The Fish Tales
**Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." - Helen Keller**
In late September of this year, I embarked on a 12 day trip with two friends (Rosa and Meryl), through four European countries as a last-ditch attempt to immerse ourselves in the EU before Brexit makes free travel a thing of the past (bet you can guess how I voted).
Starting in the bustling city of Budapest, we then journeyed through the extremely underrated Slovenia - stopping off in lovely jubbly Ljubljana and Lake Bled, briefly catching our breath in Villach, Austria and ending up wandering the surreal streets of Venice, Italy. And breathe.
The first few days of our trip were spent in the capital city of Hungary.
The currency here is absolutely nuts. 350 HUF (AKA Hungarian Forint AKA Hufflepuffs) is roughly £1 so working out how much everything cost was a bundle of laughs. Luckily, everything here was super cheap so we just stopped bothering and learnt to stop being shocked when someone said something cost 1,000 HUF (£3).
A trip to Budapest without visiting one of the thermal baths is unfathomable. It’s kind of their main thing. So we went with the crowds to the biggest one. But biggest doesn’t necessarily mean the best.
Entry was around £14 (so far so good) and the outdoor pool, heated by thermal springs, was lovely if not a little crowded.
Then we went inside.
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Once you got past the greenish tinge of the tiles, the dirty water and the faint smell of body odour, it was okay… I guess. Apart from when two of us were sat in a completely bubble-less tub and saw fart bubbles emerging from a portly man to our left - that definitely wasn’t okay.
The saving grace were the saunas and steam rooms which hopefully boiled off most of the germs. If we were to go again - I think we’d find a smaller one.
Mine and my friends’ top life skills mainly include being able to strike up conversation with strangers, the ability to plan amazing trips… and the ability to spot a roof bar in literally every place we visit.
360 Bar was a great find. It has a trendy terrace with a DJ, twinkly lights and serious Dalston vibes. But here’s the clincher… It was still pretty cheap. After sinking two bottles of Prosecco between the four of us (we met our pal Eugie out there) we were ready to hit the town.
Budapest’s biggest nightclub (again, note to self - biggest not necessarily the best) was pretty average. It was what you would expect from a big, loud tourist trap with lots of floors playing different genres and although it was fine for a dance and a drink, I won’t be rushing back.
Pretty much everything in the city is accessible by foot. We walked miles up and down the Danube river from landmark to landmark, stopping off to marvel at St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest Castle and the gothic Hungarian Parliament Building, paying our respects to the Jewish shoe war memorial and climbing the 140m to the Liberty Statue which has great views of the city.
It’s time to believe the hype. This place really is awesome.
If the baths are what Budapest is most famous for, then its ruin bars are surely second. Set in bombed out apartment buildings, these super-edgy, hipster havens are the place to go for a night out with a twist.
The walls are adorned with graffiti and the rooms are filled with mismatched furniture, including a bath tub made into a chair.
Just a heads up - get there early. And maybe don’t do what we did and keep ordering MAGNUMS of red wine. The next day was hell. See next blog.
Oh, and here’s Meryl as an ice cream just because.