Budapest 2023 Chapter 2 - Bus-ness Time

Welcome back Reader!

We have slept well. The bed is so comfy, pillows fluffy and the duvets are perfect (yes - plural; there's 2 single duvets on a double bed, and that really works).

The sound of a constant stream of one thousand motorbikes wakes me. Surely this is not normal - it's not, it's Harley-Davidson's 120th anniversary and they're all here the weekend. I grab a pic of last night's meal from Lisa.

Nachos were listed as a "snack"

My only issue with the hotel room is lack of USB ports. It looks like there's two on one plug but can get any leads in. I have travel adaptors, a splitter and battery packs, that'll do. After writing this I try again with the lead, got one in. Other one is shagged tho.

I make tea and quickly realise that one was a green tea. I chuck that. Open door to go next door for their stash. I'm in my pants - I hear voices so quickly scuttle back to room for shorts. Go next door and grab the kids stash. Els is awake. Go back, pour another tea. Green again FFS. Remaining bag is green too. FFS. Opt for coffee, takes 10 mins to figure out machine.

I am paranoid that I paid cabbie 10x too much yesterday. I decide to check the cash situation and am coming up a few 1000 Ft short. Lisa counts it, all there (she worked in accounts etc etc, yeah whatever). Panic over. I say panic, I was missing about £3.50 after my count.

Lisa's guide to HUF and Lisa's foot in shot

It's a slow start to the day; we agree with the girls that we'll head out at 12. Breakfast at the Savoy is €15pp, which is extortionate so we decide on McDs which is on the corner.

McDs has all sorts of euroburgers and snacks that we've never seen. The restaurant is pristine. This is meal #2 and burger #2 for me. I go for the Maestro Bold Bruce. Liz has a Honey Holly Chicken burger and we share spicy nuggets. Els has fries and a McFreeze ice cream. Lisa has tea. It's all delish.

Lisa and Els head to toilet. Els wants a chod. They come back - access denied to WC without a receipt. This has spooked said chod back to it's hiding place and so we head back to hotel for a more successful toilet stop (not me, still clogged). Then we head off to get some Big Red Bus tickets. We decide we'll buy the 3-day ones so we can use this as main transport around town. We nip in a little shop and dumb bitch quotes for 3 people (I miss this part of the convo) and insists we pay cash - I just about have enough and when we realise we need another ticket I say we have to pay by card. Long story short we have to go down road to buy off another guy, who later tells us that we should buy from him because he can offer discount for a family ticket. Oh well, paid over the odds which smarts, but we were working to pay for tickets in first place. Tickets get us on 3 different bus firms and a boat trip.

Bus People

We finally get to see the Danube, and cross it several times. Bus lady tells us to stay seated as we go under bridges, to avoid decapitation. The other side of the river looks fancy. We see the citadel, some caves, the castle, and a funicular railway up to the castle. When the bus stops near the river we decided to jump out and walk over the bridge to go on the funicular. An oldish lady asks us in limited English where to get the free boat from. We figure out it's straight ahead but we say unfortunately we're not going that way. We send her in right direction and point out her shoe strap is broken, and she points to a massive cist on the back of her foot, eurgh. We leave her, see ya.

We can't cross the bridge, some construction dickheads have closed it to pedestrians. Other bridges are far enough away, so we decide the boat trip is a better option. On the way we go through some mist spray thing. Heat is fairly oppressive today, so the spray is welcome. You might say it's as hot as balls.

The boat trip is lovely, we sit up top and take in the sights. We end up pretty thirsty so make a plan to go for cocktails on a boat bar we saw earlier.

Liz swears this cloud is the Pringle guy

So then we go for cocktails. I google how old you have to be to drink in Hungary. First post I see says 16. We order 2 x Martini Pina Colada and 2 x Tiki. Double check the age thing and multiple sites say 18, but nothing is checked, drinks arrive and what the hell, whoops. The Pinas are disappointingly small and non creamy, the Tikis are strong but fruity. Els tries a bit of the Pina but Lisa finishes it for her. Me n Liz coiff our Tiki. I am trying to say thank you in Hungarian, it's a hard language. Thank you is köszönöm. Yeah, exactly. No thank you.

We then wander back onto land, find a lovely street with shops and restaurants. Lisa says this is so much better than South Ruislip. She's warming to this place. We spot some restaurant options for later. Also get a message from Izzy who needs a fridge magnet for Hannah. I scout some possibles and she selects the winner.

Váci District

We decide to get to the nearest bus stop and do a circuit back to our enz and get some snacks etc for hotel, then go out to eat proper like. First problem - can't find bus stop. Liz has good suggestion that it would be away from the bridge so we head up the road a bit (and a construction site has closed the pavement which means we have to walk in the road with on coming buses etc. That would never happen in UK, I was really not impressed). We see our red bus coming, and passing us, so we run and catch it. That bus terminates soon after, so we have to run to catch "the last bus" as we're told. That reaches the furthest point on it's circuit from our hotel and terminates, grrrrr. However, we disembark again and get another bus, and this gets us back to our enz, about 15 mins before Lidl closes. So a whirlwind shop ensues, I try to complete purchase on the SCO being set to Hungarian, fail, switch to inglish innit and all good. Back to hotel, chill, take naked BeReal, then we head out for dinner to a restaurant I scoped before we flew out here.

We have to walk past a sex shop. It literally has bondage gear in the window. Then walk past a cafe called VAJ. I can't imagine what the food tastes like. Then we walk through a little park where we have to go past a drugged up woman. Lisa thinks she's on spice, the zombie drug.

The restaurant is not far past zombie twot, and it shines like a beacon of loveliness and safe haven. It's called Oinos, and the meal was excellent; 3 pizzas and a salad consumed (sorry burger fans). We do the "guess the amount" game and Lisa wins. It came to £43, super value and a great restaurant.

Oinos Restaurant

Zombie twot was still in park but with some other goons, a bit further away. Hotel is only 5 mins from restaurant, so we saunter past VAJ and the sex shop, and back to the good old Savoy.

Yummy