Amongst the Magyars

View of Budapest

We spent 5 days in Budapest and although much colder than Greece, we enjoyed our time there.

After settling into our chic apartment, we set off to explore our surrounds and find the transport and shops. Dorka (from Hip Homes) had told us about the market place a couple of blocks away and we found it with no trouble at all. I have to say the vegetables and produce for sale was fresh and wholesome, with many tempting items - savoury and sweet (see sample). It took some time to get used to spending Hungarian Forints, but we soon returned with groceries and supplies to stock our pantry and fridge.

The second challenge was to buy our train tickets to Vienna. But before this we had to learn how to use the trams. These ran quite close to our place on Ulazlo Utca, but we weren't sure about how to actually buy a ticket. Although there were ticket machines at the tram stops, I am fairly certain they hadn't issued a ticket since 1982. So we brazenly jumped the tram and changed trams in a clever strategy to avoid the ticket inspectors. Once we made it across the Danube to the "Pest" side of town, we were able to buy a combined rail/tram/bus ticket that gave us 3 days unlimited travel. Which was lucky because, as we found later, ticket inspectors do ride the trams undercover in the tourist areas.

The metro trains were efficient, fast, comfortable and easy to use. However, the yellow and green carriages showed every bit their Eastern bloc vintage. After making it to Keleti central train station, we found the international ticket office, and were served by a friendly lady who sold us return tickets because they are actually cheaper than one way (we took this to mean they wanted to encourage us to return); and also reserved seats to ensure we had a place to sit.

Budapest is a grand city, although small in population (less than 2m), the architecture, buildings and parks have a regal bearing and aesthetic appeal, which made it a wonderful place to visit. Check out the pictures here.

Another challenge we set ourselves was to find replacement mandolin strings. Yes, these had been loosened and re-tuned once too often and the high E-string couldn't take the pressure anymore and snapped! After some internet research, we found a place that advertised mandolin strings (SEGOVIA Gitárszaküzlet on Eötvös) and found some strings - although of a lighter gauge  - that solved the problem.


After 5 days in Budapest, I have to say we were really settling in, but had to remind ourselves that other locations awaited and we already had the tickets!