Budapest

The city welcomed us as if we were at home, starting from our arrival at the airport where "er cipolla" was waiting to accompany us to the apartment booked online with the "phantom" agency Dunaparts. A brief note about the accommodation: in the photos we found it on, the apartment was quite nice; in person it was less so. We paid 200 euros for four people for 3 nights, including the airport transfer on arrival only, but the location was excellent since we were very close to the pedestrian street "Vaci Utca" and the "Ferenciek Tér" metro station.

Er cipolla is the rather eccentric Calabrian fellow transplanted to Hungary many years ago who came to pick us up at the airport on behalf of the Dunaparts agency and who, after showing us the apartment and collecting the money, offered his availability and REACHABILITY at his mobile number........from that moment on he VANISHED, DISAPPEARED, EVAPORATED. Logical advice: if you're browsing the internet and come across their site, FORGET IT, it's all smoke!! Well, after doing a little shopping for breakfast, map in hand, we head straight for the pedestrian street, which seems almost deserted considering it was around 7:30 pm.

We look around a bit for somewhere to taste some Hungarian food, and after a couple of strolls up and down we choose a restaurant whose name I don't remember; we sit down and have ourselves a really good and hearty dinner of salami and mixed grilled meats accompanied by mushroom sauce, rice and potatoes, and beer. Less happy about the bill (25 euros each), but full and satisfied, we return to our apartment. We devoted the morning of the second day to the baths. First, though, at the metro station we bought the "tourist ticket", which is not the "Budapest card"; the tourist ticket can be valid for either 1 or 3 days, and we took the three-day one, which we paid 2,700 huf for and which allows you to travel on any means (metro, trolleybus, bus).

Crossing the Elizabeth Bridge we could appreciate the magnificent view over the Danube — I didn't imagine it was so big; thanks to the beautiful sunny day and the not-at-all-cold temperature (indeed!), the overall view of the city seemed to us truly extraordinary, elegant and fascinating! The baths we chose were the famous Gellért thermal baths. After some difficulty understanding how the entrance ticket worked, we go in, put on our swimsuits and leave everything in the cabin, which is locked by an attendant. Bathing in such an elegant place had never happened to me; the Art Nouveau architecture is beautiful. The large central pool, the one mostly seen in all the tourist brochures, is cold water, while behind it there's a smaller one with hot water where you can comfortably sit on a marble wall with only your head out and enjoy the warm vapours, relaxing.

From the central pool we went to the women-only thermal baths, reached from the changing rooms; mosaics dominate the wall decoration, and here too there are hot and cold pools. We dipped in everywhere, including the steam room, which we found smelled of chamomile, but we held out for 1 second, almost 2, and fled so we wouldn't evaporate too. A young masseur who watched us going here and there (we were looking for our boyfriends, missing for about two and a half hours) directed us to the splendid outdoor pools. Wow, how marvellous — there's only the embarrassment of choice, where do we dive in?! At 1:30 pm we leave, thoroughly relaxed (our blood pressure probably went below zero!!); at the exit we're given back 600 forints each because we spent less than 3 hours in the baths.

At this point we're hungry and walk towards "Raday utca", again heading to Pest and crossing the Elizabeth Bridge once more. It's another pedestrian street with lots of little restaurants, ending at Kalvin Tér square. The afternoon is devoted to visiting the "Fishermen's Bastion" in Buda; don't miss the view and St Matthias's Church — go in and enjoy the beauty of the decorations, the stained glass and the frescoes; you'll be enchanted. We also wanted to see the Fovam Tér market but arrived right at closing time; a shame, since from outside it looked enormous and full of interesting things! Be aware that Saturday is a rather dead day: the shopping centres are closed in the afternoon, the market closes at 2, and so does the Opera.

Don't miss a ride on metro line 1, the one that goes to the Opera house; the trains are old but the stations are stunning! There are organised tours inside the Theatre too; this is also a splendid Renaissance building located on Andrassy ut, a fine avenue like our Via Veneto in Rome. Then there's Gellért hill next to the hotel, where there's a chapel carved into the rock, and from here too you can take a walk to the Citadel, the most panoramic point of the city, though we didn't make it there, being too tired!. Cross the Chain Bridge from Pest to Buda and take the Budavari Siklo funicular (a bit expensive at 650 forints and very short) and arrive at the royal palace, one of the symbols of the country. In the evening there are lots of pubs and a few venues where they do table dancing.

Ah, don't forget to have a tea with a nice piece of cake at the GERBEAUD café, in an elegant and discreet setting.

Three days allow you to see the most important things in Budapest without a forced march; certainly with a few more days you can devote yourself to more in-depth visits, to the Parliament, St Stephen's Basilica etc., but they are enough to enter the atmosphere of an eastern city that is eager to welcome the tourist, offering a broad cultural panorama but also entertainment. You can change euros at the various Money change places in the centre; when we went, the rate was 244/246 forints to 1 euro. If you find yourself in difficulty, as happened to us when we didn't have enough forints to pay for dinner, be aware that they also accept euros. The "queen of the Danube" can be reached both with low-cost Sky Europe flights and with Wizzair; we flew out with one and back with the other, spending 100 euros each.

The Wizzair minibus that takes you to the airport and back is reliable and punctual, as is the flight. And to finish, we brought salami for everyone!