Advertisement
Published: October 9th 2009
We said our very sad farewell to the beaches and headed off to Budapest, Hungary. Thanks to a hot tip from two of our great friends from the Croatia sail we got into Budapest Friday night and parked in a fantastic central spot in the city for free! We set up as much as you can when you’re free camping, had a wander around the streets to stretch our legs and settled in for the weekend.
Saturday morning we jumped on the metro and 4 stations later we were smack bang in the heart of Budapest. Our first stop was to find a shower! So off to a local hostel we went and used their facilities to get ourselves fresh and ready for the day ahead. It sounds funny but hostels really don’t mind, and for a euro or two it’s all you need and it makes for cheap camping! Next stop was the good old tourist office. They were just fantastic and provided us with so many booklets and pamphlets that we didn’t know what to do first. For anyone going to Budapest definitely get their fortnightly guides they are just perfect. Rather depressingly next we had to suss
out a few shops to get some winter woollies. The weather had changed from beautifully warm to now being very much on the chilly side. So after a bit of shopping we had some lunch and read up on Budapest so we could plan our days. That afternoon we went to the “House of Terror” museum. Vince and I were both very interested in learning as much as we could about the communist history of Hungary, so we went there for a lesson. Apparently according to some Hungarian locals it’s a little over dramatised (I guess the title of the museum might give that impression), but it does give you a pretty good outline of what has happened to Hungarian people. Basically the “House of Terror” was the headquarters for the Soviets (Red Army) and the Hungarian Nazi’s (Arrow Cross Party) and in later years the Secret Police. Originally the building was named the “House of Loyalty” hence why it’s got the new name today. There were definitely some horrible things that went on in that building and the cells below the building where people were kept evoke some pretty horrible images. After learning the Hungarian history from the exhibits
in the museum, reading the Budapest book we bought and talking to locals (contrary to what some say) I actually think “Terror” is a very accurate description of the experiences thousands of people went through.
After our reality check learning about communism it was early evening and time for dinner. We detoured via the van for a quick change of clothes and off to find ourselves some delicious Hungarian cuisine (no going hungry in Hungary for us!) Sorry had to say it 😊 Anyhow, we ended up right in the heart of touristville, but still managed to find a little cafe/restaurant that had reasonable prices. Vince ordered the traditional special of the day - Pork Cutlets and Tiramisu, and I ordered the not so traditional but still a very common dish in Budapest - Duck, my all time favourite. We weren’t expecting anything fantastic, but to our surprise when the food came out the portions were huge and they tasted amazing. I would definitely go back! Unfortunately we had to rush our lovely dinner a little bit, as when we finished our food it was 8.20pm and we had to meet a group at 8.30pm for the Budapest pub
crawl. So after hurrying through dessert we paid our bill and rushed off to the meeting point at Deak Ter Metro station. Vince and I had never been on a city organised pub crawl and so to be on the cautious side we stood back and watched who went to the meeting point - we didn’t want to be stuck with a bunch of freaks and have to drink with them after all! After about 10 minutes of watching (clearly they weren’t sticking to the time schedule we rushed to meet!) we realised the pub crawl consisted of the following people, 1) pretty much all guys so it was going to be a sausage fest 2) a decent amount of geeky looking kids 3) a few free loving hippies with serious fashion issues 4) a few chubby dudes who might swallow us at any time.....so conclusion was Vince and I were not going to join the attack of the nerds and it was time to pub crawl it up on our own! I know, I know, it sounds harsh, but in all honesty we’re pretty good at picking our kind of people these days and these guys were not it!
Our pub crawl didn’t exactly work out as we had planned. We did manage to cover some serious mileage on foot across Budapest, however, as we found out two days later Budapest bars/pubs are well hidden and unless you know where you’re going you will pretty much walk past all of them! After stopping off at few bars that were visible from street level we weren’t really getting much vibe, so we headed home by midnight.
Day 3 in Budapest and it was time for some serious cultural saturation. We started off at the Hungarian wine festival held in the Buda Castle grounds (which was right next to our fabulous parking spot)! It was a very fitting place to have a wine tasting day as the castle grounds are very old world and they really get you in the mood to drink wine and act posh! We paid our 1200ft entry fee (about 5 euros), slung our wine glasses around our necks and tasted all sorts of yummy Hungarian wines for only like 1 euro per 100ml. Needless to say after 3 or 4 stands we were getting a bit fuzzy. Hunger struck after another wine or two
so we headed for somewhere to sit and we gobbled down some very tasty cheeses (again these were also very cheap, about 3 euros for a huge plate of mixed cheeses)! Things were just getting better and better, litres of flowing wine, delicious cheese, live traditional Hungarian folk music on the stage next to us.......and all on a warm sunny day looking out from high above over Budapest - cultural experience or what?
