BUDAPEST 🇭🇺 (English)

BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST- is the capital and the most populous city of Hungary, and one of the largest cities in the European Union. The population of the city is around 1,7mln (similar to Warsaw). In Hungary live about 10mln inhabitants. Budapest was created from the combination of Buda and Óbudy (on the right bank of the Danube) and Pest (on the left bank of the Danube). It's one of the most popular cities for tourists in Europe.

There are many options to get there. Wizzair- one of the biggest european low cost airlines which come from Hungary offer a lot of cheap flights .What is more you can get there by another airlines, by car, bus or train.

Me and my best traveling companion Pola got there by FLIXbus. It wasn't easy way. We've started from Wroclaw and were going about 10-11hours with a break in Kracow. Now I can't imagine that long way but it was worth it. It was the best option considering price and schedule (bus ticket 100zł/25euro). We arrived there in the morning on Wednesday and directly went to the hostel. On the way we were almost caught by the person controlling the tram tickets. Fortunatelly we went out immediately. Lucky girls! We chose a hostel in centre "Carpe Noctem Vitae" with best opinions of other travelers. We catch a good price (one night/one person in multi-person room-10euro!). The reception gave us a keys and told something about rules of hostel. He told also about everydays's meeting with another travelers.  He invited for" alcohol challenge" and before party inside of hostel in the evening😃. Good to know! We left backpacks in locker and went out to enjoy the city! The first point was icon of Budapest "Hungarian Parliament". It's one of the largest buildings of national parliaments in the world.

Next to Parlamernt you can see "Shoes on the bank of the Danube". It's monument of the Holocaust. These are shoes, and more specifically, iron casts of authentic shoes. This was created to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust in Hungary in the 20th century. It was then that the Jews were killed, and then their bodies were thrown into the river.In that place, we've met with Doni, which we met thanks to couchsurfing. We visited the rest of the city together

Budapest is divided by the Danube river into two parts. Transport connections between each part of the city are facilitated by bridges. The most important bridges are the Małgorzata bridge, the széchenyi chain bridge, the Freedom bridge and the Elżbieta bridge. (on this photo we are on

the széchenyi chain bridge).

The next stop was  Matthias Church and Fishermen's Bastion. Matthias church is one of the most important and best-known Hungarian churches. Officially, it is called the "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary", however, it is popularly known by the local church and by tourists as the church of Maciej (the term comes from the king Maciej Korwin).

Fishermen's Bastion is neo-gothic observation deck from which you can admire the magnificent panorama of the Danube and the impressive Hungarian Parliament.

 

 The next point for that day was The Royal Castle. There is the most popular tourist destination of Budapest. There is on the same side of city like Matthias Church and Fishermen's Bastion. The biggest attraction is the National Gallery located in the palace. (You should see a lighted Royal's castle at night)

Finally It's time for lunach. We decided to try "Goulash". It's hungarian national dish, which consists of meat, onions and peppers.We've chose goulash soup served with bread. It's so delicious! I think it's always good to try typical traditional dishes while we are in another country.

In centre there are many restaurants with traditional hungarian dishes. You should be careful about prices. Many of them can increase prices by looking at tourists' interest. Of course, as in every big city on the main street there are many shops. Sellers often stop people on the street. One of them fell in love with Pola and wanted to sell her cosmetics from the Dead Sea 😂😂. It was so funny because he knew a lot of polish words, not typical like "dzień dobry" (good morning), "dziękuje"(thank you), "jesteś piekna(you are beautiful) etc but "sucha skóra" (dry skin), "pupa niemowlaka" (baby's buttocks) and so on. Honestly it was funny point of interest.

 Some minutes later we've found on place where many Hungarians and tourists spend free time. It was special squere with pubs and restaurants, small shops and lawn where many people were sitting. 

Some time later Diego joined us. We've met him also by couchsurfung. He is Maltese but already lived in Budapest. He wants to open a hotel in Budapest. Diego showed us some places of city centre.

We went also to the most popular pub in Budapest "Ruin Pub Szimpla". Honestly I saw that pub first time. It was very unique decor.

In the evening our hostel organized "Alcohol olimpic"in once pub in centre but firstly they invited for before party. It was one of the best hostels I stayed until now. I mean atmosphere...very open-minded people which spending time together in living room. We've seen also photos of cooking, playing games together. I recommend for everyone!
It's so great also for people who travels alone.

The hostel was on the last 5th floor. Of course there was a lift but crazy slowly!

 

Evening we've spent in Szpimpla Ruin Pub, than in Retox pub and finally in some club "Instant". That club looked like big labirynt with a lot of rooms inside!

 

The next day we've visited BALATON lake! It's the largest lake in Central Europe, located in central Hungary. It is about 77 km long and 15 km wide. The regions around the lake are inhabited by a rich and interesting variety of plant and animal life. 

