A week in Budapest

This week I've been given an unique opportunity in that I have spent sometime in the same town in both winter and summer.

I was in Budapest for a few days in January, when the weather was, at best, -3. I fondly remember finishing my walking tour, feeling quite frozen and having my weather guide tell me that it felt like -8, lovely.

So to come back in summer has been great. I re-visited a lot of the places I visited in January so I could see the difference in nature, weather and people.

This time I did the Budapest walking tour, I did the communist tour last time. We walked all through old town in Pest and then across the bridge into Buda to see the castle district and all its glory.

Apparently Budapest has had some great inventors in its time. Inventions from the area include:
Ballpoint pen
Computer
Rubix cube
Safety matches
Helicopter
Phone exchange
Prezi
Beatle (car) design
Vitamin c - noble prize

We rubbed bellies of statues for good luck, observed the lions with missing tongues (or not, depending on where you stand), through the shopping areas, and lots more.

Budapest was having a heatwave while I was there, with most days reaching 37 degrees consistently. One water company was doing a great promotion. They placed stands on a number of busy corners and handed out bags of water - it was very refreshing!

One afternoon I visited the central market and toured around all the food stands. One butchers had all these tongues lined up for sale and another had rolls of fat. There were lots of stands selling paprika as well.

Wednesday night saw me down at a jazz bar. It was free entry night and I sat up the bar in a small restaurant style setting, drinking a local red wine and enjoying the music.

Lucky for me they sang mainly western songs, so I understood some of it, just not the banter in between. There was a singer, pianist and drummer. They were awesome!!

On Thursday night, after bailing on the pub crawl, cause it was a ripoff, I went in search of the Jewish ruin bars myself. I found a really cool area with lots of bars and nightlife and had a gin.

Friday evening I aimed to explore Margaret island. Unfortunately I left it a bit too late and it was getting quite dark to explore. So instead I watched the cool hourly water, music and light show that happened near the start of the island.

At that was my time in Budapest. I ate, I drank, I attended sziget and loved the town all over again.

Thanks Budapest, until till next time.

Where I stayed
Maverick Hostel - Ferenciek tere 2, Budapest, Hungary

Fab place! It felt like we were staying in what used to be giant apartments. I was on the 2nd floor, we had a great kitchen, a few bathrooms, a living space, plus 4 rooms. My room was massive, for 10 ppl, it had an upstairs bit and our own bathroom. Free tea and coffee. Big kitchen downstairs to use and the location is awesome. No a/c thoughRead more