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September 5th 2016
Published: September 5th 2016
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Vienna to Budapest


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Great looking city
Day 224 Monday 29th August 2016 – Vienna to Budapest



Walked up to Duran’s for breakfast for the last feed of tasty open sandwiches, I feel like these should be served on a tiered plate stand at high tea. While sitting there, it is amazing how many people stop just to look at these yummy creations, displayed in the front window. Hung around taking it easy before jumping on the metro to the bus terminal and as usual we were early so got some more reading in. Got the bus to Bratislava in Slovakia just an hour from Vienna, here it was meant to be a 45 minute wait for the next bus but it was running 15 minutes late. For the first time we had to pay to put luggage in the storage compartment it was only 50 cents a piece but it is the same company we have used for the last couple of trips, so do not know why we have to pay now. The trip was uneventful and we got into Budapest 3 hours later and walked across the road to the metro. The most scariest/weirdest thing about the metro is the
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Pianos in the park
length and speed of the escalators, they are running at 100 miles an hour and when you jump on you have to hang on for the ride of your life. Really difficult with a heavy back pack as you take off and I (Shelley) nearly became a turtle on my back upside down hurtling up the escalators.



Our hotel is located near lots of bars and restaurants so on first glance it looks good. Had a quick dinner and back to our hotel to catch up on blogging.







Day 225 Tuesday 30th August 2016 – Budapest



Another morning in another city in another hotel in another bed. Breakfast in the hotel was okay but nothing to write home about so I won’t. The city of Budapest was once upon a time the city of Buda and the city of Pest, divided by the Danube, till someone built a bridge and they became one. We are staying in Pest so for our first day we decided to spend the day walking it. Just down the road was the grand Szent Istvan Bazilika, or in English the
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Inside "Instant" Shelley favourite bar
St Stephens Cathedral. Completed in 1905 this huge church is a grand sight from outside and spectacular inside, and we both felt that it was thankfully more magnificent than gaudy. Not only was this a place of worship but it also holds the mummified right hand of King/Saint Stephen, and all the faithful can come and marvel over his five digits. What I particularly liked was you could drop 50 cents into a machine and it would light the hand up so you could see it better, if it would have got up and danced to Nick Caves “Red right hand” I would have paid $5. I guess this was the church putting its hand out for money- sorry bad joke.



From here we walked down the Danube to the Parliament Building, which is a monster of a building containing 691 rooms, and all looks nice and shiny new despite it being built in 1902. Considered doing a tour of the building but got annoyed with the pricing of the tours. Anyone from the EU can do a tour for 2200 Forint ($10.50 AUS) but foreigners (anyone outside the EU) get charged 5400 Forint ($25.90 AUS). Been
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Mathias Church
to countries where locals get entry to museums and such for a fraction of what “foreigners” do and we can accept that, but what they are doing at the Parliament building seems to be a “sucker tax” on tourism. Just down the road from the parliament building was a memorial built by the government in 2014 to the occupation of Hungary by the Nazis in 1944. Not everyone agreed with the interpretation of the memorial and another footpath memorial was established in front of it demanding its removal. Apparently the Government memorial portrayed the Hungary of 1944 as an innocent victim of the Nazi war machine whilst the reality was they were a cooperative ally. The present right wing government is “apparently” trying to rewrite the wrongs of past generations and pushing the blame wholly onto others, which is yet another case of “he who controls the present, controls the past”.



Got back to our room in the afternoon for a couple of hours of planning and blogging before heading out for a beer and a feed. The whole area we are staying in is surrounded with bars and restaurants and we wandered around for a while
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The dome of St Stephens Cathedral
like “goldilocks”. That bar is a bit too grubby, that bar is too expensive, that bar is too lame, till we eventually found one that was just right. Half litre beers were 250 Forint ($1.20 AUS) which was half the price anywhere else, had motorcycle posters on the wall and were playing music – like I said it was “just right”. Food however was a different story, as the bar we were at didn’t serve food we went looking, and looking and looking. From what we discovered the Budapest diet consists of the three main food groups – Hamburger, Pizza and Kebab. Nothing really wrong with that and I credit my great health and body shape to the three, but we were hoping for something more Hungarian. Did come across a couple of restaurants we may have needed to mortgage our house to eat at so in the end didn’t find anything “just right” and settled on a fairly average kebab but it did only cost us 2000 Forint ($9.60 AUS). At least we now know where to get a beer.







