I decided to kick things off by staying at a highly regarded party hostel in the Pest city centre, Retox. Upon arriving, I got a great orientation by one of the chicks that works there; telling me about what to see and do, how to get around and what the city is like.
Just the look and feel of the city is so totally different to what I had grown used to.
That night I got talked into (didn't take much convincing) going on the Budapest Party Hostels boat cruise down the Danube on their private boat. After being in Asia so long I was totally blown away by the size of their boat - there is literally nothing like it down that end of the world! Apparently some four hundred people were on the boat that night!
$30aud got me the boat ride and a bottle of champagne. Good value. The view from the river against the lit up buildings on the Danube - in particular the Parliament building - was absolutely stunning.
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Despite feeling a little rough from the cheap champagne, I decided I had to do something. After checking into another hostel (Retox was full), I went to the House of Terror museum.
The House of Terror building (Andrássy út 60 as it was then known) itself was used heavily during the latter half of the 20th century as an interrogation and torture centre during the Soviet occupation of Hungary following WWII. The museum itself was set up to both commemorate and inform what was going on in Hungary during both the Nazi occupation during WWII and the Soviet occupation following it, way up until the late 80's.
The somewhat apt description by the girl from the hostel that told me about it was that "it explains why Hungarians are pissed off all the time". They copped it pretty hard during the 20th century, from losing a large portion of their land to neighbouring European countries, to the occupations I mentioned earlier.
The museum itself is very artsy and modern; everything is laid out very nicely and the area easy to navigate. Unfortunately photography is prohibited in the building so I can't show a lot.
The basement level is more-or-less an untouched replica of what was going on in this building during its heyday. Hangings, torture, imprisonment. It was an interesting and worthwhile visit, despite feeling a touch sorry for myself from the night before!
Rather than trying to make new friends at my new hostel I headed back to Retox to hang out with those I'd met the day before. Once again, I got roped into going out on their Ruin Bar pub crawl. Ruin bars are unique to Budapest - old derelict buildings that were long abandoned given new life through the form of flowing alcohol and music!
Unfortunately most of my time in these pubs was spent at the bar waiting for a drink rather than taking in the sights of the building I was in!
Later that night I accidentally discovered my new favourite drunk food - a Hungarian dish known as Lángos. It is a giant doughnut tasting fried flat bread topped with sour cream and grated cheese. I saw a local order one and my words were "I want that", excitedly pointing.
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After a nice little sleep in I once more headed out to do something in the city. A non-profit organisation called Free Walking Tours runs daily (you guessed it) walking tours through Budapest.
We visited a few sights around the Pest side of the city (East of the Danube) before crossing the bridge into Buda to walk around Castle Hill. Despite the name, there are no real castles on castle hill.
One interesting fact that I remembered from the tour was the height of St Stephen's Basilica (first photo above) and the height of the Parliament building (the lit up one further up) are exactly the same at 96 metres. An interesting piece of symbolism I thought.
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Following Sziget I ventured out to see a natural spring bath - a popular pastime in Budapest. The one I chose was was the Széchenyi Thermal Bath complex, one of the biggest and probably most popular in Budapest.
The complex has three different pools, one for swimming and two for general relaxing. One of the two is about the same temperature as a heated swimming pool while the other is a slightly toastier 37 degrees.
The problem with being so popular is that it was very crowded! It was difficult to find a good spot to sit and relax, and the place is very noisy. I couldn't help but compare it to the onsen hot spring I visited in Japan - the onsen was much nicer! Still, while in Budapest it is something I had to check out, and I got in free with the Sziget CityPass I bought when I arrived.
On the walk to the bath I visited Heroes' Square, a tribute to what I assume is various important political and wartime leaders in Hungarian history.
Unfortunately the remainder of my time in Budapest after Sziget was somewhat dampened (pun intended) by a large storm that came through the day Sziget closed up. The streets were flooded, basement levels in buildings turned to swimming pools and blocks of the city lost all power ... including the hostel I was staying at.
The last two nights in Budapest I was in a hostel with no power, meaning no wifi, no way to charge my electronics, no hot water, no lights in the toilets, no air con ... it wasn't fun. It even went as far as a lot of the nearby restaurants were unable to open due to power cuts and flooding. Really disappointing way to end my time here!
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