Budapest (Hungary)
21 March - 23 March 2016
21 March - 23 March 2016
I don't if it's just me, whether its just a Henry Elisher thing, but when I meet new people I usually try somewhat to make a good first impression. Call it my modus operandi or just the I roll. So within my realms of the believable universe, I thought that most people would generally feel the same. The intention of this get away to Budapest was to have Inga, myself and my cousin Vladimir meet up with Inga's brother Davis. The thought being that all four of us with spend time in the Hungarian capital, exploring and seeing the sites...that was the intention.
Within two hours of Davis landing however my cousin was already most of the way back to the Serbian border. An impression created...for sure.
The seeds of discontent were planted ever so innocuously , and without malice may I say, several months earlier when the booking of the Budapest accommodation, a beautiful apartment in the centre of the city, was made by Inga. The problem came from the sleeping arrangements that were logistically constructed out of necessity when Inga made a 2 BDR reservation. Little did Inga know the sensitivity of my cousin having to share a room, albeit quite a big room, that had two individual beds. She made the assumption that everybody would be fine with those sleeping arrangements. No so Vladimir - no sir, no way. OK, major issue there, I came with a quick fix and decided to accommodate Vladimir in the closest location to our apartment, a hostel/hotel only a 2-3 minute walk from where we were staying.
Where we encountered the major issue was when we went to investigate the room. It was a single room in a hostel. Basically a decent enough bed, with some furniture and its own bathroom. It was average, unpretentious, and something I thought would resolve the issue of distance through convenience....but that it did not do.
To quote my cousin, in translation, when referring to the room, 'No, it doesn't even come into consideration'. That was it, out he walked, not offering a solution, no saying anything - Henry you deal with it. Mind you, this epitomised most of my families debacles in the years in Serbia, as generally it appeared that I created problems from nowhere, that I was completely oblivious to, that somehow I had inherited responsibility for and that I had to resolve. Now, I hadn't booked the initial accommodation but I did try to resolve the issue when it arose, now here my expectation was that someone take a 'harden the fuck up' approach and just appreciate the situation and deal with sleeping in a smaller room for two nights, I wouldn't consider that to have been at all difficult.
As Vladimir was adamant that the room was not an option, both Davis & I offered to jump in and take the room ourselves, and really, neither one of us would have had a problem doing that, but no, Vladimir was ticked and his solution was going to be for him to drive the 3 hours back to Belgrade that day and then return two days later to pick us up. In the end that solution did was probably the best option for everyone but as a first impression to my future brother-in-law, having that argument play out immediately on arrival and being introduced to a member of my family, well, it made me feel completely uncomfortable and awfully embarrassed. There's something to be said for social graces and being simply considerate of the feelings of people in certain situations. My cousin obviously missed the memo on this one. Call it being Serbian or being a Leo or a combination of both, it's not the attitude that I expected or enjoyed in that moment.
So, from a party of four we quickly translated to a party of three, and in many ways that worked in our favour. I say that without prejudice as I know the interests and levels of tolerance that my cousin has differs from the rest of us. With that said, our first afternoon we took it to the streets, walking around the area of parliament and heading up river on the Pest side of the Danube. Again, it was not difficult to see at all why this city is considered as one of the highlights of Europe. The backdrop, the architecture and the way the city presents itself is exquisite.
Finishing off our walk we decided to stop in for some food at a place Inga & I had been to previously, a place called The For Sale Pub. What you get here is a great atmosphere, interesting surrounds and a cheap menu with great food. Of course we knew exactly what to zero in on. The goulash soup at this place was both delicious, hearty and plentiful. So much so that one order could easily satisfy the cravings of three people, which is exactly what ended up happening.
Deciding to put a in a little after dinner work we took one of the many main trails that headed to the top of Gellert Hegy Hill. Unequivocally the best views of down town Budapest, without question, the vistas left a great impression on us and coupled with a bottle aptly named Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon, the final brush strokes were placed onto an evening that actually supported what had been a very good day, no matter how inauspicious its genesis had been. Of course, a late night in Budapest would never be complete without an additional late night finale drink and even later night kebab, its just what you do.
Our next day started at a fantastic coffee spot called Cafe Frei. This place was just the tonic for an early morning pick me-up. Their menu was something else. Coffees from around the world in all styles, all modes of delivery. For someone that loves diversity in all forms this place was spectacularly on point. The highlight for me was the Nicaraguan Tobacco Coffee - oh hell yeah - with hints of tobacco on the nose and on the palate, this my friends was an EPIC creation, I could not rate this anymore highly than by simply saying 'go to Budapest just for this'.
