Day 10 - Bucsu Budapest, Zdravo Hrvatski (Monday 22nd April 2024)

Today it’s seven days since we arrived in this fabulous city. We weren’t sure what to expect but took it on faith that it was a city worth visiting. We were not disappointed at all. Indeed, the promises of those many people were met and exceeded. It’s a very attractive city with its many broad, tree-lined streets and avenues, its many grand buildings, its many little lane-ways and its air of culture and grace. We’ll happily join those people who suggested to us that Budapest is a “must visit” destination. You must add it to your future travel plans. At 9:00am our 16-seater bus pulled away from the City Hotel Budapest as we bade farewell to one of the world’s great cities.

Today is the true start of our Balkan adventure. Over the next two weeks we’ll be visiting Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Croatia again. All the names of our travelling companions have almost been put to the right faces. I reckon we’ll have it sorted by tomorrow morning. Only a few to left to lock in.

The Croatian town of Osijek is today’s destination, only a few hours south of Budapest. Were staying in the area of town referred to as “the fortress” because was once where the troops of the Austrian army were stationed when the citizens of Olijek were subjects of the Habsburg Empire. The town of about 100,00 people is located on the banks of the Drava river a tributary of the Danube. It’s a very big river in its own right, flowing 750kms from the South Tyrol, high up in the mountains on the Austrian/Italian border.

 

Our home for the next two nights is the Maksimilian Guest House - lovely hotel hidden behind a set of enormous wooden doors. Our room is large and very comfortable with a view to a pretty little courtyard below. After our rooms were allocated the group headed on foot into the centre of town, just 20 minutes walk away. The centre of town is dominated by a large, open public square which has beautiful Roman Catholic church in one corner. Our stomachs were beginning to rumble so Ivana guided us to a restaurant on a barge anchored by the river. Our table provided a panoramic view across the river while we enjoyed first quality meals, wine and service. People wandered off in different directions after the main part of the meal was finished. Some stayed on for desert! Kerry and I strolled back into the town square, found an ATM to get a few Euros in our pocket, and then visited the aforementioned church.

 

 

The spectacular red-brick exterior and very tall spire were matched by the spectacular interior. Enormous stained glass windows on the northern, southern and western sides of the church were filtering the light of the sun which was beginning to set for the day. The eastern end of the church was dominated by the pipes of a massive organ. What seemed like an extraordinarily high ceiling was covered in drawings of religious figures. Not quite the Sistine Chapel but that’ll give you the picture. The silence in the church was almost deafening. Not a sound crept in from the outside world, while the smallest sound made within the church could be heard with crystal clear clarity. For fifteen minutes we enjoyed this visual and aural spectacle and then made our way back to “the fortress” as dusk was approaching. A coffee in the main square of “the fortress” with Sasha and Mel and the a beer in the hotel courtyard with Polly, Rob, Guido and Ivana capped off a very pleasant afternoon in this lovely Croatian town.

Day 9 - A Walk in the Park (Sunday 21st April 2024)

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.

Day 8 - The tour of the Balkans commences (Saturday 20th April 2024)

As described yesterday, today is officially Day One of the the Intrepid Travel Balkans and Dalmatia tour. But that doesn’t actually happen until 6:00pm so we have another full day to explore the city.

A coffee sitting in a comfy chair by a huge window with the sunlight streaming in up on Terez Bvd started the day. A visit to our Vietnamese friend for some housekeeping items was next and then a stroll down to one of the most prominent landmarks in the city – St. Steven’s Basilica – just the shortest of walks away.

We walked through the square and past the Basilica on our walking tour on Wednesday so today’s objective was to see the interior. As is usual at attractions of this type there is a wide variety of pricing available to patrons, depending on one’s station in life. We requested two tickets from the cashier and, without any hint from us, she assumed that we were requesting Seniors (over 65yo) tickets so she sold us a pair of those. Apart from the 20% discount we received, I’m still not sure if being bracketed in the “Seniors” cohort by default is such a good thing. Oh well, you take ‘em when you can get ’em.

The interior of the church is truly amazing. Wow! was the first word that passed my lips when I gazed at the splendour before me upon entry. To be a basilica, a church must be laid out in the shape of the crucifix with a dome at the intersection point with the dome is supported by magnificent arches ion all side. St. Steven’s is technically not a basilica because it’s not laid out in a crucifix shape. It’s actually laid out like a plus (+) sign. However, a visiting Pope remarked upon his visit to the church “What a magnificent basilica you have built”. The local clergy were not about to contradict his eminence, so a basilica it became. Oh well, you take ‘em when you can get ‘em!

