More sights and the opera

Saturday, September 10, 2011
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Saturday

There's a theme developing - long treks to see the sights and a lot of queuing . This morning we walked to the Castle District in the medieval town of Buda. The castle sits on a hill 170m above the Danube and you can get there by Funicular from Lanchid Utca (road name), which is located not far from the Chain Bridge.

We had to queue for the 'cable car' journey which lasts about a minute (with hindsight the short walk up some steps seems the better option)!

At the top of the hill everything spreads out with the palace to one side and the national gallery to the other. Quite a touristy location but there's plenty to see if you are prepared to wander for a bit.

I was disappointed that the labyrinth was closed due to unforeseen (?) circumstances and the Hobbling House didn't seem to have anything gothic about it contra to what the guide book says. In fact I am not sure why it even got a mention in the guidebook?

We climbed about for a bit on the Fishermans Bastion which is quite a good place to sit and watch the world go by . Note that there is no need to pay the fee to climb it in order to enjoy the views as the lower level provides just as good scenery for free.

There are plenty of souvenir stalls to peruse, selling local crafts, and there was also a food show, although we didn't go inside.

As planned we had tickets for the opera... So after dinner we were treated to Bolero in 3D followed by Bluebeards Castle, which for me was a little less operatic than I had anticipated. There were subtitles fortunately, otherwise the story line would have been hard to follow without. I think for me this experience was just ticking a box as it didn't really live up to my expectations which perhaps were a little high for a £16 ticket...

Sunday

Given all the hype in the guide book we had to check out the thermal baths, and if course chose the best, at Gellert Hotel.

As nice as they were there was a distinct lack of tradition with no chance of being made to bathe naked or even a glimpse of any small teatowels as I had been led to believe would he the case. I would compare it to a day at the local swimming pool, just a little more extravagant with choices of pools both inside and out!

We had to relocate to another hotel across town this afternoon, the starting point of our group tour. Completely different to where we had being staying... but thankfully we leave in the morning for Eger.

For dinner we went to a cute restaurant recommended by the trip leader, Vakvargu, which was themed with crows - hence the name. The food was lovely - I had some sort of dry fried pizza with sheep cheese and Cat went for chicken with paprika, both of which I ended up eating most of!
After dinner we went for cocktails at a 'simpla'' style bar that is an old abandoned building that was used by squatters and has over the years been expanded with allsorts of 'tatt' ... these bars are quite hard to find but definitely worth scouting out.
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Comments

maureen
2011-09-12

Glad your having a good time and trust you to eat Cats meal too. I have to say some of thos buildings in the photos are gorgeous. Looking forward to more news!!!!

Lee
2011-09-12

Thanks for sending me these updates Jade they are most useful. Me and the Record gang cannot wait to get out there on Friday and experience both the "Buda" and "Pest" sides to the city. I think we'll be heading to a Thermal spa on Sunday also so I will keep an eye out for the teatowel-clad clan!! Speak soon

kATHY PARKIN
2011-09-13

Hi Jade,

Great blogs, Richard and I love reading them. I f you ever get fed up with accounting and crafting you should become a travel writer.

Enjoy the rest of your trip and say hello to Cat from us.
xx

Vicky
2011-09-14

Glad you're having a good time.

Derek
2011-09-15

Jade it looks good to me Im sure you are both having a great time. Jade on ebay a person was selling one 1972 athletics weekly for £4 and i have 20 years worth from 1962 to 1982!!!!!! wow----- your the accountant.

2025-02-09

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