Day 1 - London to Budapest
Upon arrival at Budapest, we were among the first off the plane and proceeded through border formalities rather easily. Then it was a matter of two things - me finding a money machine to get some Hungarian Forints (HUF) out (I hadn't had a chance to organise it earlier and decided it was cheaper to use a money machine in Hungary than visit a Currency Exchange place in the Airports), and going from the airport to our accommodation. First, the money - I found a money machine, but it only let me take out some odd amounts of cash. Sasha had gotten 72,000 HUF (about £170ish) and I was going to aim for the same amount initially, neither of us knowing if it would last the trip or if we'd need more later. However the closest to that mark the money machine would let me get was 60,000 HUF or 100,000 HUF. I decided to go with 60,000 HUF and if I needed more later, then I'd get more. Secondly, getting to our accommodation - I'd looked up about public transport, you could catch a bus and then a train that would drop us off at the end of the street where our Hotel was. But to do that, we needed to buy some tickets and you could get multi-day passes which seemed like a better idea. The info I'd read said there was a "Post Shop" that sold all the passes in the airport - but we couldn't find a Post Shop, there was a book store which was shut and another bookstore which only sold single tickets. In the end, we opted to take a door-to-door shuttle because that was easy and not too pricey. Because we only wanted one way, they said they couldn't sell us one way tickets to our particular accommodation due to some deal, only return but they agreed they could drop us off someplace nearby for one way. So we asked them to drop us off at the Oktogon, the square near our accommodation. After maybe a 10min wait, our driver came and got us and we hopped into the shuttle van which headed for inner city Budapest. As we left the airport, through the dark I noticed an older looking propellor plane of a decent size, and as we got closer I noticed it looked Russian and had a distinctive set of 3 windows after the back door. I knew I was looking at some kind of vintage Russian aeroplane, built by Illyshun but I had no idea of the model type (turns out it was an IL-18). Emerging from behind it, semi-lit up were an array of Russian planes - amongst them a TU-134 like I'd seen in Riga, but most distinctively a TU-154 trijet, the standard Russian and Soviet state plane of choice and the last major Russian passenger jet built in any decent quantity. They were super common even 5 years ago amongst former Eastern European states, but the last of them stopped flying in normal service in May 2015 and are now museum pieces. It might not seem like much, but to me being able to see a TU-154 in the flesh was a small tick-box on a kind of forgotten "would be nice to see" list.
Sasha, having been to Budapest before eventually got her bearings once we were in the inner city, but for me I had no idea where we were. I was struck by a lot of the housing and building styles in suburbia and on the outskirts, that sort of Communist brutalist-functional style with the bare concrete exteriors left as-is, with no kind of finishing but in the city, buildings were more ornately styled or if in the brutalist style, they were painted on the outside. Eventually we were dropped off at the Oktogon - using my offline maps, we made our way across the square and along the block to the EasyHotel Oktogon Budapest. Yes, this place is associated with EasyJet, and yes, like EasyJet, everything is styled in Orange and White. But it was of a high standard, was in a good location and most of all, they'd had an insane deal on making it extremely cheap (no, it wasn't cheap through some deal for our flights - we flew Ryanair, not EasyJet) - where all other places of the same type had been around the £200-mark for 5 nights, this was £67! Once we'd put our stuff in the room and remarked upon how everything was so orange, attention turned to food. It was late, and neither of us had eaten as we hadn't really been hungry until now. Although there were fooderies around, nearby was a McDonalds so we went in to see if they had anything out of the ordinary as some countries do. They didn't, but they had a "Hunger Buster" type deal which had 4 burgers, 2 fries and 2 drinks for 2,500 HUF - which by our crude math (checked against the currency converter app on my phone) was roughly £5 - or £2.50 each. From hereon in, 500 HUF equalled £1 or NZ/AU$0.50 for the sake of simplicity. Easy and done! The counter staff spoke English, and I thought I'd grabbed some sauce from the place where you get serviettes and sugar/salt etc but they turned out to be milk! Once full, we worked out our plan for the next day - it wouldn't involve as much as a sleep-in as we might have hoped but it would be okay.