Once we reached our limit we decided we should head off to experience another big part of Hungary, their music. Sunday 13th September was the Hungary Maygar day - a day for their people basically. On this day they celebrate with a showcase of all types of music by Hungarians, from rock to reggae to folk and pop, they had it all. So we trundled down the castle hill and strolled along the river Danube to the Maygar day celebrations. We watched a variety of bands with some toe tapping good tunes, obviously none of which we knew. As the night time chill had set in and we had done enough people watching and Maygar celebrating, we set off for our next cultural encounter - the
Jazz Festival!
The week we were in Budapest was also Jazz Festival. We attempted to book events for the Saturday but all we could get was the Sunday night. So only costing around 5 or so euro each we decided to give it a go. Jazz is really big in Budapest and we thought we should check out something different from our usual music choice. We ended up at a very lush concert hall with some locals that were out for an obviously dapper evening. Still being in our jeans, thongs and regular day time backpacker clothes we felt a little bit odd, but we still joined in 100% none the less. It was really nice listening to Jazz live in the auditorium and definitely not something we would normally do. Only downside was that it wasn’t the emotional bluesy jazz we were hoping for and it was a little more on the classical side, so we kind of lost enthusiasm after a while! Not to worry though, we still had a great time, and all in all a packed day that was crammed with culture!
Monday morning it was time to leave our free park (no free
parking on weekdays) and head to the nearest campsite. We checked in early and then headed back into the city so we could go on a free guided tour of Budapest! Nothing like a free tour to get a backpacker excited. Well I guess not entirely free, as they expect tips at the end, but still that’s a lot cheaper than Western Europe. We walked through Buda and Pest, (yes there are actually two areas that only came to form Budapest a little over 100 years ago) and learnt all about numerous statues, parks, buildings, the castle and its grounds and communist history.
From hearing stories about King Stephen (now St Stephen) and his importance in Hungarian history, visiting the cathedral in the heart of Pest to learning about the post communist state of Hungary and how the country still struggles as the government tries to pick themselves back up, it was a varied tour that encompassed the true essence of Hungary.
From statues of an unborn princess at the age of 7 (that actually looks like a boy as the king only actually had sons at that point in time, so her face was modelled off one
of them!) that you touch and make a wish, to an artistic statue the communists designed to symbolize the union of Buda and Pest that looks like a penis and is known to locals as the penis statue, to a statue of a horse that you grab the testicles of for better form in the bedroom......we experienced it all in true Budapest style! At the end of the tour we got all the tips on where to eat and where to go out (typical if only we had’ve been there for the tour on day 1 maybe our pub crawl would’ve worked out a little better)!
The tour ended around 1pm by which point all the exercise had given us a huge appetite! We scurried back down to the main centre of Pest and into our favourite Hungarian store, Princess. Princess is a bakery with loads of cheap and delicious goodies. We purchased about 6 or so items, and all for under 5 Euros total. Imagine paying that price in Western Europe, somewhere like France, yeah right! We gobbled down our pastries, with our new favourite being the ‘big meat boureka’ - for those who have had burek in
Turkey, Croatia etc, it’s similar to that but crossed with a meat pie - yum! After lunch we headed out of the centre to Heroes Square. This is where the monuments lie for some of Hungarians most famous and respected icons, with St Stephen, the first King of Hungary being the most important. Over the years some of the statues were taken down and replaced with communist “heroes”, but after the uprising they were once again replaced with non-communist heroes. The square is very impressive and a definite on anyone’s Budapest itinerary.
