Budapest - The City of Spas

Budapest was the next trip off the block, and the only trip in the month of March. Budapest managed to make its way onto the itinerary after some cheap Malev tickets came into being in or around January. Return tickets for £88 sealed the deal, with much of what was to happen being decided after I bought the flights. A wonderful trip, and a nice relaxing getaway - didn't have massive expectations and I would have to say that Budapest impressed me.

Friday afternoon it was off to Gatwick. First trip to Gatwick and it was pretty simple to get to. Strangely enough I bought a one-way ticket online via The Train Line - and the best place for me to catch the train to Gatwick from work would be to make my way to Elephant and Castle. Righto. Quite a straight forward process getting to Gatwick - First Capital Connect train takes you right to the Southern Terminal. The only thing I didn't know beforehand was that Gatwick had two terminals - a North Terminal and a South Terminal. Thankfully I wasn't pressed for time, so I made it all with plenty of time to spare.


Checking in at the airport was easy. Hand over the passport, hand over the confirmation, and sure enough a boarding pass follows shortly after. This was the case for me. Unfortunately this did not apply to the elderly woman next to me. I saw the lady hand over both her confirmation and passport... shortly afterwards she was denied boarding. Her passport expired 2 weeks ago. The look of shock and then disappointment was quite heart breaking. She was packed and ready to go, was probably her holiday for the year, and she was stopped at the check-in counter. She was directed to the booking counter so that she could rebook her tickets, so I hope that she'll be able to get to Budapest in the near future!

Upon arrival in Budapest it was a simple matter of hopping onto a shuttlebus to our hotel and getting rest for the weekend ahead. Accomodation was in town in a place called the Hotel Mamaison Andrassy, via a deal. Normally I wouldn't go to an upmarket place due to the prohibitive costs - yet this place was a steal for 30 odd quid a night inclusive a small bread and croissant breakfast delivered to the room each morning!

Saturday was a day full of walking. The day started off with a walk down to the Metro. As we weren't sure how far it was into the city we decided to head down the "yellow line" all the way to Vorosmarty ter, the start point of the Free Budapest Walking Tour.(Thankfully the Hotel is right near a Metro stop on the Yellow Line).

The Free Budapeset walk was great - the tour was led by a bubbly local guide, Anges.We started off in the Square then moved along to the River, walked across the Chain Bridge, trekked up to the Hungarian Eagle perched near the entrance to the Palace Museum, to finish up by the Fishermans Wharf. The walk itself was pleasant but Agnes just made the walk so much more interesting. She provided a touch of historical background without boring you and was quite honest about her thoughts - particularly about the modern Hungary. Very refreshing. It also helps that she was animated, passionate and keen to mix with all the tourists.

Getting around Budapest by foot is simply the best way to go. There are plenty of hop-on-hop-off bus stops around Budapest but you might not get to soak in everything unless you take it slowly. I found that some of the best parts of the walk were the view of the Palace from the Pest side (near the Princess statue), and the view towards Parliament House from the Chain Bridge. Now, the walking tour only really covered the Castle Hill site of Buda and the area around Volosmarty Square in Pest. That's plenty for a 2.5 hour walking tour though.

Once the walking tour was complete it was off to have a bit of a break in a nearby shop... hard to describe what it was - it was a little corner store on the bottom, bordering on a mini-supermarket, and upstairs it was a small cafe. Don't remember the name of the place, yet they served up some great hot chocolate... although that may have been due to the fact that I was a touch cold after walking around in the open for so long.A small group of us chilled out upstairs for a while before heading down to the Jewish Quarter by foot for some lunch (quick lunch at a place called Koleves Pub, where I had some goulash - soup-form).

The tour for the afternoon, the Communist Walking tour, was just simply amazing. As a tourist you could wander around, look at the sights, be happy with what you've seen and be done with it. However, one of the things you don't always get... is a sense of how those in other countries live or have lived. This tour was extremely informative, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - i'd even go so far as to rate this tour above the standard sightseeing tour.

Some of the interesting tidbits of information that was passed on was the fact that travel beyond Hungary is more expensive since the fall of Communism - travel to Soviet bloc states used to be extremely cheap, as the Soviet nations subsidised travel. Another interesting fact was that there were two passports under Communist Hungary - a red one for travel within the Soviet Union and a blue one for travel outside the Soviet Union! Obviosuly the blue ones were not something which would be available to many Hungarians.