Day 2 - Budapest Sightseeing
Here, we were given a quick rundown of the history of Hungary and Budapest in general, which I will relay to you in my own words and by throwing in other facts I have since learned! the Hungarians originally came from Asia and settled in the region, and the country has gone through bouts of independence and occupation - it has been occupied by Romans, and also the Ottoman Turks; Budapest started out as the cities of Buda on the high bank of the river, and the city of Pest (said Pesht) before being amalgamated as one city in the early years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and becoming the second capital of that Empire in the process. Hungary's territories and influence grew during the Empire years, with Hungary in charge of countries such as Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. This caused tension, eventually leading to the Serbian separatist Gavrillo Princip assassinating the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in Sarajevo, Bosnia - the trigger event for World War One. As a result, Austria-Hungary fell onto the Axis side of World War One with Germany, and eventually lost - with Hungary becoming an independent country once more in 1918, but with a vastly reduced territory or territorial influence, as mandated by the winning Allied powers. Foreign policy of Hungary from that point on was aimed at reversing the territorial loss, which meant when World War Two came along they sidled up with Nazi Germany, only to be on the losing side once more. After World War Two, Hungary fell into the Soviet sphere of influence with Stalin setting up a puppet government and the country ruled by Communism. The Hungarian leader, Matyas Rakowski by all accounts seems to have been a repressive megalomaniac which led to the Hungarian uprising of 1956 where the people tried to overthrow the Communist Government. Although this uprising failed, having been crushed by the Soviets it did lead to Rakowski's removal and his replacement with Janos Kadar by the Russians. Under Kadar, although Hungary was still communist and beholden to Soviet Russia it was no longer as repressed, something the Soviets tolerated in order to prevent another uprising. Kadar was then able to leverage this to have a greater degree of freedom in decision making, with more focus on the wellbeing and living standards of the people. This was derided in the west as "Refrigerator Communism" (i.e. keeping people happy by 'bribing' them with whiteware goods etc), but meant that overall the Hungarians were the most well-off of all the Soviet Bloc countries - "The Happiest Barrack" of Communism. The end of Communism came, like elsewhere in Europe when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started reforming the Soviet Union giving the satellite states a freer hand. Hungary had a key part to play, as it chose to open up the border with non-communist Austria, suddenly creating a chink in the Iron Curtain through which East Germans could escape to West Germany - which they did in their thousands. They didn't close the border even though East Germany demanded they do so, causing a crisis in East Germany which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the unraveling of the Iron Curtain in general. Communism itself in Hungary fell peacefully, with the ruling party legalizing opposition parties and then holding free elections, which the opposition parties won. Hungary in general has done okay, but not great since then economically (hence the low value of their currency and why everything is so cheap) meaning the people aren't too well off - and for a nation that had the highest living standards of any Communist country, the crash out of a system where the State provides everything and takes care of you must have hit particularly hard even though it was what the people wanted. Its perhaps not surprising to learn that 75% of Hungarians feel like they were better off under Communism than they are now. Right well, history lesson over! I would do the usual thing of illustrating the tour, except I didn't take many during the tour - it all seemed too crowded all the time and there wasn't much time to pause. I guess a factor was knowing we were here for some days more yet - there would be chances yet to get photos, hopefully some when it wasn't foggy. But there are a few, so why not?
St Stephen's Basillica - after wandering back into the town area, we paused in the Christmas markets surrounding St Stephen's where there was another statue as well, this time of a very fat Austro-Hungarian soldier with a curled moustache (think the fat German from Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machines, then amplify the belly!). We were told this was the ideal Hungarian physique, and rubbing the belly would help you find excellent cuisine. We were also told about Hungary's national dish, Goulash - how Hungarians aren't too inventive with their cooking so they throw in all sorts of ingredients into a soup (Goulash), and base most of their dishes off of that - chuck in beef to Goulash? that's beef Goulash. Chuck in another kind of meat instead, yet still keep all the rest of the Goulash the same? that's an entirely different meal in their books. Oh and vegetarians beware, Hungarians don't consider fish or chicken to be meat. Vegetarian Goulash? got chicken in it (or fish - apparently - we didn't find this out for a fact. Don't worry vegetarians, it won't matter in 10-15 years when most of the meat is printed instead of coming from animals). From here, we walked back to the river (stopping at places along the way), and across the Chain Link bridge (the first crossing between Pest and Buda) over the Danube to the Buda side of the river. |
Day 3 - The Side Trip