From the square we headed off to partake in a past time that is huge in Budapest - bathing in thermal spring baths. After walking all over Budapest it was just what our tired legs needed. We went to Szcheiney bath, basically the biggest tourist bath in Budapest. After finding our way through the maze of changing rooms and hallways inside we found our way to the outdoor baths. Initially we didn’t realize there were different temperature baths and our first bath was only around 27 degrees, which in the coolness of the afternoon air it wasn’t exactly what we had in mind! While I sat still
in the water trying to conserve energy and keep warm Vince explored a little further and thankfully discovered the hotter baths. We were down the end of the complex quick as a flash and we scuttled into the glorious 38 degree bath - ahhh that is more like it. We warmed our bodies and soothed our aching muscles for a while and then decided to try the indoor section. Inside were what seemed like never ending baths, one after the other they just kept on going. Along with this were freezing cold plunge pools and scorching hot saunas (the hottest getting up to 70 degrees). We found another 38 degree bath and again sat and relaxed. From there, much to my dislike we went into the 20 degree plunge pool to close our pores and invigorate our bodies. Well invigorate did it what, I think we could’ve cut glass with some of the stiff body parts we came out with! It was then time for a quick 60 degree sauna before we called it a day. Feeling all fresh (albeit rather wrinkly!) we started the journey back to the campsite, but not before stopping off at one of the recommended
eating spots thanks to our tour guide. The restaurant was just what Vince and I had been craving for ages.....Thai! And they didn’t disappoint either, the food was simply delectable, another great thai place ticked off our list. With huge full bellies of thai we finally made it back to the campsite for an early night to pack up for the day ahead - the trip to Vienna.
Tuesday morning we left the campsite set for Vienna, but we had an ulterior motive. Vienna wasn’t meant to be next on our list but surprise surprise Jonesy needed a little bit of attention. I won’t go into boring details, but basically he had diesel leaking from the engine! Anyhow we thought Vienna would be our best bet as VW’s are made there so they should have lots of people to fix them. So we set off to Vienna only to take a wrong turn on the way out of Budapest, at which point we came across a big VW centre. Fate or what? So we drove in with our fingers and toes crossed. Luck was definitely on our side this day, as they had a guy who could speak fluent
English and they looked at the car straight away for us. Verdict: we had to wait a few days for the part, but once they got the part they could fix it, and no doubt for half the price we would’ve had to pay in Vienna. Woo hoo! So we headed back to the campsite in Budapest and decided we could spend the next few days chilling or exploring more of Budapest - just depending on how we felt each day.
The next day we did just as expected, chill out and tidy up Jonesy. Come evening though we decided to meet up with a couple we met at the campsite earlier that week - Kate and Richard. They were also big fans of thai food, and being addicted as we are we went back for more at our new favourite hang out. Kate and Richard had been on one of the free walking tours that day also and had met another couple Megan and Kieran who also came along to the party. After an awesome huge dinner (where we all ordered a main each and shared them like a big buffet) it was time to have another go
the "princess" statue
notice the knees of the girl where people rub to make a wishat that pub crawl. Our tour leader Numero took charge and this time he knew exactly where to go.
First pub (which I can’t even remember the name of) was through a massive old castle like door. As we’d been told and as this bar proved, you would never know it was there unless someone told you. So through the enormous doors we went, down a hallway and into a huge courtyard. It was full of people and it definitely had a charm to it like no other bars I’ve seen. This was a theme throughout the evening, bars in Budapest can be summed up as alternate, weird, wonderful and never the same. After a few drinks our tour guide Numero whipped us up and out of there to the next place. This time it was a very old truly local pub, with a few chubby cheerful Hungarian men and a few tourists dotted around the place. After learning “cheers” in Hungarian from the bartender and downing another pint or two we were off again! By this stage everyone was pretty happy and it was at that time the real tour began. Guide Numero decided to show us a
few highlights of the bar area. These included the communist skate board that children used to ride many years ago (a skate board graffited on the wall) -which we all had a go on by jumping up on the wall, and, the town hall where local nuns play basketball - see what a few drinks does! After our whirlwind cultural tour it was back to the pub crawl.
