Budapest

With our jackets set aside due to the 20 degree weather we set out to explore Budapest, one of my favourite memories of the road trip. A place with an interesting mix of architecture, which is unfortunately slowly crumbling due to the elements, and time. The buildings still strikingly beautiful. 

With only two days, and so much to see and do, we took to the cheaters way of seeing the city - The Big Bus Tour. Even though I usually ridicule the bus tours labelling the people on them lazy tourists, and being on a moving bus made it extremely difficult to capture what we saw on film; I bit the bullet due to the time crunch we had. I must admit that taking the bus around allowed us to see much more of the city, and learn some of its history. Useless fact learned on the bus; Budapest had the first McDonalds east of the Iron curtain. 

A view down the Danube

Parlament building more beautiful than a Disney Castle

We visited the Museum of Terror, which we would have enjoyed more were it tailored more to english. We did enjoy the grandour  of Heroes Square until rainfall then walked the entire  Andrassy Ave. The city's underground metro has one of the oldest underground transportation lines in central Europe, and it is the second oldest electrified metro in the world. It's iconic line 1, dates back to 1896. 

We also spent an evening at the Szechenyi bath house, a very relaxed evening with 18 different thermal pools to enjoy from freezing cold to hot. One of the saunas, hidden under a set of stairs in the basement, went up over 90 degrees celsius, after which it is customary to jump into an ice bath. This was Lukasz's favourite. 

 The hungarian cuisine and wine was highly memorably. Deep earthy flavours, and goulash like none other - and we would know as we had tried it in every country on our way here. The three of us enjoyed a wild night out in the ruin bars, after which we had some of the spiciest late night burritos around, and then proceeded to crash an Amnesty International LGBT party which kept us occupied dancing until early morning. 

Rain in Heroes Square 

You can still get a taste of the communist era in Budapest, joined with a western feel. The city was full of life, smiles, and good food. I think it was a combination of all the aforementioned that made me enjoy our stay here so much, and I would be happy to return for another visit. 

last minute obligatory foot picture…and we almost forgot

Next was a night in Krakow so that we could visit Auschwitz before driving back to Berlin. After debating which route to take we decided to drive through Slovakia which was half the km in distance but took the same amount of time as driving around it through Austria and Czech on the highway. 

My two private drivers; Jay and Lukasz

 It was the right choice as we enjoyed a more relaxed drive surrounded by fiery fall colours, and beautiful scenery. After 6 hours of driving, we snacked on some beef tartar and polish vodka. A late night pierogi and barsczc dinner rounded off the evening, and we retired to bed not expecting the restless night that awaited us. A freight train on the hour, every hour, came past our hostel all night long. It sure explained the good deal we got on that night's accommodation.