanair. What a nice change to have an allocated seat and even refreshments free of charge… Our flight was uneventful until just before we landed when we were treated to a massive thunder and lightning storm that we were cruising at about 50,000 feet through. It's fair to say that Lou was a little nervous, particularly as Hamish commented "Planes get hit by lightening all the time and are fine..I think"…also not reassuring was the pilot not saying anything about the situation. Needless to say Hamish thought it awesome seeing massive forks of lightening just outside the window.

In spite of Mother Nature we landed at Ferihegy airport safely and hopped in a taxi to our hotel. Even though we used the airport's recommended taxi company, our driver still tried to rip us off. He didn't speak English and we don't speak Hungarian so there was a lot of huffing and swearing under our breath while we tried to get the correct change. Finally he gave in, and a little bit later we realised that we were arguing over the matter of about £1 (300 Forint) - but it was the principle!!!

We were staying in Star City Hotel, in the east of the city on the Pest side. It was right in the middle of suburbia and obviously quite a poor area but our hotel was fine. Always an interesting time when the concierge gives you the TV remote and asks you to return it on check out. We crashed out and slept.

Saturday morning, we got up early to sunshine and blue skies so we dressed appropriately in summer dresses and jandals (this would come back to haunt Lou). We wandered down to breakfast in the hotel dining room. After several experiences of European breakfasts we weren't expecting much, but were pleasantly surprised to see there was a good selection of fruit and cereal and some cooked items instead of the standard pastry done 5 different ways.

After breaky we headed out to do a little sightseeing before our free walking tour started at 10.30am. We headed east to Hero's Square which is next to City Park. What a fantastic square! It has to be up there with some of the best monuments we have seen. The central bit is the Millennium Memorial with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century. The construction of the memorial was started when the 1000th anniversary was celebrated in 1896. The cenotaph is dedicated "To the memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our people and our national independence." Directly behind the cenotaph is a column topped by a statue of the archangel Gabriel. In his right hand the angel holds the Holy Crown of St. Stephen (Istvan), the first king of Hungary. In his left hand the angel holds a two barred apostolic cross, a symbol awarded to St. Stephen by the Pope in recognition of his efforts to convert Hungary to Christianity. 

Hero Square

We noticed straight away that the Hungarians like to have a monument for almost every big event that has happened to them. In City Park we found Vajdahunyad Castle, just a random castle built a hundred years ago for the millennial exhibition, very cool style as its design was based on a castle in Transylvania! Also in the grounds is the statue of Anonymous, he wrote the first history books on the ancient Hungarians, mostly based on legends. Superstition says that by touching his pen you will receive good luck. 

Hamish and Anonymous

Also in the park was a nice pond with a selection of modern art….in the pond. We couldn’t' work our whether it was really cool or really tacky. There were a whole range of things from sunken houses, cars and flower beds. Maybe some weird Hungarian sense of humour we missed out on.
We then found our way to the Széchenyi Baths, one of the largest thermal baths in Budapest. We had a quick look around but had to duck off to make it to the centre of town for our walk.

We decided to walk into town, rather than take the tube. School boy error as it was a good 50 minute walk but we made it in one piece. We met our crazy Hungarian tour guide who kind of yelled a lot. She was a lot more honest than a lot of the tour guides we had had in the past. She basically said that the Hungarians have lost every war they had participated in, and as a result they are a really poor country, and it really sucked during communinism but they are getting happier now.

We walked down the Danube seeing all the amazing bridges, the river is actually quite wide so the bridges are very impressive. There is the Chain bridge, the White bridge and the Elizabeth bridge, all with their own stories. All the bridges got bombed in the War so they were all rebuilt in the last 50 years or so. Our guide showed us a couple of monuments that were left over from the Soviet regime and a couple of new ones (like this wee girl). Her significance is that she is happy. That is all.

Unfortunately the rain started about now, and it was proper rain like with thunder and stuff. So we ducked into St. Stephen's Basilica. The church is named for Saint Stephen I of Hungary, the first King of Hungary around the 9th century. It is exactly the same height as the parliament buildings (96 metres) and there is a law in the city where new buildings can't be higher than these two. Inside was really awesome but really dark which made it tricky to appreciate it.

We then had to bite the bullet and buy a big umbrella from a souvenir shop next door, so we could keep up with the tour in the pouring rain. I was thinking that this would cost us a small fortune but we walked out of the shop with a fantastic umbrella all for just over £3. Result!

We then crossed the Chain bridge or the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, originally completed in 1839 and very ornate and elaborate, the only bridge that was rebuilt in its original style after the war. It is worth noting that Buda and Pest (the west and east of the river, respectively) used to be separate cities, so these bridges were a big deal in connecting the two. On the Buda side we wandered up the hill to the Castle district. In the frank way the guide was speaking she basically said, the Royal palace is pretty rubbish compared to the rest of Europe as we got screwed over in the war and we had no money to rebuild it, so don't bother going inside.

