Budapest and the good side of being human

Good morning globetrotting family!

When it comes to travelling, you must know that there are certain cities that should be seen "as a couple", so doing a solo trip to these two cities: Budapest and Prague, comply to this rule. In general, people also tend to make the most of this and add the city of Vienna to their Budapest-Prague trip and I truly think that it must be a marvellous trip. Doing it in this way allows you to make the most of your journey, even if the sites are a little more limited in each place you stop in. The most important thing is to find a balance between the things you see and the time you have. It's also not a good time to stress about travelling!

We stayed in Budapest (the capital of Hungary) and Prague (the capital of the Czech Republic): two contrasting cities, but one's just as wonderful as the other.

Our adventure started with arriving in Budapest at around 3pm on the 28th January (it was cold a while ago). The first problem in sight: How do we get to the hotel? In the airport you can find a lot of different offers from various taxi or minibus companies etc. In the end, we asked a few of them for their prices, we got a taxi that didn't cost us a kidney, and we were happy.

For some clarification, in Budapest the currency is the Hungarian forint: 1 euro = 322 Hungarian forints.

To be able to change your money, I recommend that you ask for a reliable place in your hostel, and don't change it "at the first point of change" (a redundant but true comment) because you could lose a lot of money. The very central places tend to make very unbalanced changes and they often have very pretty posters (don't trust them).

Returning to our pretty but cold trip, I have to say that it had only just started but it was already so much fun: the taxi driver that took us to the hostel was a true show... . I really did laugh I swear. He was turning at 100km per hour to show us around whilst he talked at us (I didn't want to be rude sir, but you're running the risk of killing us), and cackling to himself... which is why I said a show.

On the other hand, the currency in Budapest is hilarious for Spaniards. The word 'forint' is 'florin' in Spanish, which means little flower. So, because of this phrases such as "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" would be "a little flower in the hand is worth two in the bush". In Spanish, this cracks people up.

Soon after arriving at our beloved hostel, we prepared to go to the very well known Thermal Baths of Budapest, where we spent 3 hours that flew by. It was amazing. You're submerged in super hot water (around 30 degrees I think), when Budapest was around 6 degrees itself. Undoubtedly the best moment was when we bought some beers in the baths and we drank them in the water (yeah, they let you! ). A true pleasure.

Once we had relaxed enough, we went to change because we were going to a pub that someone had recommended to us and now I'll also recommend it to you: it's called Szimpla. It was incredible. On the bottom floor they had a dance floor and the roof was made of wood. There were flowers and plants draping from the second floor and you could look down through the leaves from the first floor. We went upstairs where there were tables and it was really good as the music wasn't too loud and you could speak without having to shout. I would recommend it 100%. It had a really cool vibe that you don't tend to see.

After that amazing first day in Budapest, we went to sleep. Then, that next morning, we didn't start on the best foot: they told me that I had been suspended from a class for the second time because I had an exam at the beginning of December and another at the start on January. Honestly, seeing as we were almost at the beginning of February (the day I found out was the 30th January), I didn't find the same suspension very funny. And here is where I want to start the "the good side of being human" part of my post. I was on the phone after breakfast talking about the exam, and I ended up crying out of pure anger and frustration.

After I hung up the phone I carried on sitting in the chair, swearing, and a girl who didn't know me at all came and gave me a hug, nothing more. She asked me what had happened in English, and I told her, to which she responded that everything would be okay, so I shouldn't worry. What it was about that hug, no one knows. To go over to console someone that you don't know at all is to a good human, and a very good person.

Well, after this dramatic episode with a happy ending, we went on a "Free Tour" that a very friendly girl with glasses ran, and she knew a lot about everything. It was a very pleasant morning. She told us so many things about the history, the curiosities... a 10/10 from me! I also must say that Budapest is a city that you will fall in love with just because of the city it is. You only have to look at the amazing river that it has, its majestic Parliament building, the Plaza of Heroes that leave you speechless...

Now, after walking all morning through Buda and Pest we were atrociously hungry. If you didn't know, they were two different cities that joined together and formed Budapest. The simple reason for this was that they were both so big and so close together, that it didn't make sense to consider them as individual cities. So we went to a market close to the river, where there were loads of traditional food stalls on the second floor, which were all splendid! In Budapest, there is spicy food and meat everywhere; and as I love them both... Wahoo!

And thus ends our stay in Budapest, as that same night we caught a Flixbus to the stunning city of Prague. We were on the bus from 00:00 until 6:30am (appealing, right? )

I will tell you about our adventures in Prague in the next article... What happened?!

And you already know that if you have any good proposals about interesting topics I should write about in my new posts you can send me a message through ErasmusU, or leave a comment on Facebook or the post itself.

Kisses! Until next time!