Budapest

Friday 7th December

Today was the first time we had flown out of Heathrow airport for awhile! It mean that transport there and back is pretty cheap if you can handle bumping along on the Piccadilly line stopping at a million different stops before reaching the terminal. It seems like there’s a north, south and central of every single place we went via. Lew headed there straight from work and we managed to work out that we were just one carriage apart as we arrived into the airport. We were flying with British Airways which is always nice since I don’t have to have a “visa check” meaning we can go straight through security. Iv recently come up with the most obvious but seriously stress reducing idea of having a bag which we can put all the liquids in and laptops etc so that when we get to security it’s a matter of throwing it all in the provided container as opposed to unzipping my suitcase. Likewise at the other end we can just throw it back in the bag and repack somewhere where it’s less crowded. It’s literally reduced my stress by 90%!! So with security cleared we made our way to the gate and waited in the queue to board. People in London love to just stand even when there isn’t a plane at the gate! The entire plane journey was pretty relaxed and the fact that BA sits you together is now considered a bonus. We both ate the meals I had brought with us so we didn’t have to buy airport food which was a eggplant pesto pasta and Lews was a smoked salmon pasta our lovely flatmate Conor had made yesterday for him. We landed into Budapest pretty late at 10.45pm and as we waited to get off I googled the best way to our Airbnb. There is a bus 100E that takes you straight into town and costs 900 Hungarian florets per person. There is a machine by the bus stop where you can buy them with a card and I 100% don’t recommend getting cash out at the airport. I stressed and thought the bus was cash only so we exchanged a few euros in the airport for a very inflated price. The journey was easy and before we knew it we were making the short walk to the apartment. It did look very much like Poland and we were reminded that it’s one of the eastern block countries. The Airbnb has a very strange way to get into it which involves me downloading an app and making a profile on something called Danalock which allowed us to get in and out of the place without a key. It took a bit of fluffing around with and whilst it saved potential key losses I was a little frustrating. As we walked in the hallway looked gorgeous but Lews silence as he walked into the other room made me a little concerned. Then he said the place hasn’t been cleaned and this is honestly the first time this has happened to us and we use a LOT of Airbnb’s. Infact it’s all we use when we travel Europe! It was now 11.30pm at night and we tried to call the Airbnb owner multiple times with no luck. Lew was having a bit of a hissy fit as he had a long day at work and didn’t want to deal with this. I on the other had just started stripping the bed and shoving it all into the washing machine. Lew was disgusting that I was touching other people’s sheets but I reminded him I clean shit off people’s arses sometimes so this is nothing. He went out to get a burger from McDonald’s as it was the only thing open and I chatted to my parents briefly before vacuuming and mopping the floor. Thankfully there was one clean sheet I could put on the bed and I also dried the pillow cases using the heater and the hairdryer. Lew came back with a amazing looking burger of which I couldn’t believe McDonald could even produce and was a bit happier. We managed to dry one small hand towel so we could shower but to top it off the shower flooded the bathroom and I couldn’t fix it. Clearly this has been happening for awhile as all the wooden door frames in the bathroom was damaged and it had a damp smell. We put the dirty towels on a wash and dry cycle and called it a night just after midnight. We would have to just sort it out in the morning!