But from the outside it was nice (from what we could see from under our massive umbrella!), and they tried to make a big deal about the "ruins" that were preserved but really they weren't that impressive. Because of the rain the guide took us into the underground labyrinth where she told us the tricks of the trade of Budapest, again she was honest about people ripping you off etc. 









Our final destination was the Fishermans Bastion and the Matthias Church. First of all, it had nothing to do with fisherman. Its seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896.The Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen that was responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages. A bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary mounted on a horse, is also there (seriously they really loved this Stephen guy). They also say that the Disney castle is based on these towers….maybe some Hungarian humour we don't get again.

The Matthias Church is another example of Romanesque architecture. It changed hands so many times it’s a bit of everything really. One of the cool stories that occurred here was that in 1686 during the siege of Buda by the Holy League a wall of the church collapsed due to cannon fire. It turned out that an old Madonna statue was hidden behind the wall. As the sculpture of the Virgin Mary appeared before the praying Muslims, the morale of the garrison collapsed and the city fell on the same day. The most interesting part of the church was the roof with it's mosaic tiling, which was different to anything we had seen before.

From there, we decided we needed to refuel big time. We trekked across to the Pest side again and sorted ourselves out with a tourist travel pass so we could take any public transport (why did we not do this earlier!!). We were told to go to the Central market for the best lunch so we arrived about 20 mins before it shut. We found ourselves tasting our very first Hungarian goulash with this weird rice/cous cous kind of thing, pretty yummy and pretty cheap. The markets were pretty incredible, it’s a shame that we didn't have more time to investigate all the crazy food they eat.

Next on our list was wine tasting. We found our way back to the Castle district by metro and began the process of figuring out how to get to the cellars of the Hilton hotel where Lou had booked a wine tasting for the afternoon. Picture a metro station in the middle of a roundabout with about 6 different roads leading away from it. Then imagine Hamish with the map trying to work out which road to take. Then imagine his frustration when we find the last (and 6th) road we try is the right one….fair to say a few expletives were said.

Anyway we found the place, The Faust wine cellar, which is part of the labyrinth of caves that run under the castle district (about 20 kms worth in total). The inhabitants of the castle carved the labyrinth out of the chalk stone to provide escape during a siege in the middle ages. On the way down to the cellar we passed the remains of a 13th century Dominican cloister and monastery. We were greeted by the wine guy, and shown to our table. It was such a cool little set up in this cold stone cellar with candles and maps of the regions and stuff. Lou chose the "Taste of Hungary" option so we got to try 5 Hungarian wines, and we got some little cheese scones things as well. The wine guy was very generous with the "tasters" of the wine , so we were there for about 2 and half hours! The wines were really interesting, especially the white wines. Not so sure about the 70% alcohol fruit brandy that we had to shot when we got there!
 

Feeling rosy cheeked and merry we found our way back to the hotel and got changed for dinner. Lou had booked a restaurant that cam highly recommended on Trip Advisor and we were definitely not disappointed. Apparently it was originally an old mansion that had been renovated so it was a beautiful room. There were 2 wedding parties that were at the restaurant which I guess gave us an indication that it was quality food. We ordered a selection of Hungarian salamis and yummy things for a starter along with a Hungarian beer which was a nice change after all that wine. Then we shared a venison stew with potato croquettes and a dish of duck prepared in 3 different ways. So good. the dishes didn't come with any vegetables and there wasn't a sides option on the menu so it was just meat and spuds. Can't go wrong. This was our treat night so we ordered an apple strudel and a Dobos cake which is a traditional Hungarian desert which is basically a chocolate sponge with chocolate mousse. Very full, we were getting ready to pay when the manager came over and said "I'm sorry about the service and for sitting you next to the kitchen etc. etc." (we were not even worried, the service was fine and we didn't care where we sat) and he then said "I want to give you some tiramisu on the house". Well it was free so we couldn't refuse. And it was amazing tiramisu. Like really really good. So 2 deserts each later, we rolled our way home. Oh and the cost of that entire meal and drinks? £35.

I would just like to say at this point, that Lou had been wearing her pedometer all day and recorded almost 43,000 steps for that day. To put this in perspective, the average person walks about 8,000 steps a day. So the guilts of 2 deserts quickly went away!

Highlight: For Lou it was the wine tasting and the dinner, for Hamish, the dinner and the Hero's square. Food tastes so much better when you know you aren't getting ripped off.
Lowlight: Realising that Budapest is a lot bigger than Prague and it's not so easy to walk everywhere. Both of us suffered jandal related injuries. 

Interesting fact #1: Hungary has been the birthplace of so many inventions still used today – Biros, the Rubix cube, the carburettor and the helicopter. Pity they couldn't work out how to win a war.
Interesting fact #2: One third of Hungarians live below the poverty line, this combined with how cheap beer is means that there are a lot of crazy drunk people around all the time. And as a follow on, its quite common for men to pee in public!
Interesting fact #3: Budapest was the second city to introduce the metro underground system in 1896 (second to London). The carriages look as though they have not been updated since then but they did run on time and drivers dont strike every chance they get - London are you listening?!