Tales and facts weren't just the only thing that was great about the trip. One of the unplanned features of the walk was the sight of dogs frolicking in a grassy area in front of Liberty square, with a no dogs sign in plain sight. Policemen were standing nearby chatting away happily. Quite entertaining, and quite post-communist. Finally, at the very end of the tour was a bit of a show and tell and the thing I liked most out of all of the pieces on display was a board game - "How to be a a loyal farmer". Classic!!

Once the tour was done it was time for some dinner. We were recommended a place called Frici Papa. After being given some verbal directions we got totally lost. Not ideal. A quick search on google gave us some phony addresses... with an alternative search finally getting us to the place that we wanted to go. The search for dinner wasn't entirely a disaster as we worked up some hunger, ate a hearty meal (goulash again, non-soup form), and it was cheap as chips!

The evening was spent at Bar Instant. Quite an interesting place with some bizzare decor - an open (internal) courtyard with a top floor, plenty of rooms, low lighting, sports on the big screen television, and a school of fish floating around by the ceiling in the middle of the courtyard. The place was packed full of locals as well as a smattering of tourists... and the drinks didn't cost too much at all (although it could very well be expensive for Budapest, I wouldn't know!).

The remaining full day in Budapest was designed to be more pedestrian, as it incorporated a trip to one of the baths. As the Szechenyi thermal baths were the closest to the hotel, at a few minutes down the road by foot, that's where three of us ended up all morning. After stopping over at Heroes Square for a short time we arrived at the thermal baths. We were there for a good few hours. 

After getting changed and moving into the first few rooms I must admit that it was a little uninspiring - just looked like a big bathroom with a few pools (all with slightly different temperatures ranging from 30 degrees to 38 degrees Celcius). However from this low initial impression things definitely got better, we moved out to a larger inside pool which sported some sparse decor before hitting the outside baths - which were awesome. This was where the party was at! A couple of large, attractive outdoor pools teeming with people. Was a treat to be outside in a warm pool with the sky above. The whole experience was thoroughly enjoyable.


The trip to Szechenyi was a real high point of the day, and the afternoon paled in comparison - a quick lunch stop, a visit to the Terror House, and a break at Gerbeaud Gasztronomica. The Terror House was informative as it detailed the nastier side of life under both a Nazi and Communist regimes. What was most shocking about the whole thing was the guestbook - written in Chinese was a comment along the lines of... Terrible, all lies. Talk about an intense comment!


As the flight back to London was Monday morning there was one more evening left in Budapest. Nothing was planned so a walk along the River Danube and back along the Chain Bridge was in order. It was a lovely, albeit cold, night to be out. As there was plenty of time to kill I spent some time mucking around with my camera... as i've not really had the opportunity to use my SLR at night thus far. Taking long exposure photos in the evening was actually quite fun - little did I know that I was out for over an hour just taking photos!

That's all there is for Budapest. Back to the hotel to get some rest, up early for a morning flight (which was delayed)... followed by a pleasant flight back to London!

Costs Snapshot

• Return Economy Flights with Malev - £88
• Walking Tours - Free* (if you're happy with what they provide you can tip, I sure did!).
• Frici Papa (Dinner) - 4375HUF for 3 (~£14 for 3)

Tips

• Gatwick has 2 terminals, North and South. Trains take you to the South Terminal! You can check which terminal that you need to go to so that you can plan accordingly.
• Make sure your passport is valid for travel - you may laugh, but it may cost you!
• Small change is required for the Metro - ATMs give big denominations, you'll need small change for the Metro.
• Book early to get massages at the Spas.
  

Scotland - The New Years Adventure (Part 1)

Scotland was where I spent New Years Eve and the first couple of days of 2011. Glad I did it. I haven't really seen much of the Northern Hemisphere since arriving in London, but this is the primer which will hopefully open the door for the year ahead! Edinburgh was recommended as a place to celebrate the new year, so that's where I went - with a couple of pals of course.

