Budapest

Budapest – or in the words of my homeboy, Johann - BudaBEST!

Last week two of my fellow South Africans and I took a trip to Budapest, Hungary to experience some of Eastern Europe. What an awesome experience! I think the reason I enjoyed it so much is because I didn’t have any expectation of how it was going to be. Also it didn’t feel like I was spending too much money cause they don’t try to rob you and take advantage of you being a tourist around every corner! One Hungarian Forinte is roughly about 30 ZAR cent – not bad – and many things are somewhat cheaper than in South Africa which was really nice! With vibes and the weather close to that of Cape Town we immediately fell in love with this stunning and charming city. Plus it was pretty awesome being able to speak Afrikaans all day with each other! This trip was already off to a good start!

We arrived there on Wednesday night. Our first little problem stuck its head out when we couldn’t pay in Euro for a Metro ticket making us run around trying to find an ATM to get some local currency. Luckily we sorted that one out fairly quickly! Then the train arrived – I think our faces said it all – these trains could even make the “nice” South African trains look like luxury. Nevertheless we stuck close to each other and it wasn’t long before we realised we had nothing to worry about. After arriving at the hostel we got dressed and headed out to the highly recommended bar, Szimpla, which was just around the corner from our hostel. There we had a little run in with the Hungarian alcohol – no, we didn’t drink too much – but it had a funny effect on us making our hearts beat really fast and causing our ears to close up, not to mention the MASSIVE headaches we had the next morning! Luckily it didn’t turn out too bad and we got home pretty quickly and safely.

The next day we set out for a tour of all the awesome sites. We walked all around Pest before crossing the bridge to Buda. There we climbed the Citadelle hill to have an amazing view of the Danube river and Pest. Another highlight was climbing the stairs of the Basilica to have a panoramic view of the whole city. That night we arrived at the hostel with sore feet! After going for a drink and some shisha at Szimpla I headed back to the hostel (my feet were killing me) while my homepeeps headed to some other bars.

On Friday we were smarter and hired some bikes to explore the city. I must admit it was one of our better ideas of the trip. We set out riding the bikes and exploring the city. We had a picnic on Margit Island in the park, which was really awesome. The island is situated in the Danube between Buda and Pest and can be reached by crossing a bridge. We also went to the city park which was just as awesome and really HUGE. At night we had our own little pre-party in the hostel living room before setting out to a famous club named Instant which is a really interesting place. There we tried some of the local Hungarian liquor called Palinka, which is a lot like Witblits with different flavours. After this we accidentally found the Hungarian Moulin Rouge, but since entrance wasn’t that cheap we skipped going in. Our final stop of the night was Doboz which Johann and Stephanie found by accident the night before. We set out looking for this club as they couldn’t remember where it was or what it was called and once again we stumbled upon it by accident. There we had another epic time with some entertainment provided by a couple that couldn’t seem to find a private room!

On Saturday morning Stephanie and I left Johann behind and went to the Szechenyi Bath and Spa to soak up some sun in the water! This was definitely also one of the biggest highlights of my time in Budapest. At 13h00 we started our journey to the airport and headed back to Gent tired but sad to leave.

All in all I would say this was one of the more successful and fun trips during my time in Europe. Plus we found the Father City to South Africa’s Mother City which is a huge compliment to Budapest since Cape Town is legendary!

Below is a video made by homeboy Johann of our time in Budapest, enjoy J