Saturday 8th December

We had missed a few calls from the Airbnb owner whilst we were sleeping in but he said he would send a cleaner and plumber straight away. That was fine as we would be out and about and booked ourselves into a free walking tour with a company called Generation Tours that started at 10.30am outside St Stephans Basilica. We didn’t have time to shop for breakfast really so on the way we grabbed some bread rolls and bananas. We passed through a large Xmas market we would have to come back to and almost brought something decent for breakfast but it was cash only and we didn’t have enough. One annoying thing about Hungary is despite being part of the EU it still uses its own currency of the florets which is a struggle since it’s in huuuuge denominations so 1000 florets = €3. WHY! They say Hungarians are good mathematicians and I can understand why. Another thing to note in this country is that all the banks are swipe access with your bank card meaning foreigners are forced to cash exchange booths and also Euronet cash machines which both charge fees. Thankfully Lew managed to get into one bank which had a broken door so we got cash out using our Revolut card which I had already transferred some money into the local currency so no withdrawal fees! So finding the tour group was pretty easy with their blue umbrellas in front of the basilica and overlooking another beautiful Xmas market in full swing in the crisp winter air. Our English tour guide for the next few hours was going to be a young student studying foreign affairs called Regi. Born and breed in Budapest she was as local as they come. She started us off by teaching us some Hungarian which she understood was a bit of a mission to understand. So to say Thank you it sounds like “kus-er-num”, Goodbye is actually the opposite to English and is “hello” and finally she addressed something she gets asked in every tour and that is how the Hungarian finish their phone conversation. She said it sounds like “hello hello pussy pussy” which obviously sounds incredibly strange in English am I right? But it actually means “bye bye kisses kisses” in Hungarian - far more appropriate! A quick bit of background knowledge about Budapest as im sure you all know is Hungary’s capital city and is home to more than 2 million people. It was created in 1873 when the three cities Buda, Obuda and Pest were merged together. It was ruled by the Habsburg dynasty in the 17th-18th centuries and was also part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which I talked about in the previous blog when we were in Vienna which was the capital city of this empire. So there is some similarities in the histories and its actually been quite good doing these citys back to back! So Regi started off by telling us about the Basilica behind us which is the highest Roman Catholic Church in Budapest at 96m tall. Once again as like many European cities no building can be higher so this certainly stands out in the skyline. It was built in 1905 and was named after St Stephan who was the first King of Hungary. Before St Stephan Hungarian citizens used to be pagans until Christianity sweep the city and of course a church was needed. It’s free to enter the church but we didn’t have time as the tour was moving on shortly! Regi mentioned that inside the Basilica is a relic which is actually the mummified right hand of St Stephan which was removed from its coffin in 1083. We moved on from here with many people adding the Basilica on their list of places to visit now that it involves a creepy hand and it’s free. Regi walked us a short while to a small park where she was able to stand in a bench to speak to us as she’s not the largest person. This was Elizabeth square which was named after Elizabeth or aka Sisi who we had learnt about in Vienna a few weeks ago. Of course her and her husband king Francis were rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire of which Vienna was the heart and Buda and Pest were actually seperate cities then. Moving onto more local tips Regi pointed out the pool we saw in front of us actually turned out to be the roof of a popular bar called Akvárium Klub. She spoke about a local liquor called Pálinka which is 50% alcohol and is to the Hungarians what vodka is to the Russians! They infuse it with all sorts of flavours. Nothing will take me away from mulled wine however. I think I finally understand addiction now that iv been introduced to mulled wine and Mannor chocolates! The next large area we went to was Votomarty Ter which is a square named after a famous musician who wrote the Hungarian national anthem. Here the largest Xmas market in the city is situated but it is better to visit it at night whilst it is in full swing. We had actually walked through here earlier looking for breakfast so it’s close to our Airbnb. Regis spoke to us about the underground system which we could actually feel rattling away below us and turns out this is the oldest underground in continental Europe. By saying continental this excluded London which obviously has an even older underground system! We continued walking across the beautiful chain bridge which only came about when a citizen living in Budapest missed his father living in Vienna die. Back then in the early 1800’s there was only pontoons spanning the river and with it being mid winter and half frozen he had to wait three weeks until it was safe to cross. He promised that he would build the first permanent bridge and that he did as the famous Széchenyi Chain Bridge was opened in 1849. The man who constructed the incredible lions on the bridge took his job so seriously that he visited the zoo everyday for 15 years so that what he created was perfect...although we didn’t see any tongues which could be the only fault there! Wandering across it the bridge moved underfoot with all the people walking as it was super busy. It gave an impressive view down river at the parliament building which isn’t quite as tall as st Stephansplatz bacilica but just as impressive with its gothic