The transportation mode of choice was the train. Popping onto The Train Line website makes purchasing train tickets quite simple. Next, to celebrate the New Year one can't go past the Hogmanay - Edinburghs way of heralding a new year... unfortunately I wasn't going to be there for the torch procession from the Castle! The hardest part of the whole enterprise was finding accomodation - with less than a moth to go, every single place that I found was booked out and/or required a minimum stay (of 3 to 4 nights stays). After hours of searching I eventually found a hostel a short walk away from the action - just about the last place I could find (Budget Backpackers) - great name, I know. At 50 quid a night each for a 4 person dorm, not what i'd call budget!

So New Years Eve, Kings Cross Station, 2pm. Onto a First Capital Connect train bound for Edinburgh. Now for some reason I thought that seats weren't allocated, this is probably based on my experience in the UK 5 years earlier - where I had a BritRail pass and just hopped on to trains wherever and whenever I wanted. It was not the case this time. Allocated seats was the name of the game, with ticket stubs on each seat outlining who should sit where. My distant memory seemed to recall plenty of little tables on the train in four seat blocks. Wrong again! Anyway... back to the main story... as the train travelled 200kph time passed quickly as I took the opportunity to catch up with my co-travellers as well as fit in a quick nap in anticipation of the long night ahead!

The three of us arrived in Edinburgh Waverly Station and quickly disembarked and headed for our accomodation for our stay in Scotland. Unfortunately for us, the most direct route available to us was closed - due to the Hogmanay, perhaps. So, out the side entrance of Waverley we went and headed on down to Cowgate. We checked in, dumped our bags, and quickly headed out again - 4 person dorm, the three of us plus one random (who wasn't in at the time).

The first order of business was to get a bite to eat before joining the rest of the revellers at the street party. We were told of a few places to eat by the hostel reception and made our way to a couple of them. It was almost 9pm, yet the kitchens for just about every pub we went to was closed! I would have thought business would have been good. Nevermind, an Italian restaurant was open on Grassmarket - so that's where we ate, with a few ciders to get the night started!

We eventually arrived at the street party at 10:30pm. We walked past the police cordon and security check... inside! Once we passed the security checkpoint two things were immediately obvious - the amusement park rides (for example... a Ghost Train) and a small music stage. I was expecting the music stage, but not the rides! The most popular of the rides was the reverse bungee, crowds gathered around the ride to watch people get flung into the evening sky. I ended up going onto a ride, but not the reverse bungee - not sure what it's called but it was a swing which also rotated - not the best thing to go on after a few mulled wines!

As midnight approached the volume of people seemed to jump. After doing a tour of the street party boundaries it was time to camp out and find a spot to watch the fireworks. The most popular place seemed to be just down the road from the Edinburgh castle, and that's where we stayed. Whilst waiting for the fireworks to start a few random local students decided to have a quick chat with us. Each of us were approached differently but mine went something like this:

Male Student: "Hey there, yea you - can I ask you a question?"
Mark: "Sure, go ahead"
Male Student: "See this girl over here, name is Julia, what do you think of her?"
Mark: "Sorry? Not sure if I heard you correctly"
*Male Student taps girl on the shoulder and she turns around*
Male Student: "Julia here, what do you think of her?"
Mark: "She's great!"
*Julia, Male Student, and Male Student's mate all have a bit of a laugh*

Very random indeed.

Next, the fireworks. The fireworks were nice, and the crowd were very much behind the display infront of them. I liked them, although I must admit... nothing on Sydney. Perhaps i'm a little biased, but i've been hard pressed to find something better than the New Years Fireworks in Sydney. There was a variety of fireworks - bright and colourful, sprial and whiney, fizzy and glittery - it was all there (clearly my descriptive skills leave much to the imagination!).

Once the fireworks were over it was time to hit the music stage - as there was only the one hour left before the street party festivities were set to close. So up we went to mingle in with the crowd, straight into the middle of the mass of people crowding around the stage. Bright lights, dancers, it was all there. The singer could have been a somebody, I wouldn't know. Whilst we were dancing in the middle some old middle aged guy appeared and started dancing closely to any young person he could find. Very creepy. Eventually he made his way near us and hovered close, as there was a cluster of young girls not too far away from us. Extremely creepy. After a while we got chatting to a few locals, as the creepy old guy was a primer for conversation.


