Budapest, Hungary

View from the top of Budapest - Castle Hill 

On the 16th of September we arrived in Budapest, staying at the Suite Hostel in town. We stayed with Michaels cousin and friend for 3 nights in a 6 bed dorm to ourselves.

Unfortunately the weather on our first day was horrible so we spent the majority of it shopping for warm weather clothing. I bought a leather jacket and some jumpers because prior to Iceland I didn't have any.

Across the river from Parliament House

The next day we hired bikes and rode down along the river, past the Parliament House, along the bridge to the Island, around the Island to the other side of the river and then up to the top of Castle Hill / Fortress look out point.

Szechenyi Spa

By this time we were all pretty exhausted and thought it would be fun to spend the early evening at the famous Szechenyi Budapest spa. We spent a couple of hours relaxing in many of the spa's various pools and sauna's and then headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out for dinner and drinks.

Szimpla Kert Bar

That night we headed to Szimpla Kert Bar which reminded me a lot of Melbourne's Brunswick Street. It was very grungy with good music, a large beer garden and cheap drinks. Before we knew it, it was 4am and time to go home.

Central Hall Food Market

The following day we wondered around the streets of Pest (the right side of the river) and ended up at the Central Hall Food Market. After wondering around and buying some local produce we continued walking around and found a really cool place to have dinner called For Sale Bar.

For Sale Bar

For Sale Bar's Famous Beef Goulash

Here they have baskets of peanuts on each table and serve authentic Hungary food. The servings are also extremely large, they also give you the option for a smaller serve at 75% of the price.

A small piece of Melbourne in Budapest - Best coffee we've had in Europe so far!

The next day, the 19th of September we flew from Budapest to Geneva in Switerzland.