Day 7 & 8 (Budapest)

We got a lie in this morning...yeahh!! Departure time of 9am for a change to get us on the road to Budapest. The starter motor in the bus has been fixed, but now we've got a leak down the back that's making some of the seats a bit damp and unusable. Wonder how we'll cope in countries with uneven roads an extreme temperatures!?

Budapest started off badly for me, and I judged it early and had a bad first impression. We got off the bus and had to walk down a busy shopping street in Pest (the one leading to the market) to get to our hostel for two nights (Domino Hostel). There were beggars on the street and restaurant owners trying to get us into their place for food (like that was going to happen with all of our big rucksacks and all our gear?!). The place looked grotty and dirty and not all that welcoming, and rather than having my normal sense of feeling safe, I was instead feeling quite uncomfortable about being there.

We had been warned that the hostel was basic but clean and safe. I would tend to disagree a bit. The kitchen looked manky so cooking there wasn't going to happen. The rooms we had were 8 bed dorms so we weren't sharing with unknowns which was good. They weren't the cleanest though, I raised the duvet on my bed to check it out and there was hair underneath it and stains on the sheet, so I was glad that I had my sleeping bag liner with me! A lot of the group went to the Gellert Baths to unwind and freshen up but a few of us stayed behind to wander the surroundings. When we went to lock the door to our room it didn't seem like it was going to happen. When you turned the key nothing happened, you could just push the door open (no need to even use the handle), so I went off to reception to see what could be done as there was no way I was leaving my stuff in a room with a door that didn't lock! While I was bashing my head off the brick wall that was the language barrier and lack of understanding of the lady in reception Barbara had managed to get it to lock, but there was a gap of half an inch between the door and door frame that could easily have been negotiated to get into the room. The lady at reception refused to give us the keys to the individual lockers so we stored all of our valuables in a single locker and hoped that it'd be ok (it turned out grand).

We didn't venture too far from the hostel at all on the first night, and had chinese for dinner in a place at the end of the street. I figured that I needed to see a bit more of the place than just the streets around the hostel to be able to make up my mind for sure as to whether or not I liked the city. So, early on the 31st I got up and went on a bus tour with Loonie and Ann staying on for a full circuit of the tour route to avoid the wind and rain (you feckers at home had BBQ weather as I believe). We saw a lot of the place that way and were able to pick where we wanted to get off on the 2nd circuit. Feeling tired and less than excited about exploring either Buda or Pest in the rain we got off at the 0km marker at the foot of Buda Castle and took the funicular up the hill (avoiding what I heard was 5,000 steps). We spent a good 2 hours or so wandering around up there before meeting up with the group to go to the Labyrinths. That was another freaky experience that I wouldn't be too keen on repeating. Very creepy and damp and dark down there, and then we took the wrong exit and ended up separated from the group who went ahead to the restaurant for dinner leaving a small search party looking for us. Eventually we all made it to the restaurant where we sampled local cuisine (I had goulash soup...Mmmmm) in very large portions and then rolled home in the rain (30 minute walk).

It was only really after dinner when I saw the city by night with all of the lighting on the beautiful buildings that I thought, yea, this place is kinda nice. So Budapest, thanks, but I'll probably not be back. The first impression and crap from the hostel put too much of a dampner on it for me.

For photos from Budapest click here.