Hungary

Vibrant, resurgent and spectacularly beautiful in its faded glory, Budapest remains one of my favourite cities in my favourite region of the world and was just what the doctor order, restorative for both body and soul. There's something liberating about revisiting places where you have previously been, there's no expectation to see the sights and instead you can focus on the things you love about the place. My plan was simple, frequent the thermal baths to soak my aching foot, get massages, spend as much time as possible in the Jewish district and the ruin pubs and testing my social skills to ensure I hadn't gone too crazy after having nothing but my own company for the past 3 weeks.

For once the 3:00am call to prayer was actually useful as it allowed me to get to Trabzon airport on time for my 5:00am flight. Exhausted I eventually got to my hostel in the early afternoon and after settling in I headed directly to the Gellert baths, built in the early 1900's in the most opulent Art Nouveau style, it was not only the closest baths to my Hostel, but is famed for its mineral waters that apparently are the best in Budapest for arthritis, so perfect. I spent most of the afternoon soaking in the thermal pools, getting a foot massage and exploring the labyrinth like network of baths, saunas, treatment rooms and indoor and outdoor pools. Retiring to the sundeck for a beer in the late afternoon sun, the baths had one more surprise in store, with Tres Cool, the drummer from one of my all time favourite bands, Greenday, sitting down at the next table. Star struck, I debated whether I could be one of those 'people', but eventually decided I couldn't not, so mustered the courage to discreetly introduce myself and quickly explain what Greenday meant to me growing up.

Back at the hostel, it was time for some much needed socialisation and I had a great night drinking, playing cards and enjoying the pleasure of being able to easily converse with fellow humans. Best of all I got a group from the hostel excited about doing a pub crawl of the ruin bars and clubs the next day. Taking it easy the following morning, I headed into the fantastic Central Market building, one of my favourite places in the city, to have a breakfast of in season and exceptional berries and peaches. The rest of the day was spent getting another couple of foot massages, shopping to replace a number of items that have broken or been lost over the last couple of weeks and wandering the Jewish district, which has gentrified a bit more since my last visit, but is still undoubtedly the hipster capital of the world. Full of cool little cafes, artworks and the aforementioned ruin bars, which have expanded in size and number since my last visit.

Meeting up with the group from the hostel in the late afternoon it was time to explore them properly. I had a general plan to start at Szimpla, the original and most famous ruin bar and one I was well acquainted with from my previous visit, before heading to some others that I didn't manage to get to to last time. 4 ruins and 12 hours later we finally called it quits walking home in the daylight having had what was one of the best nights out of my life. Szimpla was a great starting point, a collection of bars and rooms surrounding a open air courtyard, complete with a Trabant, in what was once an apartment building before the roof collapsed. Next we went to Kuplung a small ruin bar in an old mechanics garage, before heading to Anker't, probably the most physically imposing and impressive bar of the night, a massive garden bar in what was once a 5 story apartment building, the towering external walls striped back to its original stone work and lit up in a spectacular fashion. The final stop was Instant Club and was just insane, spanning two adjoining ancient apartment buildings, it includes 23 seperate rooms, 6 bars, two open air garden and, best of all, a labyrinth of catacombs, with little hidden spaces, dance floors and games, including the largest foosball table I have ever seen. It was, without a doubt, the best club I have ever been to, packed on a Tuesday night, a DJ for every possible music preference and a great atmosphere. It was the perfect end to a perfect night.

Getting back to the hostel at 6:00am did, however, mean that today was a bit of a struggle and the prospect of a 6 hour train this afternoon to Timisoara in Romania is not a pleasant prospect..

Post script - In my hung over and sleep deprived state I managed to get on the wrong train, discovered after falling asleep and waking up on an empty train somewhere in rural southern Hungary. With no internet, and an unattended train station, I was at a bit of a loss. However, there was a small shop attached to the station and was able to determine that the next train was an hour away, and it was going to be a magical mystery tour as to where it was heading. So I jumped the next train without a ticket, tried and failed to explain myself to the ticket inspector, until an english speaking local took pity and took the role of interpreter and was able to eventually determine that there was a connection to another train heading toward Romania up the line. Again it was a rural backwater, with an empty station and no way to buy another ticket, but after another hours wait I am now on a train at least heading in the right direction an hour after I was originally meant to be in Timisoara, once again ticketless and not looking forward to the next conversation when the ticket inspector comes along.

I'm guessing I'll get in around 1:00am-2:00am, if I don't get kicked off the train first.

I regret nothing.

Post post script - So I made it to Romania, but the wrong town. Turns out the train I was on did not go to Timisoara and after another lost in translation moment, I misunderstood the ticket inspectors instructions to change trains at Arad and so ended up getting kicked off the train at the next stop, 2 hours further down the line at a town called Deva at 3:00am. A few hours sleep in a dodgy train station hotel and now it's time to work out how the hell to get back on track.

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