style architecture despite being relatively new and built in 1904. Getting to the other side things were becoming rather numb at this stage and we were pleased with the slightly vigorous walk up to the castle mountain which has a few important building on top of it. There is the State government building, History Museum and National Gallery. The museum and library are now what occupies this building but previously when the Ottomans were in power it was used as gunpowder storage and of course has been repaired multiple times as it blew up. Regi also spoke to us about some of the famous Hungarian inventions we may or may not know about. So there is the rubix cube, the atomic bomb and also Vitamin C were all invented by Hungarians and the man who invented Vitamin C Albert Szent-Györgyi also won a noble prize for his work. Having climbed the hill we now had a good view of both sides of the city separated by the lovely Danube. We were now standing on the Buda side which is considered the nicer side and also had a lot more hills. The Pest side is far more flat and where we are staying and theres a lot more bars and clubs over that side. Regi explained the history behind the hot pools in Budapest aka “The city of baths” and that is because the Danube is on a fault line and therefore it has thermal springs that pop up around it and hence the thermal baths were born. This was discovered by the Romans in the 1st century AD which named the city Aquincum due to its 125 thermal springs. The Roman Empire fell and it wasn’t until the Ottoman Turks occupied the city in the 16th century AD that Budapest was once again a mighty metropolis. The Turks, with their love of thermal spas, continued the work that the Romans had started of populating the city with baths. When the Ottoman empire fell, locals continued the bathing traditions, and many of Budapest’s most popular modern spas are built on the foundations of Ottoman bathhouses.. We had been recommended to got to one that is considered to be very Turkish called Gellért but many people go to the one in the city park called Széchenyi Thermal Bath. She didn’t recommend going on a Saturday however as it can be crazy over crowded. We would head to Gellért later to check it out. The beautiful white building we were now standing in front of was the Hungarian presidents residence or the Sándor Palace and he even had guards out front which change at certain times of the day. This Neoclassical building was built in 1806 for Hungarian noblemen and isn’t open for the public to view inside. Up here is called the Castle District but there is only remains of the medieval castle that once used to stand here which was destroyed in the Great Seige of 1686 and was beyond repair. We could only see the foundations of how large it used to be but there wasn’t much more information about it such as pictures of what it used to look like. The final stop of our tour was in front of the Matthias church which was very similar to that of St Stephans Cathedral in Vienna but this one has a tiled roof in beautiful orange. Absolutely stunning and something iv only ever seen here and Vienna. I could count the Duomo in Florence but that’s next level beautiful! So this church was built in the 13th century and originally used to be called “Church of our lady” before it was renamed. King Matthias was coronated here and also had his wedding. The church was even turned into a mosque during the ottoman ruling in 1526! Up behind the the church was something called the Fisherman’s Bastion. Named this due to the local fish market that used to be held here during Medieval Times. It was severely damaged during WWII and required rebuilding to restore it to the beautiful state its in today! Here there is also a man on a horse and Regi begun telling is the equestrian legend which none of us knew. So if the horse in the statue is standing upright with all four legs on the ground the riding in which the statue is of died peacefully. If one front leg is raised the rider died in battle or of battle wounds. And if both front legs of the horse are off the ground the rider died a violent death. Regi then finished up the tour with a quick fire quiz round of questions based upon things she had taught us during the tour. Those who answered the fasted got given a Hungarian chocolate! Neither Lew nor I were fast enough and we blamed the cold dulling our senses and numbing our extremities. Once we had given Regi 4,800 Hungarian forints (£13/$24 nzd) we fast walked back over the chain bridge and up the Danube to the Central Market. By this stage we were starving and also frozen solid but a fast walk sorted that side of things out. The market was in the most beautiful building but it wasn’t quite what we expected inside. It was dark but lit up by Xmas lightening and had a festive cheer about it all. Regi has told us the good cheap food was upstairs so we made a beeline for the stairs. What was up here wasn’t exactly appetising looking and reminded me a little of multiple school cafeterias. But then again the Hungarian favourite of goulash and chicken paprikash are not the easier to present in a delicate way. Lew was losing it with hanger and we ended up buying him a crappy looking pizza bread. There wasn’t much hope for me so I pulled out my second white bread roll for the day and also a pear. Man I couldn’t be gluten free as having a bread roll is my fall back option when I’m starving but can’t find anything meeting the criteria of a decent lunch! We did decide to buy a few items for dinner since occasionally in the past we have lost track of time and not had an open supermarket to go to. I had in my mind that I wanted a chicken curry so we found a butchers and I pointed out what appeared to be a breast with the skin still on that was considerably cheaper than the one without skin. We both realised why as when I women picked it up it was basically a carcass with the ribs still attached! We didn’t quite have the worlds to say no and it was bagged up before we even blinked. I didn’t quite know