Travels With Clo

When travelling, I’m very flexible, and tend to always look for the cheapest option. Very rarely, I’m tied to specific dates, as we were visiting a friend from the States.

The flights were much more than I’d usually pay, and I didn’t know why, until we got there!

After an early morning flight, we arrived in the Capital just before lunchtime. We stopped and had funnel cakes at a small bakery, and spent the rest of the morning at the Széchenyi Thermal Bath. We caught it on a nice, quiet day, and had the place mostly to ourselves.

It was a warm day, so we started with the indoor pools and then made our way to the ones outside, getting a drink from the bar to help cool us down.

It was a great way to wind down after an early morning wake up and a three hour flight.

After checking into our budget hotel, we met up with our friends and headed out on our afternoon wine tour. No one else had booked on this excursion, so it was just the four of us, and we had an amazing time. It was on this trip, that they informed me it was Hungary’s Birthday, which is an annual celebration commentating the founding of the country, and there was due to be a humongous firework show in the evening!

Our guide took us to three different wineries in the Eytek region, sampling an array of red, white and rosè. My favorite of the three was Orosz Gyula, as they mainly served rosé, and they all had very imaginative names.

The third winery we visited was also where we had our dinner. It was a two course, home cooked Hungarian meal, and it was delicious. Paired with some of their wine, we were served pork scratching bread, goulash and some cheese filled pastries.

It was whilst we were eating that the heavens opened, and a storm came out of absolutely nowhere. We had to rush inside and finish our food inside their shop. There were also announcements made all over social media that the firework show I only just found out about, and was very much looking forward to, was cancelled.

In the end, we travelled back to Budapest and decided to go to a few bars. The fireworks were due to start at nine o clock, but this time came and went, and even though I was disappointed, I was enjoying the mango flavoured liquor I was drinking.

About an hour later, we started to hear some loud banging, and dashed to the waterfront. The firework show did go ahead, just later than planned, so we all stood and watched from a small car park by the Danube.

The fireworks themselves were amazing. I’ve never been to a firework show quite as impressive as that one.

We ended our evening with a trip to the underground bar Szimpla Kert, and some slices of pizza.

On the morning of day 2 I set out on some solo sightseeing. I walked around the Fishermen’s Bastillion and the Shoes on the Danube, but had to go back to the room after some lunch because it was too hot to be walking around.

We went to The Magic as a group that evening, which is a Harry Potter themed restaurant. If you are a fan of the series, I’d recommend visiting. The decor of the restaurant is very interactive, and the food and drink was pretty good.

No trip to Budapest is complete without an evening cruise along the Danube. The one we booked included unlimited Prosecco, and it was quite a magical experience getting to stand by the railings of the boat and take in the magnificent buildings all lit up from the water.

The most prominent is of course the parliament building.

I thoroughly enjoyed my whistle stop trip to Budapest, and still have lots more I’d like to do and see there when it’s cooler. Yet another country I can’t wait to return to.