Budapest for me, was one of the most vibrant and fun cities I've been to. We happened to be staying in a great area for nightlife, which helped, but the whole place seemed like it was one big party.
Our visit didn't start off to well. We caught the right number bus, but in the wrong direction, ending up in some random neighbourhood outside the centre. So we crossed the street and jumped on without a ticket. Bad move. We got busted almost straight away by a ticket inspector. Lucky for us, we held out and insisted they call the police when they tried to bargain a rate for the 'fine' with us. They pretended to call them and we were stuck in a bit of a stalemate, not knowing what to do, when we got saved by a friendly accomodation tout. pheew! 80 euros saved.
Our hostel was a converted apartment and very, very, 'cozy'. We were lucky to have a really fun aussie couple staying there who we hung out with a lot going to warehouse, cellar and rooftop bars all over the city. A perfect way to spend a week of 40 degree heat.
One of the biggest highlights of Budapest (especially in that type of heat) are the baths. Thermal and fresh water pools that have been in Budapest since the Romans wandered through. We spent two afternoons splashing around and trying out all the different saunas and plunge pools all the way from 80 degrees (sauna) to 18 degrees (the coldest plunge pool). We emerged both times wrinked, happy, and ready for some amayingly good Israeli falafel that was just across the street from the hostel. Quite possibly the best falafel in the world - even better than Rowda in Newtown.
I was so sad to leave this city - I'll definitely be back.
Photos to come probably in London. We're in Berlin at the moment, staying in a really cool district, 30 degrees every day, too many fun things to do, see, buy here!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Adventure 18: Eger
I had quite high expectations of Eger, a pretty town, lots of wine and our own apartment with no other stinky backpackers and it managed to live up to them.
It was great enough that we managed to give ourselves a proper scrub down after 6 weeks of travel let alone being able to sit in the bath tub with a book and a glass of local wine.
The town centre of Eger was stunning, little bridges, narrow cobbled streets and a town square with many cafes. It also has an minaret which you are able to climb and then view the whole town from a very narrow platform. I am usually pretty good with heights but the tiny platform freaked us both out and we were quite happy when we were safely back on the ground.
On our second day in the town we walked out to the wine region. It was very different from Australian wineries, as basically it was just a loop of cellar doors and you bought a large glass of wine to try rather than sampling a number of varieties. We managed to stumble upon this crazy old hungarian guy that was shouting at us as we walked past his cellar. He spoke no English, but we managed to order in German and then he had us try a ten year old rielsing and it was pretty tasty. So tasty in fact, that we got him to fill up a 2 litre coke bottle so we could drink it later. We tried to ignore the fact that he was sucking on the tube to siphon it into the bottle and happily made our way home with our booty.
We actually think he might have done the old switcheroo on the wine though when we drank it later but it was still tasty so all good in the end.
It was great enough that we managed to give ourselves a proper scrub down after 6 weeks of travel let alone being able to sit in the bath tub with a book and a glass of local wine.
The town centre of Eger was stunning, little bridges, narrow cobbled streets and a town square with many cafes. It also has an minaret which you are able to climb and then view the whole town from a very narrow platform. I am usually pretty good with heights but the tiny platform freaked us both out and we were quite happy when we were safely back on the ground.
On our second day in the town we walked out to the wine region. It was very different from Australian wineries, as basically it was just a loop of cellar doors and you bought a large glass of wine to try rather than sampling a number of varieties. We managed to stumble upon this crazy old hungarian guy that was shouting at us as we walked past his cellar. He spoke no English, but we managed to order in German and then he had us try a ten year old rielsing and it was pretty tasty. So tasty in fact, that we got him to fill up a 2 litre coke bottle so we could drink it later. We tried to ignore the fact that he was sucking on the tube to siphon it into the bottle and happily made our way home with our booty.
We actually think he might have done the old switcheroo on the wine though when we drank it later but it was still tasty so all good in the end.
Adventure 17: Krakow + Kosice
We were glad to be back in Krakow at our old cozy hostel, with hot water, semi normal people and other countless luxuries. Not much to report here, I wasn't keen on going to Auschwitz and the short tour to the salt mines was 30 euro so we just pottered around the town and paid a visit to our favourite Georgian restaurant. We grabbed Total Recall from the hostel reception and sat down to relax with our beers when 4 children came in to the lounge room with their mums. Apparently 9pm is a good time for small kids to be having dinner ... They all sat there and watched people get their heads blown off etc until there was one small sex reference and then they all packed themselves off to bed as the movie was now "unsuitable for children". Wtf how is horrible violence ok for kids but sex not?
Kosice in Slovakia was quite boring. A square, a church and lots of pizza and icecream restaurants. We attempted to go on a day trip to a nearby fortress but where thwarted when we turned up at the small siding 1 hour out of time and were told that there was no connecting train for over 3 hours. The people were nice though and suggested that we catch a bus from the centre of town. We walked 2km into the town, which seemed to be the gypsy capital of slovakia and stood at the bus stop. No timetable or information, just a picture of a bus on a pole and 12 gypsy men staring and staring at us. We wimped out and hiked the 2 km back to the train tracks. We thought we'd fill in some time by having a beer at the shed behind the station, but when we walked back around, this was now locked and bolted. We spend a lovely hour and a half waiting for the train back to Kosice where we got some pizza, had a beer and went to bed in the workers hostel that was the only budget accomodation in town, hoping that Eger would be a little bit more interesting.
