InterRail Post #7: When Hungary strikes…

I’m writing this post on the six and a half hour train from Budapest to Zagreb, before taking an overnight train to Split in Croatia.

We have spent the past three days in the Hungarian capital of Budapest and what a tasty few days it has been, taking recommendations for restaurants and local foods from our guide book and fellow travellers meaning it’s been the best city for food so far. The only downside to these restaurants is that people are still allowed to smoke indoors in Budapest, meaning your lovely roast duck is tainted somewhat by the smell of four people smoking in close proximity.

On our first night we went out with the four other people in our dorm room for drinks and shisha, which was good because we weren’t going to wake anyone up coming back late at night.

 

(Rio, Tom, Charles, Beth and I)

The next day, carrying on the tradition we took a free tour, exploring sights around Buda and Pest such as St Stephens Basilica, Deak Square, churches and the fisherman’s bastion.

Check out this view of Pest taken by Buda Castle

We then walked 45mins back to Pest for dinner and ended having some yummy Goulash (which was totally worth the walk)

And Charles got a bit too happy about the triple chocolate cake

 

And I forgot to mention the awesomness that is Truro Rudi, who’d have thought that cottage cheese covered in chocolate could be so delicious?

 

Yesterday we visited the public baths, which apparently no trip to Budapest is complete without. The baths are spread out over a massive ornate building, all being different temperatures, some outside even had rapids and bubble pools. The steam rooms reached 55 degrees and there was even an 18 degree pool to dip in afterwards, which only Charles had the guts to do. Once you get over the fact that there are hairy men everywhere in not a lot of clothing the baths are really relaxing and refreshing.

Oh and one last thing, Langos, deep fried pizza dough covered with sour cream, cheese and onions, need I say more?

5 Interesting things about Budapest:

1. The yellow metro line is the oldest in the world (that explains why it’s three carriages long, shaky and very loud alarms ring every time the doors open

2. The city is split into two districts: Buda and Pest, by the river Danube.

3. The man who created the telephone exchange was from Budapest, he used the word ‘hallo’ when answering the phone, meaning ‘can you hear me’? Where our hello comes from.

4. The man who invented the Rubiks cube was Hungarian, he still lives in Budapest today and walks around with a tiny dog.

5. If you say ‘thank you’ in a bar when paying for your drink it means you want the barman to keep the change.

 

We have looked at the weather forecast for Spilt, 32 degress, clear and sunny, beach here we come!

Till next time!

Sophie

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