Despite arriving relatively early in Budapest, the overbearing heat that suddenly hit us prevented any fast movement. Of the cities we have been to so far, Budapest has the most unique culture, with its abundant numbers of markets and quite religious population (Budapest is home to the most populous Christian community in Central Europe and has the largest Calvinist population on Earth).
Eventually, we began to see the sights of Budapest. Beginning with a walk around the overwhelmingly stunning Parliament building, situated by the Danube River, we visited Budapest's architectural wonders, with a bus driving us to the top of Castle Hill. Our initial plan was to see the palace, which we thought we had seen until we got back to the hostel and realised it was instead the Fisherman's Bastion. The palace was pretty much next door.
In the evening, we visited one of Budapest's notorious Ruin Bars. As Szimpla was the first bar to be founded, we visited this one first. The building had a rustic feel to it, with sporadically placed furniture, fairy lights hung on the walls and aged posters everywhere; the decor of each of the 20+ rooms (too many to count) varies. Drinks were expensive in comparison to much of Budapest but still cheaper than London- the Szimpla Cooler cocktail I went for was 1800 Hungarian Forint (just over £5)- but that is to be expected from a place with such a following. Even though it was a Sunday night, most tables were taken and the bar was still filling up at past midnight. Not my favourite night out so far but definitely worth a visit if looking for a trendy bar.
The next day was by far our most relaxing yet. What I had been looking forward to most in Budapest was the Szechenyi Baths, which are thermal spring pools. Despite arriving at midday, it wasn't completely packed (though still busy) but I would recommend pre-booking tickets from your hostel if possible as the queue for tickets was long. There are three pools at the spa: the hot pool, the lane swimming pool and the 'fun' pool. The hot pool is consistently heated between 37 and 38 degree Celsius, which meant it was not quite the source of refreshment we were after but did instantly relax us. The lane swimming pool has a compulsory swimming hat rule so we were unable to give that a go but the most lively of pools meant that this did not matter. The 'fun' pool had a lazy river, which basically consisted of groups of people trying to unsuccessfully get round the small loop together, underwater power jets and waterfalls. Although there were three pools, the site is not large, yet we spent over four hours there (with most of that spent floating around the lazy river). Interrailing can get very intense so the Szechenyi Baths are a must-do for anyone needing an afternoon of relief.
Our trip to the station this morning was probably one of my most stressful days this year. Our group got split up on the tram and ended up on different ones, we were unable to reserve our train so turned up at the station hoping for the best and then, to top it all off, it turned out that our train was to depart from another station in Budapest, which meant taking the SLOWEST ever metro across the city with 30 minutes to spare. Fortunately, we made it. As I write this, I am in a COMPARTMENT on a 9-hour train journey going from Budapest to Lake Bled. Honestly, I feel like I'm going to Hogwarts in our little six-seat pod.
Once we had acclimatised (slightly), we set out for lunch. Similarly to Vienna, everywhere was just... Shut. Perhaps as a result of its religious background, many of the shops in Budapest are closed on Sundays or, if not completely shut, chances are that the store will close at 2pm. The people of Budapest must be the most forward of thinkers; no 11pm nip to Budgens on a Sunday for lunch for the following day. That meant that it was time for another cafe visit, which had water vapour fans to cool its visitors.
Maybe next visit instead, then.
The view from the top was simply incredible; you can walk around and up the turrets of the Bastion, giving an amazing view of Budapest and its surrounding hills and providing many photo opportunities.
Unwilling to have to search for restaurant due to the shops closing, we bought dinner at the Spar we walked past on the way back and also stocked up for the following day. Having experienced one Ruin Bar, we wanted to go to one more before we left so opted for Instant. Although it is done as a 'dancey bar', I would determine Instant as a nightclub, with a bar. There are two main dance rooms, one with dance hits and one with house music, with bars beside each one. Whilst the decor was not as interesting as in Szimpla, the place was still artistically presented, with the same mix-match of furniture. At Instant, I witnessed possibly the nicest mosh pit of all time. At the end of a song, all the people who were in the mosh pit picked up a guy's money from the floor after his wallet was knocked open and gave it back to him. Whilst this would be custom in any other circumstance, for a mosh pit I was impressed.
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