Kosice in Slovakia was quite boring. A square, a church and lots of pizza and icecream restaurants. We attempted to go on a day trip to a nearby fortress but where thwarted when we turned up at the small siding 1 hour out of time and were told that there was no connecting train for over 3 hours. The people were nice though and suggested that we catch a bus from the centre of town. We walked 2km into the town, which seemed to be the gypsy capital of slovakia and stood at the bus stop. No timetable or information, just a picture of a bus on a pole and 12 gypsy men staring and staring at us. We wimped out and hiked the 2 km back to the train tracks. We thought we'd fill in some time by having a beer at the shed behind the station, but when we walked back around, this was now locked and bolted. We spend a lovely hour and a half waiting for the train back to Kosice where we got some pizza, had a beer and went to bed in the workers hostel that was the only budget accomodation in town, hoping that Eger would be a little bit more interesting.
Adventure 16: leaving Kiev
So after 5 days in Kiev, we decided that it wasn't too bad after all. We made some fun new friends with the people in the hostel who weren't weirdos and went on a pub crawl with them to some of the bars in the area. One of them had a local band that played modern takes on traditional music which was fun.
The one saving grace of our weird hostel was that there was a super local bar called hospital just around the corner. It was in the basement of an apartment building and had no signs on the street, so you had to know it was there to go. It had the best food we ate in Kiev (we even had steak!) and it was really cheap too. Highlight was when the hostel owner asked Emma if she wanted a fucking cocktail. It later transpired that this was a cocktail he had created while he was running an irish pub in Dusseldorf and was trying to come up with gimmicks for New Years Eve. Emma guessed all the ingredients correctly and so he bought it for her. Pretty good all round.
We were also sad to leave the Varenicki - cherry dumplings - which we had grown to love, because a, they were tasty, and b, they were 90c for a big plate. I'm going to try to find a recipe when I get home and try to recreate them.
So with all this in mind, we were a bit sad to leave Kiev and were in high spirits as we took the taxi to the airport. When we arrived, the airport was like a bus station, crammed with people and with no mod cons. We waited our turn and finally presented our Wizz Air confirmation email to the guy. He checked the computer and then said something to us which we couldn't really understand exept for the words ticket and ticket office. So we traipsed over to the ticket counter and when they checked our confirmation, they said that we had no reservation, even though the money had dissapeared from my account and we had a confirmation email with us. They then told us that if we wanted to fly we would have to buy new tickets, at double the price, in cash. $400 AUD worth. So we yelled, and we screamed and Emma even stomped her foot in anger, but they wouldn't budge. Even when we printed out the bank statement showing that the money was gone. All we got was an unimpressed look from the brick face behind the counter who tapped her watch and said - time's running out, do you want the tickets or not. So we bought the tickets and stormed out way onto the plane happy to be heading back to Poland and civilisation :)
The one saving grace of our weird hostel was that there was a super local bar called hospital just around the corner. It was in the basement of an apartment building and had no signs on the street, so you had to know it was there to go. It had the best food we ate in Kiev (we even had steak!) and it was really cheap too. Highlight was when the hostel owner asked Emma if she wanted a fucking cocktail. It later transpired that this was a cocktail he had created while he was running an irish pub in Dusseldorf and was trying to come up with gimmicks for New Years Eve. Emma guessed all the ingredients correctly and so he bought it for her. Pretty good all round.
We were also sad to leave the Varenicki - cherry dumplings - which we had grown to love, because a, they were tasty, and b, they were 90c for a big plate. I'm going to try to find a recipe when I get home and try to recreate them.
So with all this in mind, we were a bit sad to leave Kiev and were in high spirits as we took the taxi to the airport. When we arrived, the airport was like a bus station, crammed with people and with no mod cons. We waited our turn and finally presented our Wizz Air confirmation email to the guy. He checked the computer and then said something to us which we couldn't really understand exept for the words ticket and ticket office. So we traipsed over to the ticket counter and when they checked our confirmation, they said that we had no reservation, even though the money had dissapeared from my account and we had a confirmation email with us. They then told us that if we wanted to fly we would have to buy new tickets, at double the price, in cash. $400 AUD worth. So we yelled, and we screamed and Emma even stomped her foot in anger, but they wouldn't budge. Even when we printed out the bank statement showing that the money was gone. All we got was an unimpressed look from the brick face behind the counter who tapped her watch and said - time's running out, do you want the tickets or not. So we bought the tickets and stormed out way onto the plane happy to be heading back to Poland and civilisation :)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Adventure 15: so much to do so little time
we are alive and in budapest. so much going on here, no time for internet but will try to blog tonight or tomorrow and catch up on everything although it might have to wait until we are in Bonn and very bored hahaha
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