Today, the first full day if the tour, is a free day. Our fellow travellers are free to explore the city at their own leisure. Of course, we’d already seen a lot of the main attractions so we intended to spend today having a last look at this wonderful city.
Our tour leader offered an informal orientation/walking tour for a couple of hours over to the Jewish quarter. We’d already spent a bit of time over their but we went along anyway as we thought it would be a good chance to spend some time with our new companions. Half the crew had turned up by 10:00am so off we went at a very leisurely pace. Sunday in Budapest is the day when little market stalls pop up in the streets and lanes of the city. On our way we stopped to explore one of them in a lane running between two streets. Straight off the bat was a stall selling pre-loved vinyl records from the 70’s anf 80’s. The collection was littered with some of the great music of those eras. I would have snapped up a couple had I been at home but vinyl records and a minimalist luggage approach to travel don’t mix so they stayed where they were. Kerry was more fortunate, finding some earrings, which are eminently more transportable.
Our informal tour ended up at the “ruin” bar in Kazinczy St, the same one Emily had taken us to earlier in the week. On Sundays it too is given over to market stalls and very busy. Our small group, smaller now because we’d lost some at the lane-way market, found a table on an upper platform in sunshine and watched the world go by. Coffee was hard to come by, but we eventually got one. It was served in a “keep” cup for which one paid an additional 500Ft (AUD $2.00). I suppose that’s in keeping with the “recycle everything” vibe of the place.
From here we parted ways, Kerry and I heading to Octogon at the intersection of Terez korut, Andrassy Ave and Elisabeth St. where we boarded tram bound for Margit hid and the tram stop adjacent to the entrance to Margaret Island. Margaret Island is one place where residents of Budapest got on a Sunday to relax with their families on the green fields under shady trees, get some exercise running or riding across and around the island or participate organsised sports such as swimming, football and water polo, the big banner next to the water polo venue reminding everyone that the national team won the world championship in 2022. Today was the day of the big 10km fun run around Budapest, starting and finishing on Margaret Island. The place was, not surprisingly, very busy and jumping with a real carnival atmosphere happening.
After a couple of hours of walking, broken with a sit on a park bench here and there to enjoy the pleasant, green surroundings or sit and watch the Danube flow by, we headed back up to the tram stop just as the last runners were coming in. Outside the main Pest station we alighted to get some provisions for dinner (chips, coke and beer) from a supermarket. One can’t leave Budapest without having a Chimney Cake, sort of like a cinnamon scroll baked in a wooden stick about 20cm in height and hollow in the middle, resembling – you guessed it! - a chimney. Obligatory tourist food in this part of the world. We ate that with a coffee out on the street and then retired to the hotel for an early night.
It really looks very lush and pretty in Budapest. Sounds like a relaxed beginning to your tour.
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