 

 

 

 

Kerry found a pew to sit in to admire the building and I went to find the stairs to the top of the dome. I didn’t count the steps of the marble circular stair-case which led to the base of the dome but my knees told me there were lots! Up there is a whole other world with countless rooms and passages to explore. There’s even a little museum of ancient church artefacts including magnificent gold and silver pieces that pertain to the Mass as well as exquisitely embroidered clerical garments. After that I took to the narrow iron circular stair-case to finish the climb. The view of Pest from there is unbeatable, the circular walkway providing access to 360 degree views of the city and the nearby parts of Buda on the other side of the Danube. Definitely worth the effort of the climb. I passed on the elevator ride back to ground level and took the winding stair-cases back down.

Emily had mentioned that a visit to the New York Cafe in Erzsébet St (the self-proclaimed “Most Beautiful Cafe in the World”) would be worth a visit. We had intended to do so while she was with us but, alas, time ran out. So, now was a good time to make good on that plan and file a report back to Manchester. Sitting in the square outside the Basilica I loaded a couple of 90-minute tickets in our phones and took the short walk to the Deak Ferenc station. There we found an elevator at the rear of the forecourt that went straight to the platform two floors below street level. How handy was that! We followed a young local chap down a long tunnel that led to Platform 2, a train arrived and we jumped on. Two stop later we alighted at Blaha Lujza ter station, rode the long and steep escalator to the top to be greeted by the subway ticket inspectors. The inspector advised that we had neglected to validate our tickets before we boarded the train so we were therefore in breach of the law and a heavy fine was about to be levied. Despite our protestations that we didn’t see any validation points along out somewhat obscure journey to the platform our pleas for leniency fell on deaf ears. The inspector showed us a photograph of the location of the validation point half-way along the tunnel. A little box on the side of the wall which we had completely missed. At the time we were intent on keeping up with the young chap we rode the elevator with because he clearly knew where he was going. As if trying to make us feel a bit better she said that we were lucky because our fine was less than half of what a local would have been slugged. We paid the fine by contactless card payment (how b!@@dy convenient !) and we were on our way. Not happy, Jan!!

The queue outside the cafe moved very quickly and after 15 minutes we were the next to be seated. The cafe was very busy but the little orchestra playing up on the mezzanine helped maintain an air of calm and grace. We ordered our simple tea and cake and enjoyed watching the diners dine and the waiters wait. A breakdown in communication during the ordering process saw pot of tea, a pistachio tart, a teapot with just hot water in it (no tea) and an Irish coffee arrive at our table. The Irish Coffee was not ordered by us and some tea with the hot water would be handy. The Irish Coffee was whisked away and after a few minutes a second pot if tea arrived. We enjoyed our tea while admiring the quite splendid décor and ambience of the cafe – not unlike the Library we visited yesterday. To be fair, the owners of the New York Cafe do have some reasonable grounds upon which to make their claim of being “The Most Beautiful Cafe in the World”. The head waiter erase the second pot of tea, the pot of hot water and the non-ordered Irish Coffee from our bill, which was a nice gesture and the sign of a good establishment.

With a really expensive 90-minute transport ticket to get the most out of we jumped on the next tram going past the cafe, making sure we validated our ticket before we boarded! We didn’t know or care where the tram went, we just knew were going to ride it to the end if the line. As it turned out it went up Terez Blvd past our street, over the Danube past Margaret Island (more about that tomorrow) and then around the other side of the escarpment upon which the Buda castle district sits eventually terminating adjacent to the Szell Kalman ter station near the end of the M2 subway line. We wandered around here for a short while then found a cafe the made doner kebabs so we gave into the temptation and enjoyed one sitting out in the street near the tram stop. Our 90-minute ticket was about to expire so we jumped on the next tram back to our neighbourhood.