Day 226 Wednesday 31st August 2016 – Budapest

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Escalator to heaven


The first task for today was working out how we are leaving on Saturday, and lately such tasks involved a 5 minute session on the internet booking bus tickets. Today we wasted about two hours in the morning searching the net trying to work out if we should go by train or bus and could we book them online. The bus to Belgrade would take 5.5 hours whilst the train was 8 hours so we opted for the bus but couldn’t book the tickets online so decided to head to the bus terminal to get the tickets. On the way there via the metro we discovered that the metro line to the bus terminal wasn’t going to be operating on Saturday so we would need to get a taxi. Got to the bus terminal and was told we couldn’t buy the tickets for the bus but just had to turn up on Saturday, and this would have been fine if they were running all day but there is only one, so if we don’t get on it’s too bad. This didn’t sound like a good option for us so it was back to plan B – the train.
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Mathias Church as seen from Pest



Got the metro back to the centre of town and went for a walk through some more districts and passed the huge Synagogue. On the long walk back to our room we did discover some more food options. Got back to our hotel and then back on the net for some more research and in the end booked a couple of seats on a train for Saturday – well that stuffed most of the day but we did get to see a bit more of Budapest.



For dinner we headed down to a restaurant we saw earlier and had a great feed with Shelley going a traditional Hungarian dish that was beef with what they called noodles but was more like small dumplings. From here we headed into the heart of the “ruined Bar” district which surrounds our hotel. After the war a lot of Budapest was left in ruins and a lot of the Jewish inhabitants had been murdered and their homes deserted so people eventually moved in and opened bars and restaurants. Today most of these “ruin bars” have been gentrified but one called “Instant” hasn’t and it is perhaps the best and
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Outside the Parliament Building
most renowned bar in Budapest. Situated in a large 3 storey building with six bars this is perhaps one of the better bars we have visited on this trip. This place has lots of rooms with old lounges and pinball machines and does have the feel of a ruined building barely standing. Apparently the place doesn’t really take off till after midnight and the basement dance party rages till 6am. I say “Apparently” because us oldies staggered home at 11.







Day 227 Thursday 1st September 2016 – Budapest



Today we decided to head over the Danube to Buda and check out the Castle Hill, which looms over the city. The castle contains the Royal Palace, churches and a residential area and this whole area has been destroyed and rebuilt countless times. To get there we first had to cross the Danube river over the Chain Bridge. This great piece of engineering was completed in 1849 and was the first permanent bridge over the Danube in Budapest and has become a symbol of this town. Just on the other side you can get a Funicular up the hill to
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Parliament Building as seen from Buda
the top but the lineup of people to get on was longer than the train line so we opted to walk up. The hill is not really that high and it was such a beautiful day so it was a good walk. At the top there are a couple of museums and such but we just came for a stroll and to enjoy the views over the city. This is Budapest’s number one tourist destination so it was a bit of a circus and anything that was of interest had an entry fee, but it was still enjoyable. One of the major attractions is the large ornate Mathias Church, which is easily seen from anywhere in the city due to its unique roof tiling. We strolled around for hours before making our way back home and managed to get the funicular down as we love them so much. Across from our hotel is a long slender park that has restaurants either side and sprinkled through the park are lots of pianos. Because they are left to the elements they are not of the best quality or condition but every now and then someone will jump onto one and thump out
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Our favourite Hungarian meal
a (out of tune) tune. It is such a great idea.



Dinner was almost an exact repeat from yesterday with us going to the same restaurant and tucking into some more great Hungarian food, before moving onto Instant for a couple of beers.





Day 228 Friday 2nd September 2016 – Budapest



Today we thought we would head over to the other side of town to the City Park. Got the metro which is such an easy and great way to get around a town and then went for a stroll around this huge park. In the centre is a large thermal baths, the largest in Europe that is enclosed in a building that was built in 1913. We didn’t actually want to join the human stew but thought we would just stick our head in and have a look, but of course that costs money so us cheapskates opted to just look at the building from outside. From here we took a long walk taking in the huge monuments as well as the small, including busts of Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. The park was also taken
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Government war memorial with protest one in front
over in areas by people living in tents which we think that some were homeless and others were trying to set up hippy like communes. Unsure if there is a perceived issue with these people as the police presence in the park was very high.



From here our walk took us out to the Keleti Train station, where we picked up our tickets for tomorrow. Even though we had paid for the tickets online we needed to pick them up from the station, and it was as easy as punching in a number into a ticket machine which then printed them off. Could have done that tomorrow but as we were passing thought we would get them now. On the long walk back Shelley did some window shopping before we stopped for a late lunch at a street side café. It felt good to be sitting in a café having a beer and soaking up the Budapest atmosphere, it was hard to stop at two beers but if we had three we would have sat there till the wee hours of tomorrow morning. Had a bit of planning to do in the afternoon before we went out
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St Stephens right hand inside his Cathedral
for a couple of beers and a farewell burger. Last drink for the night was at Instant which is now officially Shelley’s favourite bar. A bit of a shame we don’t have the time to see more of this city and country but tomorrow another country and city awaits us Belgrade Serbia.


