Lou and Tine’s Travels – Budapest

I admit that the last couple of weeks have been rather quite, it happens….doesn’t it? Season change, it’s getting colder, windier,rainier well, you get the picture. I have been spending way too much time hanging around lazily at home and working, but this obviously could not last long. After the glorious trip Lu and I took to Nice in April we decided to repeat the success story and started looking for a suitable destination. It had to be somewhere nearby, easily reachable by plane over a weekend, somewhere neither of us had ever been before and of course it had to have something that would attract us to go there. Budapest just had to be on the top of the list.

I always wanted to go there, not only was there a certain intrigue about Hungary (I blame it all on the Sissi movies…I swear!!), but also it’s history , the Danube, the well-known Spa’s…well, I didn’t really need more convincing and Lu was with me all the way. Thanks to Expedia we found a lovely package trip, including a stunning 5-star hotel in the city center WITH Spa. No need to think about it any longer…it’s Friday afternoon and off we go!!!

In true tradition we had a glass of Pinot at the airport before leaving. Trust me, this was seriously needed…after a very long and very busy week at work unwinding just needed a little help.

This is the view from the plane, just after take-off from Heathrow. it was only half past 5, but as you can see….pitch black.If you pay a little attention to the middle you can clearly see the Thames and Tower Bridge ( the lit up path across the river). I would have loved it to be a little clearer, but hey…I guess we were just very high up in the sky

2 hours and a real good shake (over Vienna) later we landed in Budapest. I love arriving in a country I have never been before, even though airports look the same all over the world, there are still a few little details that make you aware of where you are supposed to be. Let’s start with the language…Hungarian, I am still totally fascinated by it. Long long long long words,lots of consonants and very little reminds me of any of the other languages I speak. Oh well, I can’t pretend to know them all, can’t I?

Outside the main terminal is a little boot from Zona’ Taxi – this is a very smart way of providing cabs to travellers without letting them being ripped off by rutheless cab drivers. All you have to do is queue up shortly and then give your final destination to the young man in the boot. You are then issued with a ticket stating the total amount you will end up paying. Considering we were both a little lost in space this was just perfect and we were on our way into central Budapest a very short while after. I’m not going to waste a lot of time about the cab journey, but it certainly was a speedy one kind of scary if you can’t really see much of what is around you, but a brief 20 minutes later we arrived at our palace for the next two nights. The Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal is very very nice indeed and we obviously had to try out the hotel bar first thing

Saturday morning and we’re ready to explore the streets of Budapest. How different and beautiful…not the best of weather, but that is certainly not holding us back. We walk towards the main shopping street ( yes, you’ve got to start somewhere, right?) Vici Ut and discover what will be the Christmas Market. Too bad it was still in construction and would only open this week. Never mind, we reach the Danube shortly after and walk along it to reach the Chain Bridge and a while later the Parliament. The mixture of styles is truly impressive, on the other side of the river ( Buda) is the castle, the Royal palace on top of the hill… I can only imagine how glorious and impressive it must be on a sunny day, it certainly wasn’t anything less when we saw it.

Which better way to explore a city with someone who’s actually lived there? Well, we had this luck as we met with my friend Gregor who has actually lived there for a few years. The world is a very small place indeed He just happened to be there (all the way from Munich)to meet up with some friends, but very kindly agreed to play the tourist guide for us during the afternoon. Brilliant! We started off in a lovely little restaurant for lunch with real good food and massive portions and then just walked around the city. I can’t even remember all the streets, corners, houses and other place we saw, but there were certainly a lot of them. We walked past the largest Synagoge in Europe, went to see one of the biggest shopping malls in Budapest ( kind of scary as well…massive and VERY crowded) and even ventured to take the tube. Just a little different from London but still worth the experience. To crown a brilliant day Gregor took us to a little hidden bar which we would have never found by ourselves. I have unfortunately forgotten the name, but just picture a relatively nameless entrance, plastic curtains and then you enter a room with 2 massive bars and little cosy tables everywhere. Glorious!!!

On Sunday morning we explored the city a little more by ourselves and 2pm with our airport transfer arrived way too soon. 2 days are not enough to explore this beautiful city, we’ll have to be back soon…and perhaps even manage to visit one of the Spa’s. Believe it or not, that part of the program didn’t work out…oh well.

Back in London now and already fully back in the work routine. BUT…another 9 days and I’m off to Milan again. No time to get bored. Can’t wait.

Tine