After Vienna, the second city my mom and I visited was Budapest - the capital Hungary.
Despite being part of Eastern Europe in travel guides, Hungary isn't actually part of the European Union - after a few days it became quite clear why .-.
First of all, the exchange rate between Euro and the Hungarian currency Forint was about 1:307 when I visited. The smallest coin is a 5, and the largest coin is a 500. As I hadn't been to Japan at that time, it was weeeeird paying for thousand dollar meals @-@;;;
My opinion of Hungarian people in general is not particularly high for a number of reasons:
1. The hotel/exchange rate offices/shop owners will quite happily rip you off (by a lot) without blinking an eye. First time I have encountered this in Europe.
2. People stare. For MINUTES on end. Perhaps it's socially acceptable to stare in Hungary, but it made me extremely uncomfortable. Certainly in NZ at least, staring is not common and quite rude.
3. Line cutting.
4. Our first taxi driver was very very very lovely, but in general I found that people in the service industry have no clue what service is. Even the hotel receptionists.
There are a few more but these were the most irksome points imo, so be warned!
Budapest (pronounced buh-da-pe-sh-t) is split into Buda, left of the Danube, and Pest, right of the Danube. Although the Old City area is in Buda, the rest of that half is pretty run down compared to Pest. Apart from the Hilton which is situated smack bang in the best location inside the old city, I'm pretty sure most of the nicer hotels are in Pest lol. Also there are many more metro stops in Pest. Staying in a Danube facing room in a hotel in Buda pays off though, as the view towards the Parliament across the Danube at night is possibly one of the highest ranking highlights of Budapest!
We stayed in Budapest for a day and a half, leaving on a 3.25pm train. For Budapest, you definitely want to decide beforehand which places you want to visit, and plan all the tour times before deciding how many days to stay. Most places only have tours in the afternoon, often only at 2,3,4pm, and not even every day of the week! The metro is very simple to operate, and comes very frequently at 3 minutes usually, with a down-counter at each platform, and popular lines/platforms usually have some seating.
Travelling around Budapest I definitely recommend buying a 'Budapest Card' which comes in 24hr, 48hr, and 72hr. It comes with free entry into a number of highlights (though not all), and offer discounts on some others. Oh and free unlimited public transport!
It also gives free entry into a bathing complex in Buda which had a lot of pools, both normal and with minerals, and even a Turkish style sauna/freeze pool set up! The bath complex is a little scary and very confusing. I got lost sooo many times, there's 3 floors and it's literally a building complex. There are heaps of changing cabins everywhere, but the only very private shower place was in the corner of the complex next to the turkish bath with no windows or anything and just one dim and exposed lightbulb. So. Freaking. Scary. Nonetheless, it was a much welcomed chance to relieve our feet of accumulated stress over 3 days of intensive walking, so if you get tired definitely pay it a visit! If you don't have a Budapest Card, I think the entry fee is about 3000F, so only 10 Euro which is quite alright too! Last entry 6pm and you must leave by 9 but tbh I'd gap it by 7 at the latest ;;;
Also, the reception guy at the bath complex is cute. :)
Food in Hungary is quite unexciting. The boasted dishes are goulash soup, paprika chicken and handmade noodles (which appear more like mini randomly shaped ngocchi), and crepes make the common restaurant dessert course. Some restaurants offer a 'tourist set' menu which is pretty much composed of these 3, sometimes offering a few options. Generally these set menus are actually a really good deal and can probably feed most people quite easily. Main courses in Budapest are massive - definitely don't over-estimate your appetite! You can usually find a comfortable meal in a restaurant in Pest around 5000F per person, though sets vary quite a lot. The most expensive set I've seen was around 6900F, but it offered 3 choices for each course.
For affordable food, try out the wide variety of pastries and cookies from Fornetti which are bakeries located in a number of metro stations. Kereti, and Astoria stops (both on M2 line) have the full range of products, but I think Battyany (also M2) has everything but the cookies and donuts. I really like their savoury curry puff with the black sesame sprinkling, and their jam filled cookies! You can buy enough pastries for breakfast at under 500F here!
If you want Italian or American (hard rock cafe), there are many bistros and nice mainstream fashion stores between Vorosmarty (M1) and Feren Ciek (M3) stops. If you pass by a restaurant named Sorforras in that area, try their very affordable tourist menu (around 3000F) which in terms of the menu items, is definitely on par in quality with more expensive places. Also, ask them for an extra dessert - crepe with red wine set on fire! I didn't try it myself as we were in a rush to move on, but it looked pretty exciting on the neighboring table haha
On to some photos!
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