what to do with the carcass in a plastic bag I received! We then went to find some vegetables to add to the curry and we ended up with cauliflower and potatoes. All the produce was so lovely and fresh and we made our way into the supermarket in the basement of the building. Down here is also a fish market and they had a small tank full of different types of large fish splashing around. I think if I was a fish it would be rather claustrophobic in there. The supermarket was pretty useless and had no ingredients to make a curry. I must say I have had difficulty finding coconut milk all over Europe but I really was craving a curry! We gave up and left planning to make the most of what we had. On the walk home I was obviously still starving having only had two white bread rolls, and some fruit and I was very excited when we came across a place called the Pad Thai Wokbar! It looked amazing and I couldn’t help but drag us in there to get a couple of stir fry’s to take home. It was uber cheap and worked out to be about 2865 forints (£8/$14 nzd) for two meals! We fast walked home and ate them in our clean and toasty apartment. It was the perfect snack since we planned to head to the hot pools afterwards. It was certainly chilly outside as we made our way down the road and across the bridge to the Gellért bathes. It was an incredibly fancy hotel that it’s under and it wasn’t the cheapest either at 10,000 forints (£28/$51 nzd) for both of us. We got given a wrist band which also gave us a locker within the price. It was an absolute maze of lockers and rooms which people could hire and I soon realised we probably should have brought some towels! I really figured they would provide them but seems you have to rent them. We couldn’t be bothered paying more money and to be honest by the time we found out way back to the locker we would be dried anyways! We walked out into the main pool area which had a cold lap pool with the most incredible high tiled ceiling. Eventually we found our way to the thermal pools which once again consisted of a high ceiling tiled room with a pool on either side. It wasn’t quite what we expected but we sat in here and admired the view for at least an hour. I suddenly thought whilst I was looking at everyone and their different body shapes that me and probably a lot of women out there have been brought up with such a false goal to what we should look like. I don’t know about you but iv always dreamed it look like a Victoria Secret supermodel and I used to watch them on the catwalk in their show when I was a teenager. But let’s be honest I’m never going to be like that and you know not once during this two hours at the pool did I notice a women who had a figure like they do! So why is that so ingrained into my head that that’s what I should look like? Thankfully iv accepted that it’s not my destiny and I can love the body I have been given but it’s taken a good 25 years to feel this way! Eventually we found the pools outside which felt a lot more relaxing and closer to home! It was also less crowded out here probably due to the fact that you have to run through the cold to get here! At 7.30pm we called it a night since the pools were due to close at 8pm anyways and we wanted to get to the Xmas market. Using some toilet paper and also the free hairdryers we managed to get relatively dry but it was a little bit more of a mission without a towel! Heading back out into the cold we went back across the bridge and to the Vörösmarty Square to the Xmas market which was in full swing. First things first we needed some hot wine in our hands to make this event not only warmer but more enjoyable. It wasn’t hard to fine and next thing we were strolling amongst the stalls, wine in hand browsing through all the hand made Xmas items. One porcelain Xmas decoration caught my eye and I vowed to come back if I didn’t find anything else I liked! We found all sorts of things including these amazing dried fruits and spices that had been dipped in some oil made of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves etc that smelt amazing. Instead of struggling to get the beautiful dried pieces home I went with just buying a couple of bottles of the oil for 600 Forints (£1.67/$3 nzd) which were able to be used in the defuser! Lew was now hunting for some food despite us having the chicken caracas in the fridge at home and I finally caved in and decided to buy some roasted chestnuts to go with my mulled wine! I have literally been putting off trying these since last winter because they always seemed so expensive and I had no idea what they would taste like. I was fascinated as I always remember these chestnuts littering the parks at home and I had never thought to collect them and roast them! Perhaps now I might try when we get home. So buying a small bag of chestnuts I proceeded to eat it whole and soon discovered that the hard outer shell most definitely needs removing! They are spongy and taste a little like a sweet potato and not nutty at all so it was a different experience to what I was expecting! Lew ended up finding something called Langos which is a deep fried savoury dough with sour cream, cheese and a mixture of onions and meats on it. It ended up being a proper meal and there was no way he was needing dinner! Post this snack I decided that the xmas decoration we had seen when we first arrived at the market was the one and we headed back to the stall and for 5,000 Hungarian Forints (£14/$25 nzd) we chose a beautiful white christmas bourbel with Budapest written on it. There were so many gorgeous ones and I could have filled an entire tree with them all but one would be plenty since we still had so much of Europe left to collect more beautiful pieces! We decided to make our way home and I began to try and work out the best way to cook the chicken we had and vegetables which would end up going into a container for our dinner at the airport tomorrow night! We snuggled in and watched Mowglie which had just come out on Netflix and it was a nice relaxing way to end the day!

