Woke up like a child on Christmas morning, excited to be meeting with with Jo and Kate for 4 days in Budapest! We left the campsite and stopped a few km away in Szentendre, which we had read was a lovely place on the outskirts of Budapest. It is lovely so we had a relaxing coffee by the river before having a wander round the town and visiting the old church.
Back on the bikes we cycled with a German teacher called Tomas for about half an hour on the pathway along the side of the river. We passed through an area where there were beaches and small shack-style cafes – this is where Tomas decided to stop and we carried on so that we arrived into Budapest at lunchtime.
Jo and Katie (not a couple!) are two friends we been on many walking holidays with over the years. They were part of our waving-off committee on April 2nd when we left London and now are our first visitors on this trip. Generally our holidays have always included lots of laughing, eating, taking the mick and generally having a good time. And this trip has been no different, even if the temperatures have been a very hot and sweaty 30+ degrees!
We did the obligatory walking tour…
ice-cream eating (too hot to eat cake!), a self-guided walking tour of old Buda, which included a visit to a really interesting gallery of metal sculptures and paintings from artist Varga Imre…
an amazing afternoon in a spa, drinks in a ruin bar…
a visit to the Central Market where a folk band were entertaining the tourists…
as well lots of good food and drinks…
one of which was the Hungarian equivalent of Nando’s on Friday night, which was very good indeed!!
There was a lot of “hilarity” (one of our favourite words as a group) much of which centered around this sign which was in the apartment…
In particular the passage regarding ‘forbiddenproduce’ should we be noisy as it is against the ‘low’….not that our ‘neighbors’ seemed to take this threat seriously!
The girls left on Sunday lunchtime so we spent the afternoon at the Ruda baths and spa, followed by drinks at another ruin bar and an early dinner. Back on the bikes again tomorrow to head towards Balaton lake to meet up with more friends!
1 comment
Comment by David Paton
David Paton 11 August 2018 at 9:19 pm
I’ve binge read 3 weeks worth of your updates due to other stuff distracting me.
A great read again, thanks.
Dave