Next stop, Szeimpla, a very popular bar for locals and tourists alike. As I said earlier bars are never the same in Budapest but this was something else. It was like walking in to another world, tv’s with weird images everywhere, lights snaking throughout the bar flashing different colours, pieces of old furniture around every corner, plasma tv’s playing ‘Tom and Jerry’, ‘The Flintstones’ and ‘Mary Poppins’ and loads more weird bits and pieces. It had a great vibe and we stayed here for quite a while, having a little boogie and enjoying the people watching. As we started to lose our energy the tour guide decided we had one more place to go, ‘Cha Cha Cha’. This time laziness ruled and we all jumped in a cab and asked to
go to ‘Cha Cha Cha’. Well the cheeky cab driver definitely took advantage of us, there are actually 2 ‘Cha Cha Cha’s’ in Budapest and he took us to the one that was closed - nasty! Anyway after our little boo boo, we decided to walk the rest of the way to the proper place which was on an island just across the river - Margaret Island. We finally made it to the bar, and yep you guessed it, it was weird with crazy lights and crazy music. Cha Cha Cha would definitely be the place to go in the peak of summer as it was an open air bar that overlooked the river with terraces and stages everywhere - just what you would want on a hot summers not. As it was a Wednesday night and not too happening we didn’t stay long, but by this stage we were getting pretty tired anyway. Kate, Richard, Megan and Kieran thanked the tour guide for a truly successful tour, but sadly for Numero no tips were earnt, ha ha!
The next day it rained cats and dogs and was perfect sleep all day weather, especially with a slight hangover. So
we read our books, slept a bit more and recharged our batteries, not moving much from the van all day. It was Friday before we knew it and we were off at 7.30am to the VW centre. Thankfully, all went to plan with Jonesy’s repair and by midday we were on the road to Vienna.
We arrived in Vienna pretty late Friday afternoon, luck was on our side that day as after a drive around the outskirts of the central centre we found another great free park for the weekend (the reason I say luck is because it is very difficult to get free parks in central cities in Europe, especially ones with a great secluded adjacent bush peeing location, he he!). That night we headed into the tourist office to get the low down on Vienna and plan the next few days to come. On our way back to the van we found an Irish pub that looked like our kind of place, and even more important (for Vince) they were playing all kinds of sports imaginable on TV. After a drink and a pre dinner snack Vince discovered that the preliminary AFL final was going to be
on live the next day. Needless to say we were going to be back there the next day!
So we headed off from the pub after only 1 drink, as we knew there would be plenty more to come in the morning. Saturday morning we arrived at the pub by 10am only to find out that the channel the pub had wasn’t actually playing the AFL after all.......devastation! But no, not even that stopped Vince from watching his most loved sport ever. The pub also had wireless internet, so after searching high and low for live streaming on our laptop Vince luckily came across one site to watch it for only 4 euros - and yes obviously he paid the cash to watch the game. But it got better, after the manager (Joe) realised Vince had it online he was able to transfer our streaming to their big screen TV’s - it was definitely Vince’s lucky day. Could it get any better? Well yes it did, after the AFL went up on their screens it pulled quite a crowd, so as a big thanks to us all the drinks and food we wanted were on the house. Woo hoo,
that would have to be the best 4 euro investment we ever made.
Once the game was over and we had our fill from the pub we set off for some proper sightseeing of Vienna. So far the only sight we’d seen was an Irish pub! So we walked out wandering the streets of Vienna and what we discovered was beautiful. Vienna definitely is amazing, the architecture and style of the city is gorgeous and in a way similar to some parts of Madrid. But, I would have to say it is actually prettier than Madrid as it has such a timeless elegance about it. Vienna is also similar to Madrid in that unless you are an art, literature or architectural lover there are not that many places to actually visit. So I must warn you now, this blog may not be the most culturally filled, unlike our Budapest adventure. Anyhow, after gazing in awe at almost every building side by side we found our way to Naschmarkt. This is Vienna’s biggest and most popular market. It is overflowing with delicious smelling fresh food including fruit, vegies, meat, seafood, dips, tapas, olives, breads and so much more. Amongst all
the stalls were restaurants and cafes, obviously getting all their produce as fresh as possible from right next door. There were locals packed into all of the restaurants devouring what looked like amazing food. I could definitely see myself there regularly if I was a Vienna local.
After our drool fest at the markets we jumped on Tram 1 to take a tour around the city. The tram takes you along the ring road around the whole city and it gives you a good taste of what the city is like. We passed more and more unique buildings until we came around to one of its stops, which was actually right near our car. So after our cooks tour on the tram we did a quick trip back to the car to get changed for the evening. Our quick trip ended up being a little longer than expected as once we got to the car we realised we were quite tired (all that AFL at the pub I think)! So we had a bit of a power nap, made some dinner, and headed out to have a drink or two back in the centre. We walked past quite a
mmmmm big meat bureka!
we absolutely loved these little pastry goodies few pubs/bars, but none that really had much atmosphere or charm. Finally we found the place that was perfect for us - the Aussie Pub. Nothing like experiencing an Aussie pub in Vienna (at that time we decided to leave our authentic encounter in Austrian pubs for the next night, there was still plenty of time to come).
