Budapest 22/23 August 2022

You may remember from my post in Vienna, that we have holiday rules. I listed ‘Passport stamps = quantity over quality’ as #4 when possibly I should have listed it as #1.

We are a little competitive in the Morley family, well in certain situations anyway. Dave decided a number of years ago to count the countries he had visited by listing them in alphabetical order. Not only did he want each letter of the alphabet but also as many as possible. Out of the 26 letters of the alphabet he is only now missing X (there isn’t one) and Y (only option is Yemen). Yesterday when we arrived in Slovakia, Dave racked up his 90th country, so when the train crossed the Danube into Hungary he hit 91!

Dave has a couple of years on me, and 42 extra countries with Hungary being my 49th. Will, at only 26 years old already has 51, so the chase is on 😉 (Emma, Will’s lovely GF has 48 so she certainly fits into our family!)

While only one day in Bratislava seems like not much, we did give it a good crack, finishing with a fairly average breakfast near the apartment and then ordered a ‘Bolt’ taxi from a nearby hotel where we had run (dragging suitcases) in the rain. As I mentioned in the previous post, cars are not allowed into the central old part of town and therefore nor are taxis. It seems ‘Bolt’ is way bigger here then Uber and when we arrived in Hungary there wasn’t even an Uber option at all.

The train trip from Bratislava to Budapest was around 2.5 hours, mostly following alongside the Danube which was very pretty to watch. This time we were again in 2nd class, although the layout was cabins of 6, more like the previous 1st class trip to Vienna. The cabin was full with a young Slovakian couple, a 30 something Hungarian returning home (who was very helpful in lifting out bags into the racks) and an older Ukrainian man, who unfortunately was a bit on the nose, but did try to give us some of his Ukrainian chocolate, declaring it as the best in the world!

On arrival into Budapest our immediate impression was positive with the large and ornate railway station a mix of old and contemporary architecture. As I’m sure you all know sometimes taxi drivers are friendly and helpful and at other times, not so much. In this situation we easily ordered and found our ‘Bolt’ taxi outside the station and the driver was the most lovely middle-aged man who proceeded, in pretty good English, to tell us all about himself and his family. We heard details of their upcoming holiday to Albania, his brother in the UK and how he had recently changed his diet to dramatically improve his liver health! Helpfully, he also told us the best places to visit in Buda and Pest (it’s actually two cities on either side of the Danube) and even recommended a restaurant or two.

Our hotel, while not palatial, is really lovely. It is in a super central location and has the old world charm that I love. A wooden carved check-in desk; dark, moody lighting; and chandeliers in the foyer makes you feel like you have gone back in time ?. Our room is equally old-world with high ceilings, heavy curtains and old-fashioned wall lamps. Whilst it has an antiquated feeling, the bed is comfortable, the towels are clean and thick (but square??) and the internet fast!

Holiday rule number 1 (which is: ‘Sara chooses 4/5 eating locations) came into play today. We have been here for a full week and not once has Dave got to choose where we ate, so he was well overdue for a turn. Those of you that know him will not be at all surprised that he chose Burger King which was directly opposite the hotel ?.

Once I figured out which part of the map was up ?, we wandered down to the river where, just as we were arriving a tour boat was about to leave on a 1 hour trip along the river. Such perfect timing could not be ignored so we jumped aboard! The A$22 pp fee even included a complimentary drink. It seems the further east we go the cheaper things get.

After a visit to Aldi for drinks and a browse we returned to the hotel for a rest, and blog writing. (Hence only posting about Bratislava recently).

I had researched where to eat so dinner was pre-booked at Belisi 6, and didn’t disappoint. We shared Goulash soup to start then Dave had beef cheek and I had confit duck – both super delicious and at about A$50 for the whole bill, very cheap. The night finished with an ‘Ice-cream Chimney’ – we chose salted caramel – yum yum ?

Its now time for bed – amazingly I have made it to 10.30pm!

I hope I can sleep, I am very excited for tomorrow – a food tour for me and a Railway museum for Dave 🙂

Happy Birthday Katrina xxxx