Days 9 and 10 - 05 April 2019 Sarajevo to Budapest and 06 April 2019  Budapest

I have decided to combine Friday's and Saturday's blog as Friday was a disaster and doesn't deserve a mention of its own.

Lets get Friday out of the way.  First of all my flight from Sarajevo to Vienna was delayed by an hour meaning I missed my connecting flight from Vienna to Budapest, which meant I arrived at my hotel at Budapest at 11.00pm instead of 6.00pm.  No worries I thought, quick check in quick unpack and still time for a beer in the bar, but oh no, my lock on my suitcase was jammed shut and I couldn't open it.  I took my still fully packed suitcase down to reception and there the nice young night shift guy, the security guy and myself tackled the lock with knifes, scissors and other implements of mass destruction until we forced it open, but stuffing the lock in the meantime, which means buying a new suitcase here in Budapest.  When you have got some time to spare ask me about my adventures at Vienna airport.

Anyway, on to Saturday, breakfast in the hotel, again a mixture of cooked breakfast and European cold cuts, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, pickled herrings and some things that I couldn't quite identify.  Suitably fortified I set forth to visit the tourist highlights of Budapest and to keep an eye out for a new suitcase in the process.

My hotel is on the Vaci U which is one of the premier shopping streets in Budapest, it is also very touristy with lots of souvenir shops and bars and restaurants.  Unlike Melbourne's pedestrian precincts it is actually traffic free.  At one end of this street is the big market that appears in all the travel shows about Budapest, it is massive and extremely busy with both tourists and locals.  It is mainly a meat, produce and fruit and vegie market, but great to walk around.  I was extremely disappointed with the lack of free samples.

Goose Liver anyone?

I had a tour of the Parliament building booked for 3.30pm, which I had booked some time ago.  So I decided that I would walk there taking in some of the touristy sites along the way and include some lunch in there somewhere as well.  Like so many of these European cities Budapest is a very walkable city and there is always something to look at. 

Buda from Pest across the Danube

Lunch anyone?

The Hungarian Parliament building is massive and very ornate, as the tour guide explained it was built when Hungary was part of a large and important European empire, that is not the case today.  (As I said under my breath, that is what happens when you lose wars that you start).

After the tour I decided that I would walk back along the Danube to my hotel.  This took me past the 'shoes' Jewish memorial on the banks of the river.  During the 2nd WW the Hungarian government were supportive of Germany's plan to rid Europe of its Jews.  So the Hungarians rounded up its Jews and sent them to the concentration camps, however some they shot on the banks of the Danube, they then dumped the bodies in the river, the only remains were their shoes on the bank of the river.  As a memorial these shoes have been preserved in metal and remain on the bank of the river.

On a lighter note, further along the river was busker playing water filled glasses like an xylophone and he was very good as well.

I am typing this in the hotel bar over a couple of beers so please forgive any spelling, grammar, history and continuity errors. 

I had dinner tonight in a really nice restaurant, one with table cloths and all.  I had a pork dish that in the English menu translated as 'rustic pig', it tasted far better than it's description, this was accompanied by a rather cheeky local merlot.  I also chatted to about 11.00 with an Irish couple sitting next to me, initially about Brexit but then about all manner of things, nice couple similar age to me and semi retired from the Republic of Ireland.

Then walking back to my hotel I was propositioned (twice), so all in all a very nice day in Budapest.

Fun Facts: You can get a suitcase open with a pair of scissors and a blunt knife.

Step Count: Friday 5,507, most of which were in the bowels of Vienna airport; Saturday 15,423 as at 5.30pm in the bar of the Budapest Mercure,

Observations: Budapest is actually made up of two cities, Buda on the western bank of the Danube and Pest on the eastern bank of the Danube.