BUDAPEST

Two weeks ago I visited Budapest for five days, and I can honestly say it's the best place I've ever been! The weather was lovely and the city itself was beautiful!

We hired a self catered apartment which was really nice and meant we had the freedom to come and go as we pleased and that we didn't have to wake up in time for hotel breakfasts. We saved a lot of money on eating out which meant we had more to spend on activities!

On the first day we went for a guided tour, which we've tended to do in most cities we've visited as you really do learn a lot about the history of the city from them, and it's a really good way of learning your way around! The tour lasted three hours and towards the end of the tour we walked up lots of steps towards Buda castle and got a great view of the whole city.

(the lovely view of the whole city- ignore the beer, it wasn't mine!) 

Another day we visited Margaret Island, which was one of the nicest places I've ever seen, it was so green and we got to explore it on a thing that looked like a golf cart but you pedal it. (I have no idea what they're called.) We went to the best outdoor Swimming pool/water park, called Palatinus Strand, which was absolutely massive and we spent most of the day there, I really didn't want to ever leave! There were five or six different pools, a giant hot tub and flumes too. The weather was 28 degrees which made the day just perfect. I would definitely recommend visiting there if you're ever in Budapest!  

Me on the little cart thing! Let me know if you know what they're called!

We also visited the public baths that Budapest is well known for having, we went to one which was in the strangest, most deserted looking building you've ever seen. I thought it had been abandoned for years judging by the look of the outside. We went all the way around it and managed to find an entrance and inside looked completely different! Inside were lots of different medicinal baths and a sauna and steam room, we even got a forty minute massage each. It was the fastest forty minutes of my life! 

The outside of the spa.

On the last day we explored the last bits we had missed and finally got some Goulash! Its shocking that we didn't manage to get one until our last day but it was definitely worth the wait! We went to a little bar called For Sale Pub which we'd read really good reviews about and thought we'd give it a go. It was quite a small place and very quirky. The walls and ceilings were completely covered in pinned up notes, tickets and photographs from hundreds of previous guests, there wasn't a single visible bit of wall! On each table was a massive basket of monkey nuts and we were encouraged to throw the shells on the floor! It felt so wrong! We ordered a goulash each and it was far too much for us to handle. The menu did warn us of portion size but we really didn't realise how big they actually meant, we should have only ordered one between us but it really was the best goulash ever and so so filling! The price of food in Budapest was so reasonable which made it even better, although I did find it quite difficult to work out the conversions. 

Notes and Monkey nuts in For Sale Pub

Obviously we did a lot more and visited a lot more lovely places than I've written about but I didn't want this post to be too long. I hope you've all enjoyed reading about my trip to Budapest and I hope I've convinced some of you to consider going for your next trip! Let me know if you've ever been and if so what your favourite bits were!