Day 3 in Vienna and we were out to the city again for more roaming. This time we made it to St. Stephen’s cathedral (as I mentioned earlier in the Budapest section, St. Stephen is very important in this part of the world). Not to our surprise the cathedral was covered totally on one side with scaffolding. But, this time it was easy to see why, this would have to be one of the dirtiest cathedrals I had ever seen - the stone was definitely black not cream or beige! It makes complete sense why most of these historical buildings are constantly being worked on, the maintenance of them is never ending (both structurally and aesthetically). After a quick scout around the inside of the cathedral we were off to the Hofburg Palace. Back in the early 1200’s the palace was
home to the Habsburg dynasty - the empire that lasted nearly 700 years through times of great unrest in Austria. This was another architecturally stunning place, with a beautiful outdoor garden. But once again it was filled with art and history relics - none of which really took our fancy. From there we headed to Schloss Schonbrunn, the Habsburgs 1440 room summer palace. And as you would expect it was another Austrian beauty. The palace was not as architecturally pleasing as the Hofburg, however the gardens were definitely more impressive. The gardens were complete with hedge mazes, thousands of beautiful floral displays and land that stretched as far as you could see. You could easily walk around these gardens all day!
After all the walking we did that day it was time to head out to experience the Austrian pubs we missed the night before. Our mates from Budapest (Kate and Richard) were also on their way into Vienna that afternoon, so it was a great time to check out a few pubs with them as well. Vince and I made our way to Bermuda Brau (one of the big bar/pub areas) and had some traditional Austrian food -
schnitzel for dinner followed by a delicious warm apple strudel for desert. We then checked out a few pubs and after seeing that it was pretty much dead everywhere we headed back to our favourite Irish pub to meet the guys. Unfortunately the Irish pub wasn’t its usual high vibe either, so after one or two drinks we bar hoped back to Bermuda Brau. This time we were a little more successful and I guess being later in the evening things were picking up a bit. We found a few little pubs side by side and settled in for a few drinks. Not even half an hour after we got there a huge contiki group arrived and swamped the bar - lucky for us we already had a seat. By 10.30pm the barman decided pints were going up in price (apparently happy hour was over), so we skipped next door to another pub where pints were at the lower price. I hadn’t finished my pint at the first pub so Vince sneakily took it in with us to the next pub (oh and by the way the staff at both pubs were very protective of their equipment such as tables,
glasses, seats etc, so I was petrified the barman was going to rouse on me!). After the guys had a another pint at the pub next door we were all feeling good and singing to the music inside. The barwoman came over in her gruff Austrian voice and asked me if I wanted another pint. Well oh my God I think the look on my face said it all, I was like a scared little kitten.....not being able to hear her I thought she was rousing on me for having a pint from next door. Vince, Kate and Richard thought it was the funniest thing ever - apparently my face was priceless, the word guilty painted all over it. Anyhow when I finally realised she wasn’t even worried about the glass I composed myself and ordered another beer - how embarrassing! By midnight it was time to say goodbye to our pals again and head home for the night.
The next morning we were off out of our free park early (no free parking on Mondays again!) to a nearby campsite. That day was quite boring with mainly washing and tidying up. We had one last trip into the
city to pick up a few bits and pieces and then we were off in the afternoon for our big journey to Munich. As I said earlier Vienna is a very pretty city, but unless you are really into art etc it’s probably not going to feature on your top of the places to go list. It was nice to just chill out and take in the city though, nothing better than a bit of people watching and experiencing a city with a casual attitude. So next on the agenda is to pick up our mate Furby (Fig, Pig, Mullet, Ugrs, Goldy, Jason (who the hell is Jason?)) at the airport in Munich and then head off to the most famous German festival, Oktoberfest for copious amounts of beer drinking - oh dear! Furby is going to join us for the rest of our trip, which should include Czech, Poland, Germany, Holland, and then back to London with another of our dear friends...... Mr Jones.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.038s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0295s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
laura
non-member comment
i remember that aussie pub too!!! xxx see ya soon xx