Jeff: Budapest

That evening we found a park up near the lake and chilled for the night before we got up the next morning and set off for a run next to the lake as it will be nice and flat most of the way. Once we finished we had breakfast and packed up the van to head to a campsite where we can get some washing done, service the van and get all our admin done before a busy couple of days. The campsite is in a sports park in Szekesfehervar and is only £9 for the night which isn’t bad at all especially as it includes the washing machine.

Once we park up we stick a load in the machine and have a wander around the park seeing what there is. There are two running tracks, an outdoor gym, tennis courts, a BBQ area and then a childrens play area (where Rich had a go on the zip line). We chilled there for the day enjoying long showers, getting a total of 4 loads of washing done (the machine is only a small 5kg washing machine) and getting in a work out the next morning before we headed off to Budapest for the rest of the day.

We parked about 5km outside of the city centre and rode down a big hill into the town and straight to one of the most iconic Budapest sights, the Parliament building which was huge. It seems to go and on for ages and is grander than most palaces. We walked around it and in the square where there was a incident in 1956 where many peaceful protesters where shot due to confusion and mis-communication and has been dubbed “Bloody Thursday”. Afterwards we carried on down the Danube river to see the shoes by the Danube which is a memorial for the 3,500 people who were shot at the river side in the 1944/45, after being told to take off their shoes, so that their bodies would fall into the river. We carried on walking around the beautiful city and headed to Liberty Square, Elizabeth Square, to the Gellert Thermal Baths, to Sziklatemplom cave church, up to the top of Elizabeth lookout where the Citadell is (although it is currently closed and under renovation, to the front of Buda castle and the central market hall. It’s a great city to just wander around and get lots in as there are so many beautiful buildings. Sziklatemplom was built in the 1930s in a cave where the ambient temperature is around 21 degrees and a monastery was added to it a bit later. It has lots of different chambers and was closed for many years when the communist regime abolished monastic orders.

We grabbed some goulash and a mushroom stew for lunch on our walk as well as there are lots of vegan places. We grabbed a vegan langos (which is the Hungarian version of Pizza but the base is fried, not baked and the toppings are added cold with the most common being sour cream and cheese) and beer for dinner and a chimney cake which is like a spiralled doughnut covered in cinnamon.

Next up it was getting late so we headed over to Margret Island where we got to see the musical fountain which changes colour and dances to music. The fountain is also being used currently as a sheet of water in the evenings to project onto and there was a Disney montage being played which we watched some of. It was difficult to find the best location at first and it wasn’t a totally clear picture but it was good considering. We also wandered into their Olympic centre where they were screening the opening ceremony and had lots of sporty elements on show. Finally we decided to head home, taking some pictures of the beautiful Parliament building lit up in the dark on the 5km route back to the van for the night.

We set the alarm for 6am so we could get into the spa before all the crowds but we decided once the alarm went off that we wanted a lie in so we sacked the spa off and chose a closer car park for the cycle back into Budapest to explore more of the city. It was due to be a scorching hot day. We spent a few hours exploring Buda castle which was really pretty and you could access 90% of it free of charge. We got some great photos and were able to watch the changing of the guard. The guards seemed unimpressed when the changeover guards were 1 minute late and who could blame them in that heat. We then wanted to explore more of Marget Island which was basically one huge park before heading to a juice bar and then loosing a couple of litres of sweat cycling back up the hill to the van. Once hydrated and showered we set off to a nearby town called Szentendre where we parked up for the night.