This horse has shiny balls as its good luck to rub them…but also illegal

No wonder we are all deprived of nutrient! Just look at these things!!

Yay this is what it should have looked like last night!

Sunday 9th December

Lews went out for a run this morning whilst I caught up on some work for my business with Arbonne. I have to admit its kinda cool to be able to use time that would be other wise wasted such a sitting at the airport or being on a bus/train to work from my phone! Its a completely new experience but its making me feel like im even more flexible when it comes to work now! We had a check out time of 11am and it was a quick pack up by the time Lew got back at 1030am. Our Airbnb couldn’t accomodate our bags for the day so a quick google search the night before located a left luggage place a short walk away from our apartment. Let me tell you that the price of it is certainly not cheap and and cost us a total of 4,500 forints (£12.60/$23.30 nzd) to leave two bags for a couple of hours! Pretty easy way to make money on the side for some people! Once we left here Lew put a call through to his mum whilst we walked in the rain to the Danube where the “Shoes on the Danube Bank” memorial is. This is to honour the people who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during WWII where they were ordered to remove their shoes before being shot at the waters edge allowing their bodies to be carried away by the current. They estimate that 3,500 people of which 800 of these were Jewish were killed in this way and the 60 period-appropriate shoes made of iron as part of the memorial are a bleak reminder of how lucky we are in this day and age. The Arrow Cross Party also known as NYKP were in power during this time and were a far-right fascist group lead by Ferenc Szalasi and modelled off the Nazi’s in Germany They were in power for only 6 months but during this time 10-15 thousand civilians (many Jews and Romani) were murdered and 80,000 deported from Hungary into Austrian concentration camps. This was something I most certainly didn’t know about Hungary that they effectively had their own wee Nazi party that believed that the Hungarians and Germans were the better race. Continuing along the Danube the rain ceased but it was bitterly cold and difficult to get any cameras out to take pictures without having to blow furiously on them afterwards for warmth. But the beautiful parliament building came into view and it was an absolute must to snap a few shots. The gothic style building was finally completed in 1904 after being started in 1885! It was on the balcony of this building that president Mátyás Szűrös announced the Hungarian Republic in 1989 which was the end of communism in Hungary as the Soviet army agreed to withdraw and Hungary became a member of NATO (1988) and the European Union (2005). But basically keeping it simple its just a beautiful building that looks even better from the other side of the river! It was around 1pm at this stage and we were feeling a bit peckish. I had read some blogs before we came here and it was recommended that we try a restaurant called Pest Buda which is located on the Buda side so we walked across the bridge and back up the other side admiring the parliament building as we went and arriving at the restaurant which is exactly where our walking tour ended yesterday! We were frozen and it was so nice to be inside a cozy restaurant with a couple of local dishes including a home made sausage and of course the goulash to try. We holed up in here for a few hours and by the time we emerged the sun felt like it was setting but we hadn’t even done much! Close by to us was a cool wee place called the Hospital in the Rocks and with it being so cold outside we decided to check it out. So it is a hospital as well as a nuclear bunker museum that is down under the ground in a stretch of 10km of interconnecting caves and cellars beneath the Buda Castle Hill on the western bank of the Danube. However, these natural caves had many other purposes as well such as food storage, housing prisoner and even housing a harem (household of Muslim women) when the Ottoman forces rules the city in the 16th Century. When WWII broke out a municipal air-raid siren control room was built in one of the caves and the city officials declared that an emergency medical facility needed to be built here to treat civilians and soldiers. The hospital was built in 1944 was under the protection of the International Red Cross meaning this was safe from armed conflict. We were only allowed to enter the hospital on a guided tour and this started off with a video explaining the history and showing us some photos and video footage from when the hospital was in use. Once this was completed we begun the walk through the cave system. The underground hospital was linked to the above ground St Johns Hospital which was able to supply it with all its food and equipment. Today