Journey In

Krakow was great, but after 5 days it was definitely time to leave. And we were kind of excited too as this would be our first ever sleeper train! It was a long day trying to figure out what to do with ourselves after leaving the hostel, but they at least held onto our bags for us. We didn't need to cart them about the whole time.

So we just chilled out until it was time to get to the station. I think around 8pm or so. What can I say about the train journey? Well, I don't think we'll be doing it again in a hurry that's for sure! We'd read that its cheaper to take a sleeper than it is to stay in a hostel for a night. That may be true in Western Europe. But over in this direction, when the accommodation is comparatively cheaper I'm not sure that the same applies. And you're certainly not getting much for your money either. A bed in a cramped cabin (I couldn't stretch out anyway) and a pretty standard train bog for a whole carriage-load of passengers. I couldn't possibly complain about the company though. We would have had the cabin to ourselves, but due to some mix-up we got an old Aussie couple in with us. They were lovely and very chatty. And well-travelled too. We don't remember her name, but his was Clive. Which was easy to remember as she warned us about Clive's snoring. If it got too loud we just had to shout "Clive! Turn over!" or ask her to give him a boot. We stayed up quite late talking and afterwards watched the black countryside drifting past the windows.

We got up at 7. Hot, sweaty, a bit cramped up, and still very tired. It wasn't a good night's sleep at all. We had to keep a window open because of the heat so it was noisy. I had trouble fitting into bed and I think Katie was more worried about people coming onto the train to steal her away. Add to that just the excitement of being in a bed on train. It was all too much and we were shattered! We couldn't wait to get to our Hostel.

Day 1

We missed two buses into town from the station trying to figure out how to buy tickets. It turns out they got a great system of using the same tickets for all public transport. You just buy in bulk. Trouble being that you gotta find somewhere to buy the bloody things first! Anyway, we got in eventually and after a bit of a curfuffle finding money and breakfast and waiting for the hostel room to be free we got our beds sorted. It wasn't a great morning.

Budapest appeared to be lovely though. So we didn't waste time napping or any of that kind of pansy stuff. We were straight out exploring. We drifted along the Danube, through the big main street (full of tourists and shoppers) and up through Heores square to get into the city park. We were greeted into the park by a huge convoy of blacked out police cars with sirens blaring. Chinese flags on the bonnets, guess it was some sort of important government job. Was fairly exciting. Then into the park itself. No tourists here today. Was brilliant. Seems we got into Budapest for the two main days of their May holiday. So there was loads of local hanging out, having a nice time. We picked a spot of grass near some live music and chilled until dinner time.

I gotta talk about the food a bit. For the most part its amazing. We often struggled to find a place with good veggie options for Katie but that's always the case. My problem was picking something out of all the options available! Whenever we did find something though, the cooking was excellent. There were one or two exceptions, but it was like fine dining on a McDonalds budget. We were lovin' it!

Back to the hostel. This was a strange one. Not like any of our other hostels. As we got in at the tail-end of the weekend people were leaving and we quickly had the dorm to ourselves. The whole building was a flat belonging to a couple. They had the dorm room, a private room coming off of that and another separate. Each room was occupied but we were in the dorm. So yeah, we were staying in their home and using their bathroom. The owners were lovely. They had a lovely dog, the most chilled out pitbull I've ever met. It all just felt a little uncomfortable though. We couldn't make ourselves at home like in a hotel or whatever and we couldn't relax like in a normal hostel. Location is great though. There are restaurants, bars and cafes all up the street, but its kind of set apart from the main tourist hub. So its got a better feel with better food and at far better prices.

Budapest

After a bit more exploration we came to the decision that this is yet another of the most beautiful cities in the world (that we've seen :p). The people maybe aren't quite so welcoming as they are in Krakow. But it does seem more multicultural than some other cities. It has a lot of Eastern influence and a bit of a Turkish vibe that sets it apart from everywhere else. I'm glad we came here as I really don't think we'll find anywhere in the world like this place.