There are a lot of cites around. We chose "Balatonfured". You have got a lot of options to get there. We chose a train. The ticket costs 2670HUF  (8,5euro) (tran with a change).

 In train you can meet some nice new people who tells you about another journey's funny stories and give you some tips! (with some Spanish guy from Canary Islands, who travelled along South America!).

Finally after about 2hours the train arrived to Balatonfured!

Honstetly I didn't imagine that clear blue water!
The best option I think is rent a bike! You can enjoy the area on special bike roads around. We paid just 11euro for 24hours!

What was a funny... in some moment some photographer approached us and asked if he could take some pictures for us. We were a little confused...Yyy what's up? He said he works as a journalist and photographer in hungarian newspaper and intends to write the article "How do foreigners spend time at Lake Balaton?". HAHA "Porque no" (I wrote in spanish because "porque no" was a frase of the trip). 😀😀😀

 

What surprised me the most at Lake Balaton? There were a lot of Polish people! Honestly we heard more polish language than english language. We were kidding there were more Polish people than in Sopot, Poland 😂
There were a lot of summer small houses for rent and places for camping! At season people use to stay there for few days. Special music events are also in bigger cities.
The last train to Budapest was about 8pm but we hitch-hiking (autostop) was better option. We've found bigger paper in supermarket and wrote destination. Honestly we were aware of the possibility of losing time while waiting but the car stopped in half minute! What a luck! What is more driver and his girlfriend were from Poland!

We were going about 130km together directly to Budapest!
The evening we joined to people on hang out-couchsurfung! It's great option if you like meeting other travellers and locals in place you visit actually!

Friday morning has come so fast. There were still a few places to visit on our list "MUST TO VISIT" in Budapest! We needed also pack our backpack. It was last night in hostel. The next night we had got transfer bus for airport 4am so we decided to go there directly from centre (without sleeping 🙉).
 Great Market Hall was a first stop for friday! It's  the largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest.
You can buy there fresh food, clothes, souvenirs and a lot of other things.

On the way to the island of Margaret, we admired the view of Gellert Mountain. It is a hill with a height of 235 meters. The Gellert Hill is visible from virtually every side of Budapest, mainly due to the monument of a woman with a palm branch.

The next point was  Margaret Island where we met with Mads-Norwegian known by couchsurfing. It's a perfect place for relax and spending time active.On the island there are hotels, sports facilities (playing fields, tennis courts, swimming pools), clubs, restaurants, numerous green areas with bicycle paths, jogging tracks, spacious lawns ideal for picnics and so on!

 

Some time later we were on the way to famous Heroses squere! It was still so great weather!

In centre we've seen a lot of group which were celebrating bachelor party! They were singing, drinking and going around centre with a music! They looked like had great fun! (one of them even lost the thong on stairs next to metro by mistake 😂).
Finally we arrived to Heroses squere! It's is the largest and most impressive square of the city. Located at the end of Andrássy Avenue and next to City Park, Heroes’ Square is one of the most visited sights in Budapest.

Some minutes later some other people joined us and we were discovering squere together.

We've seen Vajdahunyad Castle. It's one of the romantic castles in Budapest, Hungary, located in the City Park. It was built in 1896. The castle is the home of several festivals, concerts and the exhibitions of the Hungarian Agricultural Museum.

 In Park we've met some man who was playing violin. He came up to us and started talking. Than after we told where we come from he started to play some traditional songs of our countries. He said let us dance.

In Park there were also a lot of group which were celebrating bachelor party. They were driving special vehicles like a bicycle with a beer bar in the middle.

In City Park there is also famous Széchenyi Thermal Bath. There is one of the largest bath complexes in Europe with its 21 pools. Daily ticket with locker costs 5200Ft (about 16euro).

The pools were so nice! It was perfect relax after that intensive time before!

In the beginning we were on pool only with Mads but  later we met 2 very friendly girls from Brasil Carol and Gabi! Wait for your visit in Poland! 😊💗💗💗

 After leaving the Thermal, we went straight to the hostel to pick up our backpacks. I don't remember when I felt as tired last time. The worst was meaning sleepless night was coming.

In the evening we met with Gabor and went together for a dinner. Than we were walking along centre and talking about life 😂😂. I always used to be in love with city by night 💗

We were spending time together until 4:00am when transfer bus to airport has come.

Pola had got plane about 6:00am and mine was about midday. It was like nightmare. I was crazy sleepy so I slept on the chairs 😂. Honestly in that moment even floor is so comfortable!

About 1:00pm I arrived in Berlin and in 3hours I had got BlaBlaCar directly to Poland! It was great weather so I spent that time lying on the grass.

Viszontlátásra!!! 😃