First evening in Budapest

I've never been to Budapest and Hungary before (although they are our neighbours) and I was planning to visit it now during my Erasmus semester in Vienna since everything is very close and especially affordable for the students. Now I had more reasons than ever to go there and not just for a day. There's my colleague from School of Design doing an internship there also with Erasmus thus I had a place to stay and people of trust I've known good and also friends (locals) I met during my trip to Austria and Japan in the last three years.

Due to full schedules on weekends the only available days (and that also was okay with my friends) were 12-13th December and my boss let me have a day off on Friday 11th. So I reserved my seats in the bus to Budapest and back in the morning. Now, some little problems happened which I don't want to describe but in the end I made it.

At the bus station Stadion Wien I met a Korean friend. We sat together and talked for an hour until we got to Bratislava. But first a few words about the bus and the bus agency.

Student Agency - RegioJet buses for students

While googling the classical phrase "destination A to destination B bus students cheap" I came across this web page. Since I got a discount due to having my ISIC (International Student Identity Card) I got a discount and my trip from Vienna to Budapest was 8, 70€ in one direction. And you can also have your reservation ticket confirmation on your smartphone and show it when they're checking the passengers on their list at the entrance of the bus (unlike many in Croatia where they start checking once we're already on the road). In the bus to Bratislava they didn't ask for my ISIC but to Budapest (and back) they did and also had to show them my ID card. So don't forget the important documents.

The buses were clean and I really loved that they had the multimedia displays on the seats in front of you. So you could watch movies, read books, listen to the music... which was my favorite option. And what is more - they offer you a free drink (and yes, hot chocolate! ). I wish we had something like this at home. In every bus there was a young adult or someone of a student age who were doing their best to make our ride comfortable. I'm looking forward to another bus ride with them.

I had to change the bus in Bratislava, waited 15 minutes for the next one for Budapest (which was, on the contrary, 100% full of travellers) and since it was getting dark I had no other option but to sleep while listening to Pink Floyd's Remastered Album.

This was also my first time crossing the Slovakian border.

Arriving to Budapest

So, I though the Korean guy and I were leaving at the same bus stop (he wanted to stay in Bratislava for 2 days) but we didn't. After telling him 'Hey man, we'll talk down at the station, you go first, I'll just check again if I took everything... " I heard from one girl that this was not my station; so not the best 'goodbye'. While waiting 15 minutes for the right bus I met a Canadian who was traveling around Europe so we talked before entering the bus.

After approximately two and half hours we arrived to Budapest, Népliget bus terminal. I remember seeing something like the forest on both sides of the bus before getting to our bus terminal and felt a bit nervous if none of my friends would have time to pick me up. I had no idea about Budapest, Hungarians and spoke no Hungarian except for 4 and half words. I had of course check the route from the bus to the apartment of my friend so I wouldn't be lost.

Luckily, a friend of mine I met in Austria, let's call him Bens, waited for me. I was very happy to see him. He didn't recognize me until I came to him. Then we decided to go to the city center and meet his friends in the bar. We went to the metro station right next to the bus station. While passing through the hallway to buy the tickets I saw something I've heard a lot about and read on the Internet, the homeless living there. There was lots of them.

We bought 10 tickets for the public transport (and didn't use half of it) and headed to ours. You have to use the ticket before going down by using the elevator (which are really long) as there are two or more guys keeping on their eyes every passenger if they have a valid ticket. You can probably tick them but I left that for some other time. The train that arrived was pretty old (just for that route, they have modern ones elsewhere, at least that's what they say ) and I heard interesting stories about it such as common fire inside the old one, it occurs almost weekly and people are used to it. After a few stations we left the metro at Kálvin tér.

First impressions of Budapest (and Hungary)

Now starts the real experience I could say. And I'm happy that Bens had time and will to meet and guide me since for me personally Hungary is a bit like a foreign planet. Mostly because of the language. I think I'd never learn Hungarian to live there especially since the language (unfortunately) is kind of a curse - being born there the only people you can talk to are Hungarians and nothing similar exists outside the borders. Which means Persian and Hindi have more in common with me than my Hungarian neighbours.

We continued walking towards the Deak square passing by the Hungarian National Museum through Muzeum and Karoly streets where one could also find markets full of people, souvenirs and drinks.

Now a bit of the impressions from the first streets.

Budapest looks really awesome. The architecture, the streets... it's the Austro-Hungarian style which means similar "atmosphere" and "make-up" can be found in Croatia, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia... so I felt a bit like at home or like in Vienna but there is always a difference of course. What I loved is that the city, the old part, still looks like you came several decades back in the past. There are lots of buildings that have bricks as their facade and it reminded me of PC games related to World War 2. And some really look abandoned, dark... bricks and metal, copper that became green over the time... You shouldn't be surprised to hear that Budapest is a very popular destination for the film makers, I've heard there are hundreds of them being filmed yearly. Basically, the city resembles many of other popular European destinations. You can read more about this here.

Many buildings were also colorful - green facade, yellow, brown... though I mostly loved those 'retro' looking with bricks. Since I came during the winter period and there was practically no sun the whole city was in grayish tones, which had special effects on the colorful facades. Now add to this scenery old yellow trams and taxis!

We came to Deak square with St. Stephen's (Istvan) basilica. I saw a Ferris wheel nearby and we were just about to enter the 'Fashion street'. Which was full of markets, vendors etc.

Oh, the important thing! One more reason to love Budapest! The prices are normal, which means that you can enjoy good meal for a few euros (let's say 3€) and after 2 months of survival in Vienna this was just like in heaven! Of course, the Hungarian standard of living is lower than the Austrian / Western European and it's difficult for the locals too. If you're a tourist, you can really enjoy the city (and the food) a lot in a few days.

Afterwards we called my friend Sofia I met this summer in Japan and after meeting we headed to one bar (and we forgot the name of it) to meet the other friends. It's somewhere in the center, very cosy and warm. Spent an hour there and then came time to say goodbye. It was a cool reunion. Unfortunately on the following day we couldn't meet again but there's always 'next time'.

My friend helped me find the apartment where I was supposed to sleep. And there I was welcomed by the host, we were eating and talking until my friend came late from her workplace - another reunion followed since Zagreb back in the beginning of October and then plans for tomorrow. We were also about to use the popular USE-IT maps. So far I can say that the Hungarians are very hospitable and of trust. Of course, it's individual but you're lucky when you know people like them.

The next day was a really long but very interesting which started with going to the hairdresser.

Thanks for reading and soon comes part 2.

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