Meeting up with a couple of local Scots was great. Always great to meet new people. After the street party finished up we headed on over to the Doctors pub. Now this pub got its name due to it's location - the old hospital (a.k.a. the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh) used to be located just about across the road. So it's not too difficult to find out where the name comes from! Fortunately Doctors was still open for a while, so we all sat down and had a few drinks. Good times. Now would be a great time to add that I was picked up at the bar... but that's a total lie.


We eventually got kicked out of Doctors pub as it was closing time. Not quite finished yet. For a little while longer we continued the festivities at a local flat. Some strange gingery drink from M&S seems to jog my memory somewhat... but I have no idea. Finally ended up getting to the hostel (in the rain) close to 7am in the morning. Rest quickly followed.


So Hogmanay was decent - something that's worth doing with friends, not exactly party-party-party. As it turns out it's a great way to meet some locals! I was quite surprised that there weren't lots of people wandering around drunk - but that's probably because the lines for alcohol were so long... one would sober up just getting to the counter. More food and more music would be good... although I must admit I didn't sign up for one of the concert/street party combination tickets. Next time, perhaps.


That was part 1... in part 2, more Scotland! ... and some travel quirks.

St Paul's and the Museum of London

There is nothing like spending a beautiful blue-sky summer London day out and about. What does Marky do on a day like this? Climb 528 steps up a cathedral, of course! As today was a lovely day, I decided to trek up to the Golden Gallery of St.Pauls Cathedral to get a different perspective of London. Finished off the afternoon learning about London itself at the Museum of London.

Woke up this morning and saw that it was a lovely day outside, which made me think "I should try and get a panoramic view of London". Great idea. So initially I was thinking that i'd visit Primrose Hill, up by Regents Park. So I popped online for some alternative ideas on how to get a good view of London and found out that I could climb up to the dome of St.Paul's. Fantastic! Given that it was effectively down the road for me, I was sold.

I thought that my journey to St.Pauls would have been uneventful. I was wrong. On the way over to the Cathedral I spotted a dobule decker London bus... with a twist. The bus had the words "The Wedding Special" and "Just Married", a bit hard to make out on the photo below... but at least the ribbon is on the front! Talk about a uniquely London way to get hitched!


Upon arriving at St.Paul's I milled about the perimeter, a truly marvellous building. No point bolting to the top without first admiring the building from the outside! Obviously, St.Paul's is a popular place for tourists - heck, I was there. I noticed a couple of German school groups, as well as a couple of bus loads of tour-guided travellers. Plenty of local English locals as well. Good thing, too. Apparenty maintenance and upkeep of the Cathedral is in the order of 3 or 4 million pounds a year! I didn't feel so bad about parting with 12 pounds and 50 pence after reading coming across that tidbit of information.



After paying the admission fee and having a brief chat with the chap who was guarding the South Entrance, I headed for the top - a journey that totaled 528 stairs (one way). It was actually a lot easier than I thought. The journey up to the Whispering Gallery is wide and smooth, a whole deal more comfortable and open than I expected. Once I got to the Whispering Gallery I was stunned. You just have to go to see, if you haven't already been. The dome above me was overwhelming in size and equally elaborate. A real shame that I couldn't take a photo.

Continuing my journey up to the top was different. The staircase was stone and cramped, just like it was in years past. Not quite the Chu Chi tunnels in Vietnam, but not the cosiest either. The Stone Gallery provides the first lofty views of London, I stopped to have a look for a little while before continuing. Moving from the Stone Gallery up to the Golden Gallery was the least pleasant part of the journey. There's a step thin metal spiral staircase that shoots straight upwards - thankfully there's only 152 of them though.

The view from the Golden Gallery is lovely. A small sample is contained below, beautiful isn't it?
(You can see what a lovely day it was in 'Sunny' England, haha!)




After heading to the top, I ventured down into the Crypt of the Cathedral. Not as breathtaking as the view up top, but it did provide some novel tidbits of information that I didn't know before - things such as... the crypt being the resting place of Lord Nelson (Battle of Trafalgar)!

Babbling on too much now. Just quickly, went to the Museum of London nearby and spent a few hours there. The permanent exhibitions on the history of London were quite interesting. (I didn't have enough time to look at the contemporary sections). Nothing like a bit of history and culture to finish off the day. Notting Hill festival over the next few days, so a packed weekend!