Stuff We Did

We've seen loads of cool stuff. To celebrate the F1 coming to Hungary, they had a massive car festival. Jenson Button did a lap round the streets in his F1 car. They had mini races of all kinds. Big cars and bikes, really impressive, all over the place. The general holiday atmosphere has been really cool. Also, Bruce crikey-oh-mikey bloody Willis is filming the new Die Hard here! In the place where we are walking around! We've seen camera crews and closed roads, but no sight of the man himself unfortunately. Pretty cool though! Its actually set in Russia, but I guess Budapest was good enough. Can't wait to see it!

We also did quite a bit of shopping. We sent a whole load of clothes home. A box each, which cost quite a bit of money. So keep your eyes open for those parcels mums! The cost was worth getting a load out of our bags anyway. But I desperately needed new shorts. Its not really trouser weather here anymore. Katie also needed new shoes. Sandals. And the only decent ones we could find were fairly expensive. But they needed bought. So now she's having to deal with huge blisters cos of all the walking we're doing. I don't really understand Katie's aversion to sensible shoes, but then its not my feet getting sore. And we're talking about some pretty huge blisters here.

Our last day was pretty much spent at the Turkish baths. We only got a few pics here but it was a lovely pool. Very busy. The outdoor pool was about 30ᵒC, but inside there were smaller pools. Some as hot as 38ᵒC. They were awesome, but the hotter they got the worse they smelled. It was all natural thermal spring water so the natural chemicals were quite hefty. Big eggy smell. We couldn't deal with the hottest bath for very long. But at 36ᵒC the smell was acceptable.

I'll finish this post with all the boring geographical and history type stuff. A good change if you're bored of all that up there, but stop reading here if you've lost interest. You've got my opinion (being "visit Budapest!") and that's what matters. Hopefully you'll find some meaning behind my pics here too.

So! A long, long time ago Hungary wasn't Hungary and there weren't many people here. So a bunch of dudes calling themselves the Magyar tribes (7 in total) drifted in from the East to set up shop. I'm gonna miss out quite a lot by the way, and probably get things wrong too. But I'll try and get it wrong in an entertaining way! These tribes were all Pagan, which was a bit of a bummer cos everybody else in Europe was Christian. Along comes a dude, possibly sent by the Pope, to get them all believing in the right and proper God. Guy's name was Stephen. I think by this time the places we know of as Buda and Pest had already got underway, not sure. Anyway, the Magyar leadership saw a lot of sense in not winding up the Christians and converted. Stephen (to become St. Stephen) was to become King of Hungary, but he needed a crown off the Pope to make it official. Unfortunately there was only one going and that was promised to the Poles. But the Pope had a dream and Archangel Gabriel basically told him to screw the Poles cos the Hungarians were well chilled and a nice bunch of lads. I think this wound the Poles up a bit but the Hungarians now have monuments to Gabriel as well as St. Stephen.

Stephen died without an heir as his son was killed or died or something. There was much gnashing and grinding of teeth. The Pagans tried to revolt. Everything worked out fine I guess. For some people at least. I think things went along pretty smooth for a while. Battles were fought and won. But then the Turks broke through! They sacked the place and took Budapest for themselves. By this time I suppose the bridge between Buda and Pest had been built to join the cities into one. This is when the city and the country at large started to drift away socially, architecturally and everything else from the rest of Europe. And that's to the benefit of later generations such as us. They added awesome new buildings. They constructed the spas and baths, some of which are still running now. And they changed the people too.

They didn't last though. The Hungarians made a deal with the Austrians to help take it all back. This went pretty well, although Hungary became part of the Austrian Empire. The Habsburgs perhaps? Hungary, with its new links to the super-power of the time became rich. Things were great. Some weren't too happy and led revolts which didn't go too well but all in all the alliance was a pretty smooth move. Until Austria lost everything after the first world war. Then it kind of went downhill. But it seems pretty cool now.

Budapest appears to be thriving. There's obviously plenty of poor people. But it's a country like any other. Current politics seems a little corrupt. The last President resigned after it turned out his Phd was phoney and the current party has majority seats in parliament making them a little too powerful. But that's politics for you! Its all a bag of laughs.

We're having a great time at least. And now we're in another part of Hungary. We're by Lake Balaton. Apparently the biggest lake in Europe. And there's two big yacht clubs and everybody's chilled. More on that to come.