Vienna and Budapest
Szia! 🇭🇺🇦🇹
I think that means hello in Hungarian. Hello can also be hello, but that’s not an interesting way to start this post. I’m going to divide this post into two parts - Vienna and Budapest, because while they were similar in some ways, they were also quite different!
Vienna/Wien
Since it turned out to be impossible to get from Dubrovnik to Budapest in less than 8 hours and without spending $600+ on a one way ticket, I decided it would be better to get a cheap 1 hour flight to Vienna, spend 48 hours there, and then get a 2 hour train to Budapest. I’ve never been to Vienna (or Austria) so I thought it was a good opportunity to see a little bit of it.
Despite it being just a one hour flight, getting off the plane and into Vienna was a completely different experience that getting out of Dubrovnik and onto the plane. In Dubrovnik I had to ask about 10 people which the airport bus was, which included a lot of vague pointing, eye rolls and unclear hand gestures. The Dubrovnik airport was awful - two cafes serving the same things (crappy sandwiches, pastries, beverages) and literally nothing else. Not even a news agent to get a water or a bag of chips. Anyway, landing in Austria, everything was orderly, sign posted, and easy. I love efficiency, so I was immediately happy.
Since I didn’t have long in Vienna I didn’t get do that much. I pretty much just walked around looking at things. On the full day I had, I did 26,000 steps, without specifically trying. The main touristy things I did were to go out to Schonbrunn (summer palace for the old Austrian monarchy), eat traditional wienerschnitzel, and walk around the city centre which has a lot of grand old buildings all over.
Schonbrunn was good. There was an audio tour that took you around the rooms of the palace and explained the history which was all interesting. Out back there are huge gardens which are nice to walk around as well. I had forgotten Marie Antoinette was Australian before being married off to Louis XVI. Apparently she never actually said “then they shall eat cake”. The dates don’t line up with when the quote was first published (which was not attributed to her at the time) and when she actually arrived in Paris.
Schonbrunn can also lay claim to the world most expensive cup of tea. I was sooo mad. In this little cafe, there was a case of pastries and a board behind the counter that listed beverages and prices. There was no tea on this list, but water was €2, black coffee €3, cappuccino €3.50, pastries €2-5, etc. So not cheap, but not outrageous. I asked if they had tea, since it wasn’t on the board, and the lady said yes. This is where I fucked up - I didn’t ask how much. I made what I thought was an educated guess, that it would be similar to, or less than a coffee (like every other cafe I’ve ever been to). So she makes my tea, gives me my pastry, and says it’s €9. It turns out this bloody tea was €5.50. That’s like $9!!!! For hot water and a tea bag. So I said, “sorry I didn’t realise it was that much, I don’t want it, I’ll just get the pastry”. But that didn’t go over well because she had already put the teabag in hot water. I asked to see a menu where is said the price of tea, and she produced one, from under the counter, where it did say €5.50. I was going to stand my ground, but it was getting a bit heated, so I just paid and left. It’s not the money, it’s the outrageousness that makes me mad. There was a smoked salmon bagel and cream cheese on the menu for €5. Anyway, I drank every sip. It wasn’t even that good - they didn’t even give me real milk, just coffee creamers. What a joke. You can imagine this went over really well with me....
Black tea has actually been quite hard to find in this part of the world. In Croatia in the grocery stores, there would be 20 types of herbal teas, and one little package of generic black tea on the bottom shelf. Anyway, tea aside, the food in Vienna was excellent. They have bakeries and fresh pastries everywhere, and apparently the coffee is excellent (I don’t drink coffee, but I hear....). One night I had traditional schnitzel, which came with a potato salad-y thing and was delicious. I also had a really tasty middle Eastern dinner (hummus and falafel seemed to be a trendy thing at the moment, both in Vienna and Budapest).
Other than walking, I took public transport around a bit. It was very efficient and organised. Also, it operates on the honour system! There is no tapping, swiping, etc. you just buy a ticket and put it away. I think most people have monthly or yearly passes. Apparently there are under cover ticket checkers, but no one asked me and I didn’t see any in my two days. It’s pretty convenient to not have to rummage to find your pass, ticket, etc.
