We had a long day on the train to get back to Budapest, the final stop of our Balkans leg. It was one of those trains with each carriage compartmentalised into cabins of 6 seats. The train was reasonably empty, so I shared a cabin with Sara, Marsha, and Cameron. We managed to pass the nine hours reasonably easily, playing Uno (we had to play twice because Sara lost the first game… although I lost the second in quite spectacular fashion), watching The Hangover on Sara’s laptop (still funny, even though it was the third time I’d seen it), eating, reading, and listening to our iPods.
Because of the way the tours fall together, I had two full days in Budapest before we left on the overnight train with Tony. I don’t even know what I did with my time. Wandered around the city. Went to the Great Synagogue and took a tour of it and the Jewish Quarter, then went shopping at the Jewish market and spent far too much money on jewellery for myself and a present for Jess for her birthday. I really enjoyed the synagogue, it’s very beautiful, and they had a local volunteer who took us for a guided tour. There’s an area out the back which had a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and another to the people who helped save Jewish people.
I went to the Szecheyi Bath, in the City Park. The buildings in the park are all very beautiful, and the baths were no exception. The baths themselves smelt like chlorine, which to me seemed to not quite be the point of thermal baths, and were basically three open air pools of varying temperature. The building is kinda labyrinthine, I had enough trouble finding my way from the ladies’ changing room to the pools, so I didn’t bother trying to find the private baths, although I heard tell that there were some. I was planning a massage, but entrance just to the pools was quite expensive, so the massage got decided against. That was probably one of the most pricey swims I’ve ever had.
The following day was the day that Sara's group left in the morning, to head to Serbia. I got up early and said goodbye to Ina and waved them off. We didn't have to be out of our rooms til about 11am, so I basically just hung around there and talked to my friends on Skype for the rest of the morning. We were on the overnight train to Brasov that night, so we had until 1045pm before we had to meet Tony.
I very much took my time over what I did that day. Not that I did much - I went for a wander along the shopping street, up to Castle Hill, and over to Margaret Island.
Castle Hill was pretty busy with tourists, of course, but had some pretty cool stuff to see. The church, which was right in front of me when I came in the gate into the front square, was pretty striking. The castle's actually a huge area, and a lot of it is private residential buildings, or hotels. I also found the Archives, which weren't even really marked on my map, which was a stunning building, and I went to see the bell tower, which is all that's left of an old church.
Because of the way the tours fall together, I had two full days in Budapest before we left on the overnight train with Tony. I don’t even know what I did with my time. Wandered around the city. Went to the Great Synagogue and took a tour of it and the Jewish Quarter, then went shopping at the Jewish market and spent far too much money on jewellery for myself and a present for Jess for her birthday. I really enjoyed the synagogue, it’s very beautiful, and they had a local volunteer who took us for a guided tour. There’s an area out the back which had a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and another to the people who helped save Jewish people.
I went to the Szecheyi Bath, in the City Park. The buildings in the park are all very beautiful, and the baths were no exception. The baths themselves smelt like chlorine, which to me seemed to not quite be the point of thermal baths, and were basically three open air pools of varying temperature. The building is kinda labyrinthine, I had enough trouble finding my way from the ladies’ changing room to the pools, so I didn’t bother trying to find the private baths, although I heard tell that there were some. I was planning a massage, but entrance just to the pools was quite expensive, so the massage got decided against. That was probably one of the most pricey swims I’ve ever had.
The following day was the day that Sara's group left in the morning, to head to Serbia. I got up early and said goodbye to Ina and waved them off. We didn't have to be out of our rooms til about 11am, so I basically just hung around there and talked to my friends on Skype for the rest of the morning. We were on the overnight train to Brasov that night, so we had until 1045pm before we had to meet Tony.
I very much took my time over what I did that day. Not that I did much - I went for a wander along the shopping street, up to Castle Hill, and over to Margaret Island.
Castle Hill was pretty busy with tourists, of course, but had some pretty cool stuff to see. The church, which was right in front of me when I came in the gate into the front square, was pretty striking. The castle's actually a huge area, and a lot of it is private residential buildings, or hotels. I also found the Archives, which weren't even really marked on my map, which was a stunning building, and I went to see the bell tower, which is all that's left of an old church.
My first view inside the castle.
Parliament through the Castle Wall; a tower from the wall reflected in the hotel windows;
the Budapest Archives Building.
Margaret Island was quite pretty. I didn't far, I had very tired feet by this stage and really just wanted somewhere to sit down! Most of it is closed to traffic, and a lot of people seem to use it for their 5pm run. They all looked very serious about it, these weren't joggers, they were Runners.
The rest of the evening was spent finding food, then wasting time in the hotel foyer until it was time for the train.... woohoooooo!! Who doesn't love a good overnight train!
My favourite of Budapest's bridges.
Liszt Square, across from our hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment