Buda and Pest
Last I wrote on my blog I was leaving Vienna on my way to Budapest. I spent a little over 24 hours in Buda and Pest. The first day, Saturday I believe, I met 3 English guys (who had just graduated high school and were now on their big trip around Europe) at the hostel and we all went out for dinner, on a mission to get Goulash. We ended up at this Mediterranean restaurant that had a few Hungarian specialities but I ended up being the only one who got Goulash. It was really good but intense with spicy flavour (though not hot spicy). After dinner we wandered towards the river Danube and crossed over the Pest. We walked by some magazine stands and one of the magazines is called Fanny and the English guys thought this was hilarious and took pictures of themselves in front of the large poster. The maps of Budapest are some reason really hard to grasp because none of the streets are parallel so we had a few detours before finally getting back to the hostel. I was exhausted so I decided to go to bed and the two other girls in my room were already sleeping when I got there. But oh not for long! It was around 11:30pm when I got back and I got into bed but my roommates had just had a nap and were now on their way out to party! They invited me along but I prefered to sleep. Though didn't even get much of that. The girls seemed to take about an hour or so to get ready to leave, then there were some Italians down the hall partying kind of loud, and then in another few hours the girls came back and took them another hour to get ready for bed. I have no idea how much sleep I actually got.
On Sunday I decided to do the grand tour of Budapest. My friend Csaba gave me some ideas of places I should see and I think I got to most of them, even though I was as exhausted as I was. I walked to Pest along the river. I was heading towards Andrássy the the big beautiful street that leads up to the Heroes' Square. I took the metro on the cute underground train (which I found out later used to be one of the earliest tram lines but then they put it underground). I saw the Heroes' Square and walked around the garden behind it (I had a disposable camera so will have pics up once I have developed the cameras). After walking around there a bit I headed back towards the river, deciding I should take a boat cruise along the river. By water you can get a better view of the Parliament, the Castle, Matthias' Cathedral, the university buildings, the Chain bridge, the Margaret bridge among many other buildings on the bank.
After the boat trip, I headed towards Buda over the Chain bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge, with kiosks, and there was a school brass band playing on one side and a rosk type band playing on the other side. I then walked up the hill towards the castle, Matthias' Cathedral, and the Fishermen's Bastion. I wandered around here for a while, on the hill you had a great view of Pest and the river. It was midafternoon now and was fairly hot and I was pretty tired so decided it was time to head to Gellért the hotel but also is one of the many famous hotspring baths in Budapest. The bath reminded me of the Roman Baths I saw in Bath, England, though this time you were actually allowed to swim in them. I only stay a short while, sat in the hot pools and the swimming pool (which was actually cool, but refreshing) and the sauna, and then had to head back to the hostel in order to get ready for my trek to the airport.
I packed my things up and took the tram to the subway all the way to the end of its line and then the bus to the airport. I checked up and sat around the lounge for a little while before Anna Vala, Tisho and his friend appeared. Then we were on our way to Sofia.
On Sunday I decided to do the grand tour of Budapest. My friend Csaba gave me some ideas of places I should see and I think I got to most of them, even though I was as exhausted as I was. I walked to Pest along the river. I was heading towards Andrássy the the big beautiful street that leads up to the Heroes' Square. I took the metro on the cute underground train (which I found out later used to be one of the earliest tram lines but then they put it underground). I saw the Heroes' Square and walked around the garden behind it (I had a disposable camera so will have pics up once I have developed the cameras). After walking around there a bit I headed back towards the river, deciding I should take a boat cruise along the river. By water you can get a better view of the Parliament, the Castle, Matthias' Cathedral, the university buildings, the Chain bridge, the Margaret bridge among many other buildings on the bank.
After the boat trip, I headed towards Buda over the Chain bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge, with kiosks, and there was a school brass band playing on one side and a rosk type band playing on the other side. I then walked up the hill towards the castle, Matthias' Cathedral, and the Fishermen's Bastion. I wandered around here for a while, on the hill you had a great view of Pest and the river. It was midafternoon now and was fairly hot and I was pretty tired so decided it was time to head to Gellért the hotel but also is one of the many famous hotspring baths in Budapest. The bath reminded me of the Roman Baths I saw in Bath, England, though this time you were actually allowed to swim in them. I only stay a short while, sat in the hot pools and the swimming pool (which was actually cool, but refreshing) and the sauna, and then had to head back to the hostel in order to get ready for my trek to the airport.
I packed my things up and took the tram to the subway all the way to the end of its line and then the bus to the airport. I checked up and sat around the lounge for a little while before Anna Vala, Tisho and his friend appeared. Then we were on our way to Sofia.
posted by Kelly @ 12:26 PM
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