I have to admit, I was very reluctant to leave Vienna – a day
and a bit in that city is just not enough to see and experience everything and I
really feel like all I got was the tip of the iceberg, - oh well I guess that
means that I will just have to go back!
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| Parliament Building |
But I got over my post-Vienna blues almost as soon as we arrived in our next destination - hello Budapest! I have always wondered why everyone loves this city, and it didn't take too long to find out. The food, the bars, the architecture and the fact that Buda and Pest are remarkably similar yet completely different at the same time are some of the few things which make it worth your time. If you wanted to get lost down little streets without a map or a guidebook then this is the place to do this.
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| St Matthais' Church |
The great thing about Budapest has to be that around every corner there seems to be a little church or immaculately designed building tucked away amongst the humdrum of modern city life. We must have spent a total of about 7 hours wandering around the streets, but hey why not!! From the Fisherman's Bastion, to the Matthais Church to the Hungarian Parliament Building there is so much to do and see in this city - guidebook or not.
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| Fisherman's Bastion |
The Fisherman's Bastion made me feel like a princess (I ignored every other tourist there) with its turrets and intricate details, and of course the fantastic view you get across the river to the parliament building. The fact that its right next to Buda Castle and right around the corner form St Matthais's Church made it a perfect morning trek. The only set back was the wind, I honestly thought I was going to be thrown back several times, and as for my hair - the word afro comes to mind...
Some advice though - get fit! trekking up and down hills and around buildings all day definitely takes it toll - I'm not sure that my legs recovered for the rest of the trip :( But I would still recommend politely ignoring all the people trying desperately to get you to pay on one of those bus tours and do it yourself. After all, you know that there are millions of places to grab a beer to replenish you if the need occurs.
Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to go inside St Matthais' Church, but we did pop into St Stephen's Basilica and to say wow is a bit of an understatement here. The whole of the inside is beautiful with gold plating everywhere and incredible stained windows. There is something eerie about it though, but that might be me - I have never felt completely at ease inside churches which boast wealth and power, however its definitely worth seeing if you have half an hour or so to kill.
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| Thermal Baths |
So after hours and hours of wandering around trying to take in as many buildings as possible, whilst filling ourselves up with as many beers and coffees as possible we decided that we needed several hours of complete relaxation - hello thermal baths! This had to the highlight of the trip for me, there is nothing more relaxing than walking into a huge sizzling hot pool and just relaxing! The Széchenyi thermal baths are famous all over Eastern Europe and attract hundreds of people to them week upon week, and luckily we were there at the end of March so it wasn't overcrowded. After hours of me watching my fingers turn into something resembling wrinkled sausages, I reluctantly heaved myself up and headed off to the train station for an epic 16 hour train journey (yay) to the next stage of the journey - Transylvania.
x
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