Budapest & Danube Bend

Trip Start Jun 09, 2008

Trip End Jul 04, 2008

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Where I stayed

Tamas's Apartment

(Budapest hotels)

Flag of Hungary Budapest, Hungary
Thursday, June 19, 2008

After a four-hour train ride, I arrived at Budapest, Hungary. Because I didn't book a hostel and arrived in the evening, I was worried about the place to stay. But I was so lucky that a middle-aged Hungarian talked to me on the platform. It was Tamas, a Jewish Hungarian. He was looking for a tourist who had not booked a hotel like me. He showed me his guestbook of his apartment and offered me a good price accommodation. His appartment was not so far away from the station and, in effect, I could walk between them. The elevator was impressive with unusual manually open doors, and so I took a picture. My room had a cable TV and Tamas gave me a simple supper. He was a really nice person. In addition, he let me use the Internet for free. So I could call my mom in Japan. He also let me use his washing machine. To tell you the truth, that was the first and the last time to do the wash with a washing machine during my one month journey.

On the next day, I left his apartment early in the morning, heading for Danube Bend, a UNESCO's World Heritage. There were three choices of cities to visit on Danube River and I chose Esztergom. Come to think of it, the choice turned out to be bad later. First off, I went to Arpad Hid Hev Station bus terminal to catch a direct bus to Estergum. But I couldn't find the bus terminal there, and so I asked a bus driver and finally found the bus stop outside of the bus terminal. There happen to be a girl waiting for the bus and so I confirmed that I could catch a bus to Esztergom. But...she said I couldn't buy a ticket on the bus.

Esztergom Basilica

It was already about eleven in the morning. I considered whether I should choose another destination, but I didn't give it up. That was a bad choice, again. Then I talked to a ticket seller and she suggested me to go to Aquincum where I could take a train to Estergom. After all these process, I was finally able to take a transportation to Esztergom. The train station was far away from the Esztergom Basilica from which you could get a great view of Danube Bend (30 min walk). As I mentioned before, I was fed up with churches, but the great natural view was just what I wanted. On the way to the basilica, there was a beautiful street market, where I enjoyed strolling.

Esztergom used to be the Hungarian capital and the basilica was the icon. Just beyond the street market, I found a hill which had an old sculupture on the way to the top and thought there should have been the basilica on the top. The basilica was not there, however, and so I asked a kid where it was. The kid didn't speak English and so he brought his sister speaking English. She just said the basilica was not there and it was difficult to explain the way to the basilica. I felt I wasted a lot of time on that day. In spite of her difficulty in explanation, in a while, I found the basilica on the other hill top. First off, I walked into the basilica and looked around for 5 mins. Then I got Danube overview at the observatory behin the basilica. There was Slovakia just beyond Danube River. From the observatory, Slovakia looked attractive over the bridge across the river.

Sturovo, Slovakia, was a beautiful city with a park in the center.

Esztergom

I took a walk for a while, took some pictures, and came back to Hungary. That was all my experiences in Slovakia.

At the Esztergom station, I met a Hungarian speaking English. He thought I was Korean and talked to me. He said that because he had a Korean friend, he was familiar with Korean. I am Japanese, but it happens sometimes, and so I don't care. He asked me how I felt about Hungary. It was a tough question, because I arrived there one day before. I didn't talk with him so much. The train departed at the exact time shown in timetable. On the way to Budapest, it often stopped for a long time, although I didn't know the reason. After a while, I started to be irritated, because I had to take a train to Venice, Italy. Eventually, it arrived at Budapest, more than one and a half hour late. I missed the train to Venice, although I booked its sleeper. Then I headed for the ticket office of the train station immediately to ask for a refund. I argued that because of the delay of their train, I missed the next train, but it was a waste of time and 19 EUR. I was daunted and went back to Tamas' apartment.

He gave me a cup of coffee and offered me accomodation for that night as well. I was really glad and appreciated it from the bottom of my heart. Anyway, I got another day for sightseeing in Budapest. I thought that even if the city looked boring, I should have paid a visit to at least its famous attractions. For dinner, Tamas told me about a traditional Hungarian restaurant near his apartment. I am always susceptable to the word "traditional", but unfortunately I couldn't find the restaurant.

Chain Bridge

Instead, I ate dinner in a Korean restaurant, although I din't know why I ate Korean cuisine in Hungary.

On the next day, first of all, I visited Castle Hill, Buda. Unfortunately, famous Fishermen's Bustion was under reconstruction. When I was taking a picture of the bastion, a young European girl asked me to pose with her to take a picture. It may have been unusual for her to see an Asian in her daily life, although there were a lot of Japanese tourists on the hill. I didn't spend so much time on Castle Hill and I headed for Chain Bridge, which was worth a visit. There were a lot of different stalls on the bridge and tourists looked interested. I found a TI booth at the end of the bridge and got a good map of Budapest there. In the Pest, the first destination was House of Terror which had been originally a headquater of the Gestapo and Hungarian communist secret police. Although the exhibition was good, I began to feel this kind of attraction was enough for me. Then I walked up to City Park, passing through Heros' Sqare. In the west of City Park, there was the best attraction of the city, Szechemyi Bath, according to my guide at least. Judging from its picture, you might mistake it for a pool, but it was definitely a spa with warm water. It also had a swimming pool with cold water for swimmers, but in the spa, every Hungarian was just bathing and talking. I had been to Bath, U.K. and it might have been a thing like that in the ancient time. I spent a couple of hours there, got some refund, and walked back to Tamas' apartment, drying my towel and swimming pants on the way.