We took off on a tram this morning across the Danube to the other side. We decided to just head out into the suburbs to explore and it's basically the same as home, blocks of housing commission flats multiplied in the dozens. Graffiti adorns most of the buildings and subways; there's very little grass, mainly just brown flattened dirt; lots of dogs and evidence of them on pathways; cigarette butts abound - the "Keep Australia Beautiful" people ought to come here to beautify the streets of Budapest (and Prague) cigarette butts and rubbish just thrown into the streets. There would be a world of work for the "Quit" people too. The young things here are quite gorgeous and the current fashion seems to be very stylish sheer tops with tight jeans and high, high heels.
We walked alongside the river past Parliament House, a magnificent building. Some very old and grubby cruise ships were anchored in front (Emeline - thankfully not the APT line!) and there was oodles of debris floating in the Danube. Have they had floods here recently too? The modern architects have been at it here - there's a space-age looking building squeezed in between two beautiful (baroque?) buildings - it reminds me of the plans they've got for Flinders Street Station.
We grabbed a pilsner at a small box-like "café" sitting all by itself in the middle of nowhere - the temperature was very warm today 27C and we were still lugging our coats around with us - we've had cool and at times damp weather since we arrived in Europe so we've not thought to head out without our jackets.
We jumped back on a #41 tram heading back towards the city. The tram stops here are few and far between - we'd have probably 2-3 stops for their one. So once again, we ended up going one stop too many and had to take another tram back one stop. Part of the problem, I thought that "Nemeti Dohanybolt" was the name of the met/tram stop - turns out it's a sign for a beer!
We climbed up the (I lost count at 700) steps to Gellert Gyogyfurdo to the huge cross half-way up the mountain - it reminds me of the Christ in Rio statue that overlooks that city. We continued the, "get out the defibrillator", steep climb to the top where we found other people in similar states of "totally stuffed" lolling around. It was a great comfort to also see an ambulance in its own parking spot. The ice-cream vendor was doing a roaring trade, and we obliged. We could have tried our hand at archery, or purchased one of the many hand made embroidered dresses, table cloths, or hats for sale. We chose to start the trek back down the mountain.
After a couple of wrong trams, either wrong line or wrong way, and ditto for the trains, we eventually made our way to the Palace of Art but it was late - we'll do that tomorrow. We walked through the park that houses Vajdahunyad Castle. It has been built in various architectural styles - baroque, Gothic, Tudor and Romanesque - it was a real mish mash. I swear Connor that I could see a dragon at the top of this castle ...
We continued our walk and found the Szechenyi Baths. It's a huge neo-classical place that has a dozen thermal baths and five swimming pools. You can choose between thermal mineral pools at different temperatures. We thought we'd head there tomorrow for some 'healing waters' but I saw the scrolling visual signage above where the tickets are sold: "The drinking water is good for gastro enteritis". I'm not sure if it's simply a language barrier that has made this information sound like a warning, but I've decided I don't want to be on board a boat for the next two weeks with 'gastro enteritis' so I'm giving this part of the experience a wide berth.
Sounds as though you're having a great time. Doing lots of walking too. Maybe the Camino next?
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