Additional photos below
Photos: 34, Displayed: 30


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St Stephens Cathedral
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Road tunnel and the Funicular
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Chain Bridge
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Chain bridge up close
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Shelley on the Chain Bridge
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Pianos in the park
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One of the rooms in "Instant"
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Parliament Building
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Parliament Building


6th September 2016

Buda and Pest
I once heard someone describe Albury-Wodonga as our Budapest...I can really see what they meant now ;) Instant seems like an easy bar to like and hang out in, but it's sad that grungy bars the world over are inevitably polished up at some point. I really like the look of that beef and dumpling dish, although I've never seen peppers presented in that manner before :)
6th September 2016

Buda and Pest
I have never heard that about Albury-Wodonga before and it now makes the place more inviting, perhaps next time I pass through I might stop longer than the usual fuel stop. The peppers were of the hotter variety so it added a nice heat to the dish.
7th September 2016
Budapest

Bridges, funiculars and metros!
I'm with you on these--love the first two because it feels like flying. And the Budapest metro was like those in your arch-nemesis, Prague, and also Moscow, feeling like you're descending into the bowels of the earth. The double pricing is understandable in Bolivia, where I'm heading, but to make non-EU people pay double what the Brits, Germans, etc do? No thank you, wankers!
7th September 2016
Budapest

Bridges, funiculars and metros!
I am glad you understand our gripe on double pricing, fully accept it in places like India, Egypt, Bolivia, etc, but the EU Member and non EU Member was a joke. With a strong right wing government in power in Hungary we sort of took it as "US" and "Foreigners". Off to Bolivia, fantastic, I sure hope that means you will be posting some blogs from there with your incredible photographs.
8th September 2016
Budapest

Meeting in Bolivia!
It may have been your blogs from Bolivia where I first met you two! Thanks for the kind words on my photos and blogs. I actually went to Bolivia about ten months ago and never wrote those blogs, so i may double up those and these sojourns (slacker). Some of my initial destinations won't have wifi--Isla del Sol, Sorata, Coroico and Copa, so I'll have to catch up on your travels when I return. I've really been enjoying your wild ride!
9th September 2016
Budapest

Slackers of the world unite
After i posted the last response I thought "hang on a minute, I am sure Tara has been to Bolivia", looked back and there you were in La Paz. We are hopeless (slackers) at reading blogs when not travelling something I am going to improve upon when we return. Hope you have a fantastic time under the Incan Sun and cannot wait to read your blogs. Travel safe.
12th September 2016

Budapest
For me is food is art so I like the idea of it being on display in the window. Sounds like you were in a great location. The city, the art, the history...so fantastic. Your fantastic voyage has added so many places to our must do and see list. Thank you.
12th September 2016

Budapest
The city was a nice surprise, and much preferred it over Prague, but that might be my prejudice. Got a couple of tips off Tom Rooney as well, and had thoughts of tracking down his internet dream girl.
13th October 2016

Instant hit!
What a great city! Loved the architecture and feel of it also. My traveling female companion found random dark curly black hairs ( I say pubic) on her after bathing in that monsters bath house eeeewhhh!!! Disgusting... The food in Budapest was the bomb in 98 when I visited too, loved it. It was cheap and hearty, those were the days of flesh fests. Nice pic's!!!
14th October 2016

Instant hit!
Did she have to pay extra for the pubes???
4th February 2018

Just re-read this...
...for inspiration! Sounds like you stayed in District 7? Any chance you remember the name of the restaurant you had your fave Hungarian meal at? :)
4th February 2018

Damn our bad memories
That was beers, and beers ago. We have just poured over the google map of Budapest and found the spot where we thought it was and we came up with "the slang pub", which confused us completely because that just doesn't sound like where we ate. We thought it was on a corner, and it was pubbish, but the slang pub seems to just serve mega greasy burgers, so we are now completely stumped. The restaurant we ate at was in district 7 and we were staying in district 6 (I think) and we had a bit of a walk to get to it, but past that we cannot remember, sorry. I wish we were better at jotting details like you guys, I think we spend way too much time drinking when we travel and therefore cannot remember.
4th February 2018

The one that maybe got away...
Thanks for looking guys! I'll keep your cryptic clues in mind as we walk around District 7 - pubbish and on a corner ;) And I've jotted down Instant for a late night drink :)

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