Buzzing from our caffeine hit we needed to roll it back a few notches and decided to partake in an oddly unique cultural Budapest pastime, of going to a spa/thermal bath. It appears that historically this has been a trademark of the city for quite some time, enjoyed as early on as the 2nd century AD by the Romans, who would probably relax their poor tired muscles in between eating and having raucous orgies. Oh, to be a Roman in Budapest huh. We selected one of the original Turkish baths (Rudas) as our place of merriment (for only the bath of course, no orgies on the menu at this stage).
The attraction here are the mineral filled waters of the baths that range in temperature from 60-80 degrees, offset by the ice plunge pools which are enough to kickstart the heart of anyone. In addition to the pools they also had saunas, aromatherapy rooms and other rooms of absolute tranquillity that were so unexpectedly blissful that a 4hr stay just slid by without even a hint of boredom.
As the night started to cast lengthening shadows over what started to become a city full of surprises we headed out to dinner before jumping onto a Danube cruise for a couple of hours. Making our way down the river at night I was full of admiration of the spectacle and lamented, in some small part, the fact that a small way down the river was another city that could not nearly compete with the beauty here. Same river, neighbouring countries but worlds apart in many ways.
Another discovery of Budapest, and what turned out to be a real highlight for me, was finding a ruin bar. These have been popping up in the city over the last 20 years and have essentially made their way by taking up residence in some of the abandoned buildings of the city. The craft and style which they've adopted to take advantage of each premises has made something completely unique from each bar and fostered a spirit of creation that has become uniquely associated with Budapest. We chose to go to the original ruin bar, Szimpla Kert. Located on Kazinczy Street, its bohemian nature coupled with the unreal prices that underpinned the sometimes chaotic and often eclectic look and feel to the venue. The size and ability to move through areas of variety and find interesting place of both calm and frenzy is what made this one of my favourite bars anywhere. Definitely a must do in Budapest and I'd hit that with a recommendation to go and see as many of the great ones as possible.
We rounded another fabulous night by acquiring ourselves a bottle of wine and heading to the roof top terrace of our apartment. Being in the middle of the city and having fantastic views certainly comes with bonuses.
The next day Vladimir met us at around midday. Not to say that he missed out, because either way he wouldn't have enjoyed any of what we did, but hey, from one cousin to another, let me just say, 'you missed out'.
Where we encountered the major issue was when we went to investigate the room. It was a single room in a hostel. Basically a decent enough bed, with some furniture and its own bathroom. It was average, unpretentious, and something I thought would resolve the issue of distance through convenience....but that it did not do.
To quote my cousin, in translation, when referring to the room, 'No, it doesn't even come into consideration'. That was it, out he walked, not offering a solution, no saying anything - Henry you deal with it. Mind you, this epitomised most of my families debacles in the years in Serbia, as generally it appeared that I created problems from nowhere, that I was completely oblivious to, that somehow I had inherited responsibility for and that I had to resolve. Now, I hadn't booked the initial accommodation but I did try to resolve the issue when it arose, now here my expectation was that someone take a 'harden the fuck up' approach and just appreciate the situation and deal with sleeping in a smaller room for two nights, I wouldn't consider that to have been at all difficult.
The offending room - Budapest - Hungary
As Vladimir was adamant that the room was not an option, both Davis & I offered to jump in and take the room ourselves, and really, neither one of us would have had a problem doing that, but no, Vladimir was ticked and his solution was going to be for him to drive the 3 hours back to Belgrade that day and then return two days later to pick us up. In the end that solution did was probably the best option for everyone but as a first impression to my future brother-in-law, having that argument play out immediately on arrival and being introduced to a member of my family, well, it made me feel completely uncomfortable and awfully embarrassed. There's something to be said for social graces and being simply considerate of the feelings of people in certain situations. My cousin obviously missed the memo on this one. Call it being Serbian or being a Leo or a combination of both, it's not the attitude that I expected or enjoyed in that moment.
Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
Outside of parliament - Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
Friends for life? Classic brother vs. sister
Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
So, from a party of four we quickly translated to a party of three, and in many ways that worked in our favour. I say that without prejudice as I know the interests and levels of tolerance that my cousin has differs from the rest of us. With that said, our first afternoon we took it to the streets, walking around the area of parliament and heading up river on the Pest side of the Danube. Again, it was not difficult to see at all why this city is considered as one of the highlights of Europe. The backdrop, the architecture and the way the city presents itself is exquisite.
Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
Finishing off our walk we decided to stop in for some food at a place Inga & I had been to previously, a place called The For Sale Pub. What you get here is a great atmosphere, interesting surrounds and a cheap menu with great food. Of course we knew exactly what to zero in on. The goulash soup at this place was both delicious, hearty and plentiful. So much so that one order could easily satisfy the cravings of three people, which is exactly what ended up happening.
Deciding to put a in a little after dinner work we took one of the many main trails that headed to the top of Gellert Hegy Hill. Unequivocally the best views of down town Budapest, without question, the vistas left a great impression on us and coupled with a bottle aptly named Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon, the final brush strokes were placed onto an evening that actually supported what had been a very good day, no matter how inauspicious its genesis had been. Of course, a late night in Budapest would never be complete without an additional late night finale drink and even later night kebab, its just what you do.
Gellert Hegy Hill - For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
Gellert Hegy Hill - For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
Gellert Hegy Hill - For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
Gellert Hegy Hill - For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
Gellert Hegy Hill - For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
Gellert Hegy Hill - For Sale Pub - Budapest - Hungary
Not sure what this manoeuvre was meant to be - in fact it was some sort of 'go to' pose that just had us laughing for ages
Cafe Frei - Budapest - Hungary
Cafe Frei - Budapest - Hungary
One of the GREAT coffees - let me introduce use to the Nicaraguan Tobacco Coffee - Cafe Frei - Cafe Frei - Budapest - Hungary
Buzzing from our caffeine hit we needed to roll it back a few notches and decided to partake in an oddly unique cultural Budapest pastime, of going to a spa/thermal bath. It appears that historically this has been a trademark of the city for quite some time, enjoyed as early on as the 2nd century AD by the Romans, who would probably relax their poor tired muscles in between eating and having raucous orgies. Oh, to be a Roman in Budapest huh. We selected one of the original Turkish baths (Rudas) as our place of merriment (for only the bath of course, no orgies on the menu at this stage).
The attraction here are the mineral filled waters of the baths that range in temperature from 60-80 degrees, offset by the ice plunge pools which are enough to kickstart the heart of anyone. In addition to the pools they also had saunas, aromatherapy rooms and other rooms of absolute tranquillity that were so unexpectedly blissful that a 4hr stay just slid by without even a hint of boredom.
Budapest - Hungary
Rudas thermal baths - Budapest - Hungary
Rudas thermal baths - Budapest - Hungary
Rudas thermal baths - Budapest - Hungary
Rudas thermal baths - Budapest - Hungary
Rudas thermal baths - Budapest - Hungary
As the night started to cast lengthening shadows over what started to become a city full of surprises we headed out to dinner before jumping onto a Danube cruise for a couple of hours. Making our way down the river at night I was full of admiration of the spectacle and lamented, in some small part, the fact that a small way down the river was another city that could not nearly compete with the beauty here. Same river, neighbouring countries but worlds apart in many ways.
Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
Budapest - Hungary
Another discovery of Budapest, and what turned out to be a real highlight for me, was finding a ruin bar. These have been popping up in the city over the last 20 years and have essentially made their way by taking up residence in some of the abandoned buildings of the city. The craft and style which they've adopted to take advantage of each premises has made something completely unique from each bar and fostered a spirit of creation that has become uniquely associated with Budapest. We chose to go to the original ruin bar, Szimpla Kert. Located on Kazinczy Street, its bohemian nature coupled with the unreal prices that underpinned the sometimes chaotic and often eclectic look and feel to the venue. The size and ability to move through areas of variety and find interesting place of both calm and frenzy is what made this one of my favourite bars anywhere. Definitely a must do in Budapest and I'd hit that with a recommendation to go and see as many of the great ones as possible.
Szimpla Kert - Ruin Bar - Budapest - Hungary
Szimpla Kert - Ruin Bar - Budapest - Hungary
Szimpla Kert - Ruin Bar - Budapest - Hungary
Szimpla Kert - Ruin Bar - Budapest - Hungary
Szimpla Kert - Ruin Bar - Budapest - Hungary
We rounded another fabulous night by acquiring ourselves a bottle of wine and heading to the roof top terrace of our apartment. Being in the middle of the city and having fantastic views certainly comes with bonuses.
Rooftop terrace - Budapest - Hungary
Rooftop terrace - Budapest - Hungary
Next stop Belgrade
The next day Vladimir met us at around midday. Not to say that he missed out, because either way he wouldn't have enjoyed any of what we did, but hey, from one cousin to another, let me just say, 'you missed out'.