Budapest
I was meant to meet a few people in Budapest, but due to various life/work commitments, it ended up being just my friend Gill and I (who lives in London now but used to work with me in Sydney). I arrived first, so had some time to explore before she arrived, which worked well because she’s been here before, earlier this year.
Budapest was similar to Vienna in many ways, but was a bit less polished (in a good way). It had the same kind of grand buildings, similar food, same chain shops, etc, but was rougher around the edges. I really liked it, as it felt like it had more soul. It was also much much cheaper.
Because we originally thought we would be 3 or 4 people, we booked a big AirBnB. It was still cheaper than getting a nice hotel, so we kept the booking even when it was just two of us. It turned out to be an awesome place. It was in a very old building, so the entry way and lift were a bit rough looking, but inside the apartment was grand with high ceilings, crown mouldings and chandeliers. It was massive as well - we had three bathrooms for two people. My room was so far from Gill’s that if she yelled I wouldn’t have been able to hear her. It was also a very central location, which was handy and it was about half a block from from a metro station. This station was actually on Europe’s oldest metro line, which they have refurbished. So it’s a bit of a time warp when you get on the train. Again, it was the honour system.
Before Gill arrived I did a lot of walking (again). I walked across the river and up the hill to a beautiful grand old church and city view point. I ended up going up the church tower as well, which was excellent for the views. I also went to the central market and the Budapest parliament building, which again, is a big impressive building. I saw you can do tours, so I looked into that, but they were sold out of English ones for the day. To be honest, I was kind of happy. I read that the tours were really interesting, but I didn’t particularly feel like going in. So the fact it was sold out made things easy for me.
We stayed in the old Jewish quarter, which is a trendy but grungy area. There were so many excellent restaurants and bars around us. It was overwhelming in terms of where to go. I was quite surprised how busy everything was though. When Gill was here in March, they didn’t have any issues getting in anywhere, but we found this time you had to have a booking for everywhere. I guess it must be high season but it was a bit annoying as there were a few places we wanted to go to, but couldn’t get in.
Gill and I did a lot of eating and drinking. We were definitely not hungry in Hungary! Budapest has a number of nice rooftop bars, so we went to two different ones for sunset, which was really nice. As mentioned, things were cheap, so it was pretty easy to have a few too many cocktails. We also spent a few hours at a ruin pub (Szimpla Kert). Ruin pubs are a big trend in Budapest. They are pubs in old run down buildings, with eclectic furniture and graffiti all over. For example, Gill and I sat outside in an old rusty car, which had the roof cut off and been fitted with cushions and a table.
We also went to the baths one day. This is a classic “must do” in Budapest which is famous for its old public bath houses and thermal pools. Gill went to one when she was here before and said it was pretty awful, but a laugh and good fun. So we picked one this time that looked a bit nicer and was a little bit more expensive, in the hopes that it was be a little less overpopulated than what she described. To be honest, the experience was pretty much what I expected! While this one was well kept and had high ceilings and nice mosaic walls, it still felt like an Eastern European public pool. There were 12 hot and cold pools to use, indoor and outdoor. The people watching was the best part I think. Not sure where you would ever come across a less attractive bunch of people in their swimsuits. One man had a literal coat of hair. There were also lots of heavy set men in speedos and the like. It was pretty entertaining. We gave up after an hour and sat on the patio overlooking the wave pool (yes, there was a wave pool...) with champagne.
The weather here has been so good. It’s 29 sept and we were sitting outside in our swimsuits in the sun, and weren’t cold. We had a bit of rain Saturday night, but otherwise it was unseasonably warm and sunny. This is strange because in Vienna it was cold, and I had to wear a sweater and jacket to go out. Anyway, not complaining about jeans and T-shirt weather in late September!
So I think that’s about it for Eastern Europe. I’m on my way to Barcelona now, and then London for a few nights before heading home. I’m on my own for a few days now, which is probably a good thing as I feel a bit gross from all the food and drink. I’ll still overeat in Barcelona I’m sure, but it’s a bit easier when alone to make better decisions 😕😕.