Now just a matter of finding our train, which according to the board was on Platform 7. For some reason, still in my confused state I thought the train in front of us as we came out onto the concourse was at Platform 7, one of the carriages looked a bit like a picture I had seen - but all the paper signs in the doors of the carriages said to Warsaw. After asking, we realised this was Platform 6 and we were told the train we wanted was at Platform 10. On our way to Platform 10, I saw the destination sign for Platform 7 - Wien, or Vienna - no, our train was at Platform 7 after all. So we hopped on, and found some seats in the only "saloon" car on the train, all others being compartments. Our carriage was very dated in its decor, and our seats didn't have a window next to them but that didn't matter too much (we could have gone in a compartment if we'd wanted and shared with others - but I don't like to unless there's no choice). Departure time came, and went... and I wondered if we'd hopped on the right train after all - I had been expecting an Austrian "RailJet" train or a Hungarian train, but visual clues were telling me this train was Polish. Our departure time should have been 8.40am, but it went 9am and we still hadn't left. We hadn't had breakfast yet either so I decided I was going to wander to the buffet car to get us some food, but perhaps also find out if we were actually on the right train. On my way there, at the end of the next carriage I noticed the door on the non-platform side was open and same with the next carriage - if those are open, then I guess we're not going anywhere for a while! I was half tempted to poke my head out the door to see what the trouble might be but decided against it, and right after that the train lurched, and started moving with the doors closing automatically shortly after. As they shut, I saw a sign in the doorway - Train No.IC140, yes that's the train number I was expecting and sure enough, end destination is Wien or Vienna. Reading the sign through, the train actually started its journey in Poland - that's why the train was Polish. The buffet car was the kind where you could order a meal and sit in there and eat it, but I got us some chocolate croissants and juice to take back to our seats. It didn't matter that we didn't have a window - we could see out the other windows that the countryside was blanketed in fog, just like Budapest except it seemed thicker.
Day 4 - Statues and Soaking
Day 5 - Day of Many Things
Day 6 - Going Home
One thing I do hate, and I don't know if I've lamented about this before (but if I have tough, I'm going there again) - in my mind, the trip is over once you land. But it's not, not even in the slightest. You have to get off the plane, go through border formalities in the airport, and then traipse home - however long that might take. Invariably living in the UK, it is at least a 1-2hr trek home from whichever airport you've been at - most of London's airports, including Heathrow are a bit out of the way from my home. Back in NZ, after getting off the plane at Wellington Airport I was often flying domestically so no border formalities - and the flats I was in (bar Manor Park) were a 10 drive from the airport or a 15min bus ride, so I'd be home in no time. Not so in London! I joined the "Other/All Passports" queue to get my passport checked, which was fairly long - Sasha was trying out her new "Registered Traveller" status for the first time, where she could use the EU/UK smart gate lines and she breezed through. I had to endure the queue, meaning Sasha had to wait some time for me (she's always worrying that I spend a bit of time waiting for her in a multitude of things, which is not true - but this was one definite example where she was waiting for me!). We then caught the train from Stansted to London Liverpool Street (which takes ~50min) and then still had the journey from there to our respective homes. Rather than go our separate ways just yet, at Liverpool Street we visited the Wetherspoons Pub for dinner (it was awash with people celebrating the end of the working year) and to take in our Budapest Adventure. After that, we headed off, arriving at my flat about an hour after leaving Liverpool Street and I feel like I just dropped my bags and crawled into bed and went to sleep. Another adventure finally over!
Summing Up
The suggestion to go somewhere before Christmas, and also the suggestion of where we might go, were both Sasha's and were both amazingly excellent suggestions and for those, I have her to thank. Sure, there was no snow, which we'd semi-hoped for - but given that there wasn't any snow, it was good that it was only cold and not freezing cold. I can tolerate freezing cold if there is snow - but if you get the cold of snow without the snow, its like you're being punished without getting the payoff. The food was amazing, the wine was amazing - I never did get around to trying the local beers, because the wine was so plentiful and cheap it seemed like it was better to take advantage of that while we could. The thermal baths at night surrounded by what looked like a Palace; the opulent Opera Theatre; the dinner boat cruise down the Danube; the abundance of nightime photo opportunities of the city; the day trip to a Christmassy Vienna - all just magical moments on top of what was a fairly magical trip in itself (which did admittedly have one or two hiccups but like Oktoberfest, all the good stuff far outweighs any bad elements meaning you forget the bad stuff). I know that there is very little chance (almost non-existent, if I'm honest) that I will get to visit Budapest (or even Hungary, for that matter) again while I'm over here, and honestly I'm fine with that - we had a really decent amount of time there, and gave the city a really good going over (moreso than you get to with just a weekend visit). But should I ever come back to Europe in the future for a holiday it would be somewhere that would be jostling high in position as a place to go. I did rub the boy-girl statue's legs after all, which means I will return one day. One day...