In Budapest
The journey by train from Bratislava to Budapest takes all of 2½ hours, so having departed a few minutes before midday on Friday meant we were in Budapest-Nyugati at 2:30 pm. Navigation (by foot) to our accommodation on Murányi Utca did take longer than expected. Budapest, it seems, is on a different scale: the blocks are big and the streets are wide. But get there we did. And our friend from the UK, Chris, did turn up later in the evening.
Nyugati, by the way means west. And Utca means street.
We had four nights, meaning three full days, in Budapest to fill, plus a bonus day on account of the departure time in the evening of our train to Berlin, so we took the opportunity to trudge through as much of the city as we could.
The focus of our day 1 (Saturday), after a loosener around the City Park was to collect our marathon race bibs from the race precinct. This seemed to go OK, although the scale of the city once again made every short walk into a long walk. We ate Italian at the most excellent Pizza di Sergio at the corner of Bajza Utca and Damjanich Utca. My default pre-marathon fare is gnocchi, but tonight I couldn’t see beyond Penne Arrabiata.
Day 2 (Sunday) was obviously swallowed up with a marathon (which you can read about here and here), but more importantly our post-race feast took place at a cosy and friendly little Bee-Bop themed Hungarian cafe called Piroska Vendéglő, also on Damjanich Utca. Great service and fine food.
Finally, on day 3 (Monday) we were released to do tourism and trekked across to the Buda side of the river, once again utilising the excellent Metro Line M1 - the Földalatti - which is the world's third oldest underground public railway, and runs the length of Andrássy út from City Park in to the heart of Pest; and then by foot across the Chain Bridge. And despite the existence of a funicular railway, we trudged to the summit. Spectacular buildings and views were in abundance, as were flocks of tourists.
On day 4, we made our way back to Budapest-Nyugati, albeit more quickly and certainly than the reverse journey had been four days earlier, and deposited our luggage in a locker on Platform 10 for a cost of 1500 Forints just as the Man in Seat 61 had told us. We then spent the balance of the day wandering around Pest. Highlights include:
An indulgence at the New York Café, which enjoys the tag as the Most Beautiful Café in The World.
Some time for reflection at the House of Terror Museum, which is effectively a memorial to victims of two bloody periods of Hungarian history
A brief encounter with the Hungarian State Opera House, but this time not at 5’40” per kilometre.
Shoes on the Danube Bank, which is a memorial to people massacred by fascists during the Second World War.