I think that means hello in Hungarian. Hello can also be hello, but that’s not an interesting way to start this post. I’m going to divide this post into two parts - Vienna and Budapest, because while they were similar in some ways, they were also quite different!
Vienna/Wien
Since it turned out to be impossible to get from Dubrovnik to Budapest in less than 8 hours and without spending $600+ on a one way ticket, I decided it would be better to get a cheap 1 hour flight to Vienna, spend 48 hours there, and then get a 2 hour train to Budapest. I’ve never been to Vienna (or Austria) so I thought it was a good opportunity to see a little bit of it.
Despite it being just a one hour flight, getting off the plane and into Vienna was a completely different experience that getting out of Dubrovnik and onto the plane. In Dubrovnik I had to ask about 10 people which the airport bus was, which included a lot of vague pointing, eye rolls and unclear hand gestures. The Dubrovnik airport was awful - two cafes serving the same things (crappy sandwiches, pastries, beverages) and literally nothing else. Not even a news agent to get a water or a bag of chips. Anyway, landing in Austria, everything was orderly, sign posted, and easy. I love efficiency, so I was immediately happy.
Since I didn’t have long in Vienna I didn’t get do that much. I pretty much just walked around looking at things. On the full day I had, I did 26,000 steps, without specifically trying. The main touristy things I did were to go out to Schonbrunn (summer palace for the old Austrian monarchy), eat traditional wienerschnitzel, and walk around the city centre which has a lot of grand old buildings all over.
Schonbrunn was good. There was an audio tour that took you around the rooms of the palace and explained the history which was all interesting. Out back there are huge gardens which are nice to walk around as well. I had forgotten Marie Antoinette was Australian before being married off to Louis XVI. Apparently she never actually said “then they shall eat cake”. The dates don’t line up with when the quote was first published (which was not attributed to her at the time) and when she actually arrived in Paris.
Schonbrunn can also lay claim to the world most expensive cup of tea. I was sooo mad. In this little cafe, there was a case of pastries and a board behind the counter that listed beverages and prices. There was no tea on this list, but water was €2, black coffee €3, cappuccino €3.50, pastries €2-5, etc. So not cheap, but not outrageous. I asked if they had tea, since it wasn’t on the board, and the lady said yes. This is where I fucked up - I didn’t ask how much. I made what I thought was an educated guess, that it would be similar to, or less than a coffee (like every other cafe I’ve ever been to). So she makes my tea, gives me my pastry, and says it’s €9. It turns out this bloody tea was €5.50. That’s like $9!!!! For hot water and a tea bag. So I said, “sorry I didn’t realise it was that much, I don’t want it, I’ll just get the pastry”. But that didn’t go over well because she had already put the teabag in hot water. I asked to see a menu where is said the price of tea, and she produced one, from under the counter, where it did say €5.50. I was going to stand my ground, but it was getting a bit heated, so I just paid and left. It’s not the money, it’s the outrageousness that makes me mad. There was a smoked salmon bagel and cream cheese on the menu for €5. Anyway, I drank every sip. It wasn’t even that good - they didn’t even give me real milk, just coffee creamers. What a joke. You can imagine this went over really well with me....
Black tea has actually been quite hard to find in this part of the world. In Croatia in the grocery stores, there would be 20 types of herbal teas, and one little package of generic black tea on the bottom shelf. Anyway, tea aside, the food in Vienna was excellent. They have bakeries and fresh pastries everywhere, and apparently the coffee is excellent (I don’t drink coffee, but I hear....). One night I had traditional schnitzel, which came with a potato salad-y thing and was delicious. I also had a really tasty middle Eastern dinner (hummus and falafel seemed to be a trendy thing at the moment, both in Vienna and Budapest).
Other than walking, I took public transport around a bit. It was very efficient and organised. Also, it operates on the honour system! There is no tapping, swiping, etc. you just buy a ticket and put it away. I think most people have monthly or yearly passes. Apparently there are under cover ticket checkers, but no one asked me and I didn’t see any in my two days. It’s pretty convenient to not have to rummage to find your pass, ticket, etc.
