Budapest - a real surprise

We left Vienna behind, reluctantly, on Wednesday afternoon, heading for Budapest by train using our Eurail ticket. We left with shared impression of Vienna as a relaxed but reserved, highly cultured and aesthetically beautiful city with our only real disappointment being the fact that we were not able to attend a Beethoven or Mozart concert (and have a decent coffee!). Next time – and there WILL be a next time!

On our way to Budapest we passed through an amazing wind farm site that we estimated could have in excess of 1000 wind turbines spread over an area of a couple of square kilometres. There is so much evidence already that Europe is far ahead of Australia in harnessing renewable energy sources, and we have not experienced Germany yet.

We arrived in Budapest around 7pm on Wednesday evening and left just 50 hours later (what a planning error that was i.e. much more time is needed). From the time we stepped out into the huge railway station we knew we were in a very special place. Budapest has everything that Vienna had, and a lot more. It is a faster paced, and a more friendly place, with a population that continues to rebuild and re-define itself after the communist rule that only ended 20 years ago. It is a place on the move. We had no idea of the glorious past of Budapest, and its eminence in previous times as the capital of middle Europe. In so many ways it is reminiscent of Paris, which is understandable given the apparent influence French architects had on their Hungarian peers. It is also still a cheaper place to visit than other major European cities including Vienna, but there is no doubt that this will change as American and German tourists (and others of course) come in increasing numbers. On that subject it is very evident that Americans are not travelling at the moment (GFC we assume). We hardly heard a yankee accent in either Vienna or Budapest (MOST unusual in Europe) and were told by several people, including our Vienna guides, that they had not come this summer. Not good for the local tourist industry but great for us.

We packed so much into the next 50 hours, our heads were spinning, and our legs aching, by the time we boarded our sleeper train last night, bound for Berlin via Munich. Again we did a couple of guided tours (which is a bit unusual for us), one by boat along the Danube, another on a hop-on hop-off open deck bus which takes you to all of the most interesting parts of Budapest, with an optional commentary on the way. Given the limited time we had we decided this was the only way to really get a feel for the city. The following selection of photos (from the 300 or so I took) gives an impression of the extraordinary beauty and style of this city. We want to come back and recommend it to anybody considering a European adventure.