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Published: December 15th 2007
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We woke up this morning with just enough time to brush our teeth and leave just before checkout. We hadn't unpacked our things so it was a very quick and easy move. The girl working at Riverside hostel was lovely and welcoming and got us settled in our room nice and quickly. Our room is not fantastic as the blind doesn't work and there isn't actually a main light in the room, however it is a million times better than Alfa hostel. We sat in the room for a while and perused our literature on Budapest and planned out our first day. We had a booklet with all the attractions, events and restaurants in it so we had plenty to consider. After our arrival in the city yesterday we both thought it would be a pretty good idea to purchase some kind of reduced rate transport pass as it is a big city and the public transport is very expensive. Budapest actually has a few tourist informations and so we decided to go and use their services and have them recommend the best ways to get around.
As we were readying to leave we met a guy who was also
staying at the hostel, he was sitting at the kitchen table pouring over guidebooks as well. We stopped for a quick chat that actually kept us a while. We left him and made our way over the Margaret bridge to Buda. We walked along the waterfront and stopped to take the obligatory pictures of the parliamentary buildings. In our usual unlucky way, the parliamentary building has some scaffolding up which really detracts massively from the overall impressiveness of the building. The view of Pest is pretty impressive with only a few ugly hotels ruining the skyline.
We opted to walk up to the castle district as we knew very little about the area and couldn't really decide what we wanted to see. We walked around some lovely little windy streets and climbed numerous steps until we reached the top. It was fairly late in the afternoon and most people appeared to heading home rather than looking around, so the streets were a little emptier than I had anticipated. We decided to head straight to tourist information as we felt that the opening times may not be that great with it being off season. The staff at the tourist information
were really helpful and we filled our bag full of leaflets and pamphlets of things to amuse us over the next week or so. We were also recommended to buy the seven day travel passes which had to be purchased from particular metro stations. We headed in the general direction of one of the metro stations and appreciated the buildings around us as we walked. We exited the castle district and walked towards a more modern part of Buda. We found a big shopping centre which we entered in the hope that we would find something to eat. There was very little in the way of quick eats, but we did find a cinema which we collected the times of just in case of an empty evening.
The metro passes are 3100 HUF for three days and 3400 HUF(approx ten pounds) for seven. We only really have six full days here but for only one pound more it was worth buying the longer pass. We used our passes straight away and caught the metro to the stop that is practically at our hostel. As we left the metro we heard some singing and I enthusiastically dragged Rob over thinking
it was people singing Christmas carols. Weirdly enough it was a group of Jewish men and children singing pretty badly to a small audience. We were amused by it for a while and watched until a boy began walking around with a hat for money and then we left.
We decided that we would cook ourselves a few meals seeing as though we have a kitchen here and because we have been warned that Budapest can be on the expensive side. We really did not want to shop at Spar and attempted to find a Hungarian supermarket instead, we ended up at Kaisers which was actually a part of Spar anyway. We bought fruit, vegetables and Rob treated himself to cereal as a luxury for breakfasts.
Back at the hostel Richard was in the kitchen so we briefly chatted to him. He invited us to the pub to watch the Liverpool game which we accepted but we needed to get something to eat first. We nipped around the corner to a place that was recommended by the girl at the hostel. It was a terrible place and had nothing for Vegetarians at all. Ordinarily we would have found
somewhere else, but we were late to meet Richard so we stayed. I had a watery soup and a salad that was covered in sugar. I really couldn't bring myself to eat the salad and even Rob didn't want to finish it. Which says a lot.
To find the pub that Richard was meeting us at we had to work our way around his directions. He knew the general direction but had no road names to give us and very few sensible landmarks. We found the general area by looking for Heiniken and Guiness signs and then just asked locals until we stumbled across it. Liverpool were already winning when we arrived just before half time and Richard was sitting with a few other English people. I sat and chatted to a couple who had been backpacking around the same times as us but had opted for western Europe instead. Liverpool won the game but I couldn't honestly say what the final score was because I was talking too much. When the game finished we decided to go somewhere else for a drink before heading back to the hostel. We walked back in the direction of our hostel and
Parliamentary Building 2
Notice the scaffolding. Grrr found someplace open. It was pay to enter but the fee was nominal so we paid and went inside. We quickly discovered that there was a table football which we comandeered and played a few games of. We ordered some more drinks and then decided to head back to the hostel. We both showered to get rid of the immense smell of cigarettes that had soaked into us. A very happy thought is that this will be the last place for a while that we will have to shower whilst holding the shower head in our hands whilst attempting to wash etc. Anyway we are tired and a little on the tipsy side so we are off to bed. Night night. Stob
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mum
non-member comment
faulty shower
Hi Just thought i'd better warn you that our shower head is broken and you have to hold itin your hand to shower. Only kidding - see you soon. Love mum xxxx