the wards and different rooms are filled with lifelike figurines of Hungarian, German and Russian soldiers to depict scenes from when the hospital was being used in WWII. During these times when the Russians continued to hold Budapest under siege with constant bombings the hospital became the only safe place for medical treatment and the cave became overfilled with bleeding and injured men, women and children. The operating theatre and emergency room operated 24 hours a day and the lack of medical supplies, fresh water and food meant that infection was rampant. The hospital does have an impressive system where the air is circulated through active carbon filters that were able to clean the contaminated air and this is still used today with the old school generators that look like they were build very throughly. Post WWII during 1958 -1962 with the potential for chemical and nuclear attacks at any point during the Cold War the cave system was improved to be able to withstand these attacks and this was kept secret by the ruling Hungarian Communist Party. This Hospital and Nuclear Bunker was only discovered and opened to the public in 2007 and I highly recommend spending a bit of time here whilst your in Budapest! They had a lot of old tools and equipment that was used during the time including bone saws, ventilators, used drug containers and bandages. It would have been a very fascinating place to work but I am sure it was incredibly tiring and the staff must have missed seeing the sunshine! They had a few interesting displays about Nuclear attacks and even had photos of what would happen if places such as London was bombed and how far the nuclear dust would travel. There was also a tribute to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and I got the impression that the Hungarians would be forever grateful that them or one of their neighbouring countries were not recipients of an atomic bomb! Once we had left the museum we didn’t have much sunshine left before it got dark. Lew had run to the statue on the hill this morning and promised an amazing view of the city from there so that was our next location which was a spontaneous decision! This involved a fair amount of hill walking and it was most definitely dark by the time we got there even though it was only 4pm! This statue is actually called the Liberty Statue erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary during WWII which ended Nazi Germany occupation. Its located on the Gellert Hill above the spa where we went the night before and is made up of a bronze women holding a palm leaf. Its something you wont miss if your visiting the city. The lights of all the buildings were just being turned on so Budapest begun to light up below us which was a wonderful view. We were however running out of time before we needed to get to the airport and I still had the ruin bar Szimpla Kert on my list for us to visit. We fast walked it there and I of course ordered a small mulled wine (yes small so I could coherently make it to the airport!) and Lew a beer. I have to admit the place is incredibly strange and if you haven’t heard about these ruin bars I will tell you a bit about them! So this one that we visited Szimpla Kert is the original ruin bar opened in 2002 which commenced the trend that Budapest is famous for and was a milestone for alternative life in the city. Based in the Jewish Quarter of the city it used to be a stove factory and houses set for demolition but has been converted into a outdoor cinema and pub. It is very overwhelming as you walk in as it is dark and is quite dilapidated in a very hip sort of way. It would look horrific in the daylight but I can see why its a very relaxed environment for people to hang out and drink with friends. Not only is this a pub/cinema but also is used as a base for civic life and provides it space once a week for non profit organisations to meet. Its also farmers market focusing on sustainable eating and a bicycle flea market! We most certainly didn’t have as much time here as we liked as we had to get back to the luggage place before getting on the bus to the airport. This was all pretty smooth and we were there with plenty of time to spare and we could sit down and eat the dinner I had prepared the night before. Our flight wasn’t until 8.30pm and this meant we didn’t land back into Heathrow until 10pm! One bonus was that British Airways didn’t make me put my bag under the plane so we were able to get off pretty quick, clear immigration and jump on the Piccadilly line back into town! Poor Lew has to get up super early to fly out to Poland for work so its going to be a bit of a long week! Next trip is actually Colorado in a few weeks which has certainly just flown by!!

A heap of old fashioned boilers and machinery

Tower Bridge and London Bridge station on our approach into Heathrow!

Underground in the hospital/nuclear bunker

ShannenDecember 9, 2018