At 6:00pm we attended our scheduled meeting with the rest of the group and our tour leader, Ivana. There are fourteen in this trip half are Australians, a couple of Americans, a Canadian, a Kiwi, a Swiss and a couple Poms. All are 50+ except for young Charlotte from Diamond Creek who’s on a round the world journey apparently. Six of the group had just finished a Central European tour with Intrepid a few days ago. After the meeting formalities were dine we gathered in the hotel lobby and walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Day 7 - A quiet-ish day (Friday 19th April 2024)

Believe it or not, today we woke up to the alarm at 6:45am! The early start was so we could see Emily off to the plane back to Manchester. We’re so lucky that she was able to join us for the last three days. A great and unexpected family time to treasure.

So she could be close to the bus that would take her back to the airport we chose a meeting point near her digs. I was a little bakery recommended by the proprietor of the hostel she’s been staying in. That chap, Sandor Pozsar, who runs a little hostel at 5 Kazinczy St called AVAIL hostel has been so helpful and obliging. He’s been happy for Emily to TXT him at any time while we’ve been out and about if she needed some good advice, guidance and local information. He even told her to tell us that he’d be happy to help us if we needed the same during our last couple of days here. How good is that!! Check him out if you’re ever looking for accommodation in Budapest. His hostel is really well located in the Jewish quarter, just near the Great Synagogue.

For breakfast we visited the Aran Bakery where we enjoyed a pastry and a coffee and bought a lovely loaf for dinner later in the day. The tiny shop had a constant stream of customers coming and going. They were doing a roaring trade! From here we walked down to Rakoczi St and the bus-stop near the Astoria Hotel, where the 100E Airport Express visits. Well, it’s true that the 100E visits the Astoria bus-stop but it certainly doesn’t stop there! Down the Deak Ferenc we walked and in a few minutes Emily had boarded and was on her way. She’s only been in Manchester for three weeks but to para-phrase her words while waiting to board, “I’m gonna make the most of this sunshine while I can before I return to the place where the sun never shines”. We were on our own again but now had a much better understanding and feel for the city, thanks to Emily.

Kerry has seen a hot pink jacket in store up near the Oktogon at the intersection of Andrassy Ave and Teréz Körút on Tuesday so she was keen to try it on so we walked up there after we’d seen Emily off. Along the way, we spotted some beanies in the window of a “two dollar” shop so we ducked in there to resolve the “appropriate head-wear” problem. The shop with the hot pink jacket only had limited stock of them and nothing in Kerry’s size so we left empty-handed.

As the name of this day suggests, we had planned for a quiet-ish day after three full-on days with Emily. These old bones need to slowdown every now and then. Today was the day. I was thinking that in this beautiful city we could do a lot better than just sit in the hotel room all day when it occurred to me that a library would be a much better option for just sitting and resting up a bit. To that end, we took the subway to Kalvin St station and soon found ourselves at the front door of the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library. The neo-Baroque palace was built in 1889 was the Wenckheim family – a well-known and well-connected Hungarian aristocratic family. When the last member of the family passed away with no heirs it was acquired by the State and converted to a library.

Wow! What a place to spend a couple of hours. The stunning internal architecture is nothing sort of magnificent. Indeed, I’d call it palatial! I shan’t try to describe it here. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. All the rooms were full of students studying at antique desks or on antique fabric chairs by the windows with sunlight streaming in or sumptuous leather lounges by the walls and the fireplaces. One room was adorned with a magnificent dark wooden spiral stair reaching high up to the books up there. Although the rooms were all very well patronised once could still hear a pin drop (or a back-pack zipper open). Even the rustle of a plastic bag in my back-pack sounded like a rock concert. We stayed here in this beautiful serenity until 2:00pm – Kerry with her needle-work and me with my computer writing these words.

Sadly we departed as our 24hr travel card was about to expire. Before reaching the Kalvin ter station we dropped in at an Aldi to get something to go with the bread we’d bought that morning. The subway whisked us back to our neighbourhood with minimal fuss and still plenty of time left on our ticket, Before retiring to the hotel for the day we visited a nearby Post Office to get a stamp for a Postcard for Mum. Remember when that was the only form of communication back home for young travellers? I wrote the postcard standing in the Post Office, got it stamped and sent it on it’s way. Back at the hotel we had a late lunch/early tea and then packed it in for the day. Tomorrow, at 6:00pm our Intrepid Balkans and Dalmatia tour starts ,with Sunday being a full day to explore Budapest at their own pace. Those who are counting on that being their only taste of Budapest and Hungary will be left wanting to see and learn a lot more about this brilliant city.