Budapest
I was meant to meet a few people in Budapest, but due to various life/work commitments, it ended up being just my friend Gill and I (who lives in London now but used to work with me in Sydney). I arrived first, so had some time to explore before she arrived, which worked well because she’s been here before, earlier this year.
Budapest was similar to Vienna in many ways, but was a bit less polished (in a good way). It had the same kind of grand buildings, similar food, same chain shops, etc, but was rougher around the edges. I really liked it, as it felt like it had more soul. It was also much much cheaper.
Because we originally thought we would be 3 or 4 people, we booked a big AirBnB. It was still cheaper than getting a nice hotel, so we kept the booking even when it was just two of us. It turned out to be an awesome place. It was in a very old building, so the entry way and lift were a bit rough looking, but inside the apartment was grand with high ceilings, crown mouldings and chandeliers. It was massive as well - we had three bathrooms for two people. My room was so far from Gill’s that if she yelled I wouldn’t have been able to hear her. It was also a very central location, which was handy and it was about half a block from from a metro station. This station was actually on Europe’s oldest metro line, which they have refurbished. So it’s a bit of a time warp when you get on the train. Again, it was the honour system.
Before Gill arrived I did a lot of walking (again). I walked across the river and up the hill to a beautiful grand old church and city view point. I ended up going up the church tower as well, which was excellent for the views. I also went to the central market and the Budapest parliament building, which again, is a big impressive building. I saw you can do tours, so I looked into that, but they were sold out of English ones for the day. To be honest, I was kind of happy. I read that the tours were really interesting, but I didn’t particularly feel like going in. So the fact it was sold out made things easy for me.
We stayed in the old Jewish quarter, which is a trendy but grungy area. There were so many excellent restaurants and bars around us. It was overwhelming in terms of where to go. I was quite surprised how busy everything was though. When Gill was here in March, they didn’t have any issues getting in anywhere, but we found this time you had to have a booking for everywhere. I guess it must be high season but it was a bit annoying as there were a few places we wanted to go to, but couldn’t get in.
Gill and I did a lot of eating and drinking. We were definitely not hungry in Hungary! Budapest has a number of nice rooftop bars, so we went to two different ones for sunset, which was really nice. As mentioned, things were cheap, so it was pretty easy to have a few too many cocktails. We also spent a few hours at a ruin pub (Szimpla Kert). Ruin pubs are a big trend in Budapest. They are pubs in old run down buildings, with eclectic furniture and graffiti all over. For example, Gill and I sat outside in an old rusty car, which had the roof cut off and been fitted with cushions and a table.
We also went to the baths one day. This is a classic “must do” in Budapest which is famous for its old public bath houses and thermal pools. Gill went to one when she was here before and said it was pretty awful, but a laugh and good fun. So we picked one this time that looked a bit nicer and was a little bit more expensive, in the hopes that it was be a little less overpopulated than what she described. To be honest, the experience was pretty much what I expected! While this one was well kept and had high ceilings and nice mosaic walls, it still felt like an Eastern European public pool. There were 12 hot and cold pools to use, indoor and outdoor. The people watching was the best part I think. Not sure where you would ever come across a less attractive bunch of people in their swimsuits. One man had a literal coat of hair. There were also lots of heavy set men in speedos and the like. It was pretty entertaining. We gave up after an hour and sat on the patio overlooking the wave pool (yes, there was a wave pool...) with champagne.
The weather here has been so good. It’s 29 sept and we were sitting outside in our swimsuits in the sun, and weren’t cold. We had a bit of rain Saturday night, but otherwise it was unseasonably warm and sunny. This is strange because in Vienna it was cold, and I had to wear a sweater and jacket to go out. Anyway, not complaining about jeans and T-shirt weather in late September!
So I think that’s about it for Eastern Europe. I’m on my way to Barcelona now, and then London for a few nights before heading home. I’m on my own for a few days now, which is probably a good thing as I feel a bit gross from all the food and drink. I’ll still overeat in Barcelona I’m sure, but it’s a bit easier when alone to make better decisions 😕😕.
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