Budapest: For business and for pleasure!

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Trip Start Sep 02, 2009 Previous
Entry Trip End Oct 30, 2010 Next
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  Budapest, Hungary
Thursday, September 24, 2009

We arrived in to Budapest at about 12.30, very tired from the night train and looking forward to lying down in a nice bed! It didn't take us very long to find the hostel, only a couple of stops on the metro from the station, but it took us ages to figure out how to get in to the hostel! We were stood outside for quite a while looking at the sign which said 'For Caminito Hostel ring bell 14'. It sounds simple enough... except for the fact that there wasn't a bell anywhere! Eventually someone came out the door and we went in.

The hostel is in an apartment block with a lovely old courtyard in the middle. The hostel itself is tiny. It is owned and run by a lovely Argentinian man who was very eager to show us what Budapest has to offer. There are only 3 rooms and a common room, which is also the reception and kitchen. Because the hostel is so small everyone has been really sociable. There were a group of young English lads here when we arrived, on their last holiday together before they start uni. A couple of them went to the supermarket one evening, and came back with three tropical fish... they thought it was a great idea at first, but soon it dawned on them that they had 2 weeks of their trip left, and somehow had to get them to Poland and home alive! We doubt that the fish will make it as instead of fish food they were feeding them Kit Kat Chunky...

We went for a nap almost straight away, and it was awesome!

The next day we had some business to attend to... to find the Embassy of Belarus and try to get a transit visa! I had stupidly decided against getting a transit visa for Belarus before we left as I thought we could go around it to get to Moscow. It turns out that all the trains to Moscow go through Belarus.

Eventually, after a lot of walking in the wrong direction in a very dodgy looking part of Buda (we are staying on the Pest side of the river), we found a small villa with a tiny buzzer which stated that it was the Embassy of Belarus. We were buzzed in, and within a few minutes had filled out an application form, given them our passports and were told to come back on Wednesday to collect them. It was that simple (I had been stressing for days as I thought there would be a huge queue and application at the embassy might not be possible)! We were a bit nervous about not having our passports for a few days, but were more than happy to have to extend our stay in Budapest.

It was still quite early when we left the embassy (I had forced Dave to get up mega early as I was convinced that we would be queuing for hours), so we took the metro back to Pest and had a walk around the centre. We saw the Basilica and when we went inside there was a concert orchestra playing, practicing for a concert they were having the next day. It was wonderful to watch and listen to them play in such a beautiful church.

Budapest is such a stunning city and the atmosphere is really laid back. The Danube river is spectacular, especially at night. There are great statues all over the city, and the architecture, although not particularly grand in size, is very impressive.

That night we went out for cocktails at a bar called Morrison's (not to be mistaken for the supermarket). It was quite a treck to get there, but the walk along the Danube... and the 500 forint cocktails (about 1 pound 50) made the walk well worth it!

Unfortunately that night I was ill.

The thing we were most excited about doing whilst in Budapest was visiting the thermal baths! They didn't disappoint. It took us a while to figure out where to go and how to get to the changing rooms, but once we were changed and ushered in the right direction we got into our first pool which was inside. The main attraction had to be the outside area! It had 3 pools, a whirlpool and jacuzzi, and benches and sun loungers around the edges. It was a gloriously hot day, not a cloud in the sky. We went in the whirlpool first! It was great fun. Then we tried the other pools. The second pool was freezing, so we went in then came strait back out. The third pool however, was 38°C... and absolute heaven! We almost melted with relaxation the moment we got in. There was even a fountain which you could stand underneath to massage your back (it was more of a head massage for me because of my height!). We spent the day relaxing in the hot pool, sun bathing on the benches, and trying the various temperature saunas (one which was 80-100°!!!)and steam room.

I don't really remember the walk home, all I remember is feeling like jelly for the rest of the day. Dave said he felt really lightheaded and clean.

When we got back to the hostel some new people had moved in to the room we were in. Jo from Chester and Tom from Leeds. We went out for a drink with them that evening at a really chilled out bar. It was great to have new people to socialise with.

On Wednesday our passports were ready to collect! After collecting them, complete with a new visa inside (yay!), we had another walk around the city. We came across a Dutch-Hungarian charity shop and I bought the most amazing pair of jeans! I was so happy!

That night we went out with Jo and Tom to celebrate getting our visas. We decided to go back to Morrison's... but I got ID'd. Not good.Or so we thought at the time. It turns out that it was a good thing because we stumbled across a VERY cheap bar called Broadway. We ordered a double tequila shot and double vodka for me (it turned out to be a triple because she measured it wrong!) and a double Jagermeister shot and a large beer for Dave... it came to just over 3 quid! We all toasted to me and Dave getting our visas (and to me getting ID) and got very drunk!

Love!

Amy and Dave xx 

P.S. Is that a suitable update Bec? Lol.

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