Side-trip to Budapest

Seeing a very poor forecast at the end of July, I decided to look at cheap tickets somewhere else in Europe. The cheapest were for England, which has the advantage of catching up with my cousins and their new families. However I decided that could wait for a modified return journey at the end of my stay. This time I wanted something more exotic. I’d had a notion to visit Egypt during my stay, but that option was too expensive. I started focusing on the likes of Munich, Prague, Vienna, Budapest or Istanbul.
Budapest come up a winner, so I book tickets from Lisbon. This had two extra advantages: Pedro could use the van for some promoting which was good for him and for me as I didn’t need to park it. Also, I would be in Lisbon to join him for Ocean Spirit, a multi-discipline surf contest (kite, paddle, kayak, etc) after my return.
So after 2 hours of sleep, I boarded a morning flight to Budapest, Hungary. I was asleep before the seatbelt sign turned off!
The first thing I noticed upon arrival was the skies, the weather. It has been years since I’d been so far inland and you could see and feel the difference. The forecast was for a little cooler than Portugal, but other than a couple of thunderstorm downpours (which I fortunately avoided) it was actually baking hot – so nice!
I picked up a great discount card that provided 3 days of public transport, 2 free walking tours, and lots of other discount options for just 4500 Florents - 27 euros. Yes, changing money into the local currency made me a Hungarian millionaire (almost) with approx 290HuFs = 1 euro.
And things were comparably cheaper: one beer was 350HuFs, about one euro. This was the same as Portugal, except the glass was twice as big. And the hostels were less than 10 euro/day. I could finally afford to eat out every meal!
So anyway, I got right to exploring this dual-identify city. I learned the area was settled in 896AD by the Huns (hence the derived name of the country – the local language is actually Magyar in their tongue, not Hungarian, but it translates to the same). There are 3 regions to the city – mainly Buda on the west in the hills, and Pest on the east on the plains, with Obuda to the north – separated by the Danube running on a tectonic line that causes the different landscape.
Having 2 cities in one provided so many more activities to enjoy: on the Buda side was the old historic buildings housing the library and art gallery, and terraces providing beautiful panoramas. The castle hill is built on a limestone hill riddled with caves that have been utilized for past purposes of a wartime hospital and bunker, and recently a post-modern thought-provoking Labyrinth with funky sounds and statues without. One section also pokes a bit of fun by suggesting they had to stop excavation after discovery of unidentified fossil marks which are actually clay imprints of modern items: a shoe, a cellphone, and a computer keyboard for examples. Then just as I completed the circuit to be confronted with a gate preventing completion of the mapped route, I turned back to find they’d turned out the lights. Later explorers had been provided with lanterns, adding even more to the challenge and atmosphere of the place. A very cool exhibit.
I discovered a lot of other cool things to keep me busy for 5 full days, but the best was a full-on spelunking trip into a cave system. I suffer slightly from claustrophobia, so my stress level went up for the first 10 minutes, but after that you pass the point of no return and just go with it. We were on our bellies, crawling through gaps barely large enough to pass our helmets. These would then open to massive caverns where you could barely discern you entry point from all the other opportunities. It could be so easy to get lost. And some of the paths were pretty much one-way only (without a LOT of struggle) as you slipped and slid down narrow passages – sometimes headfirst. We all really enjoyed it and did so well the guide gave us some extra challenges – one was so tight it almost dislocated my shoulder, while a few of us were cursing as we tried to squeeze through one tight gap. Despite the cool subterranean air, we were panting and sweating under our provided overalls. What an adventure! The beers at the end were well deserved. And for only 15 euros, it rates as one of the all-time best tourist activities I’ve ever done.
The night-time was no less active. This is where Pest reigns. I quickly got in with a group at my hostel – including a few of the locals that worked their – and had a quite a few really late nights, partying it up. Though that didn’t stop me getting up with the sun the next day. I honestly don’t know how I did it for so many days, but it was all worth it.