Buda Hills

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Yesterday the guys decided to go on a hike in the Buda Hills across the river. We took a couple trams over to the Buda side and up the river quite far. We had no idea where we were going, but we could see the hills and see where we wanted to get - the top. So we started walking in the direction of the hills until we got to the base. Now here, instead of continuing along the road, Andy thought it would be a good idea to take the trail through the woods, as it was more direct. Well this turned out to be more of a climb than a hike. After an hour or so of sweating and climbing up the path, we reached a clearing where we stopped and sat for a while. Unfortunately, there were trees all through the hills so the views were rather limited. While we were sitting there, a man and his dog walked by, and he told us about these blue cross marks on the trees, and that if we followed them it would lead to the radio tower at the top of the hills - the highest point. So we started walking again, this time on a slightly less rigorous trail, and ended up reaching a small road in the hills. We kept following the blue cross signs and came across some huge houses up on the hillside looking over the city. The places were all gated, however, so we again couldn't get a very good view. We kept following the blue crosses and eventually lost track of them such that it didn't seem like we were going anywhere interesting. So we hopped on another path through the woods that led us back toward where we came from. We got to another clearing, this one having slightly better views. Mark climbed a tree overlooking the city and said the view was amazing from there, but no one else did. We kept walking down what looked like a path through the woods, in the direction of a road leading back towards the city. Well this path eventually disappeared, so we ended up bushwhacking our way through the woods and down to the road. Here, Mark and I started back towards the city to get some food, but the other guys kept going a little more. Turned out we were a lot farther away from out apartment than we though, and it took us another hour walking and a half hour taking trams to get back to our apartment. When we finally got back, Mark and I went and got some food at one of the outdoor restaurants on the next street over. I had a beer and a cup of goulash soup, which was pretty much beef stew with a thinner broth, to start. For my main course I got duck breast stuffed with homemade sausage and gravy, which was served with potato rolls stuffed with red cabbage. A very good end to a long day.

Needless to say, this ended up being more of a random wander through the hills than a hike, but it was a good time. Pics are on Facebook.

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