Rhapsody Trek - Hungary

Day 5: 10 July- Zakapane- Budapest, Hungary (via Slovakia)
We are off to Budapest today with only a quick stop over in Slovakia for lunch. We are all really disappointed that we can’t go on the Tank ride because it was in for repairs – the one thing Carla (guide from last tour) told me that I shouldn’t miss of any of the optional extras offered - Hmmmm it seems I was the only one on the bus that admired the scenery instead….

During the drive, George got cozy with Ranga after he got changed into his leathers! (Ranga changed his outfit throughout the trip to reflect the country that we were visiting).

a quick language lesson...

On arrival into Budapest, we all became instant millionaires as we switched to the Hungarian Florint and lived it up drinking wine and eating more traditional food that was kind of like potato gnocci.

After dinner we took a cruise down the Danube river. This was an amazing way to see the city at night. So many pretty lights.

Day 6: 11 July- Budapest.
Today was a free day to do with as we pleased. A group of us got on the hop on hop off bus around the city and also hit the pavement to see the city by foot.
We went into the Terror Museum. This was all about the soviet union and Nazi ruling. All the information in the exhibits was in Hungarian except for some info sheets in each section that were in English. This ended up being a lot of reading that I didn’t enjoy so much.

We wandered back a forth over the Chain Bridge that links Buda and Pest (East and west). At the time of its construction it was regarded as an engineering wonders. I ended up dancing on the side of the bridge after 4 Hungarians asked us if we would join them as they were filming a clip for their uni assignment. Everyone else chickened out so I did it on my own while the rest of my group watched!! So I’m famous in some Hungarian video clip somewhere! Haha.

Me standing inbetween Buda and Pest!

After all the dancing, walking and sightseeing we joined the bigger group for a swim in the Szechenyi Thermal Baths. Ah-mazing! The Szechenyi bath is the largest in Europe and its water is supplied by two thermal springs (naturally warmed up to 77 °C!). The pools aren’t that hot though with the different areas being between 27- 38 °C.
Surprisingly having a big communal bath in naturally warmed spring water was very therapeutic.

Day 7: 12 July- Budapest. The whole Rhapsody trek continues through to Croatia but Cara and I waved goodbye to our new friends after breakfast today as our leg of the organized trip came to an end. Our seats on the bus were already shot-gunned by the remaining members of the dream team (Cara and I did have the best seats afterall!). It was a bit sad actually waving goodbye to our new friends as they carried on with their own merry journeys. I was a bit jealous actually as I wasn’t returning to Croatia (loved it there!).

The "Dream team" Me, Heather, Cara, Simon, Alison, Katie

Nevertheless, for the next week Cara and I hung around Budapest and surrounds eating as much falafel as we could and visiting the likes of Memento Park and trying to figure out if we went to the movies would we be able to understand it. Haha

(I have no idea who this is - i am quite possibily being a bit disrespectful here!)

A week was way too long to stay here and we were a bit over it by the time the final leg of the trip commenced back to London.

I did, however, manage to pick up the most amazingly relevant tshirt for this whole entire experience. Rock Paper Scissors rocks!