My first time in Budapest and my first port of call was to buy “ hop on hop off “open top “ red bus ticket so that I get to know the city which is spread over both sides of the River Danube. On a sunny day it was worth the money for not hopping off the bus for two hours. Rest of my days were on foot!
Budapest is a beautiful clean city consisting of long broad roads in the city centre with grand elegant architecture. Relic of Russian sculptures can still be found in the front of these grand buildings. Budapest is cheap for visitors and provides entertainment for young and old alike.
Daytime activities include art galleries , museums and admiring lots of bigger than life sculptures on the road sides and in the grand squares. The city’s impressive Opera House and St Stephen’s Basilica are both open to the public for a small fee. The city has the largest Jewish synagogue in Europe and its located in the thriving Jewish Quarter. The visitors can visit the synagogue at the princely sum of 40 euros! There is museum which is well documented about ghetto culture in the city.Numerous thermal baths, cruising on the River Danube are available during the day which I decided to miss.
Nightlife is full of busy restaurants , bars and nightclubs entertainment for “ hen parties “ and “ stag nights” too. On my return journey home, I discovered the girl sitting next to me with curlers in her hair was not only staying in my hotel for 3 nights with her group of “hen” party mates but our path never crossed for all the time I was in the hotel. I guess the girl with curlers and her mates were all recovering during daytime? Budapest lights up at night for those who have party in mind, but not for me though.
A total of 250 guests mostly from Rajasthan, ( land of Palaces in India! ) hired for 4 nights a five star hotel opposite the opera House for wedding. They must have been inspired by the famous film called The Grand Budapest Hotel ? I certainly was. Hiring posh hotels for weddings are popular in Budapest according to my taxi driver.
Finally, all the plastic bottles and drinks cans which are sold in Hungary have extra charge levied on them and empty bottles can be returned for a refund. According to Google search engine there are estimated 30,000 homeless in Hungary and I noticed that every day a number of homeless people go through all the waste bins in the tourist areas and collect empty bottles and make a fair amounts of money!
What a great idea but will this ever work here in UK?
