How was it already our last day?! The time on this trip had really flown by!
We treated ourselves to another lie in today, and woke at 8.45am. We left the room at 9.50am, and walked in the crisp sunshine along the river to the Siklo funicular (this took about 40 minutes) via the Szechenyi Chain Bridge.
Nutter again!
We paid 200HUF/£5.14 each for a return ticket to the top of the hill.
We walked past the Sandor Palace (the Prime Minister’s home)
Matthias Church
And found the Fisherman’s Bastion – it was beautiful!
Someone described it as being a bit like a Disney Castle, which I sort of see, but I also see a sandcastle?
And we saw something being filmed!
Around the corner, was the Hilton Budapest and Tancscics Mihsly which also enjoyed some of this beautiful neo-gothic architecture.
We also found the Vienna Gate and Becsi Kapu Square.
We walked past the Hospital in the Rock which is now a nuclear bunker but we decided not to go in as we have already seen a bunker before (in Berlin) and decided it couldn’t be that different?!
We ended back at the Buda Castle/Royal Palace where we took some photos and then descended, but I realised too late that we had missed the Dracula bit. Never mind.
We went to the Castle Garden Bazaar next, but it didn’t look its best in the winter. We didn’t stay long here.
We decided instead to catch a Bolt to the Citadella (1490HUF/£3.83 – well worth it not to climb that hill!). We saw the Liberty Monument and enjoyed the views for a while before descending on foot.
On the way back down, we saw the Cave Church; and had the Liberty Bridge to our right, and the Elizabeth Bridge to our left.
We then called another Bolt to take us to Andrassy Ut, a UNESCO world heritage site, a bit like the Champs d’Elysee in appearance. We wandered along for 20 minutes before we reached Heroes Square.
We then found a food market in the park, and enjoyed some lunch before our next activity. Matt had a sausage (2000HUF/£5.14), a Coke Zero (500HUF/£1.28), and I had a Langos (1700HUF/£4.37) and hot chocolate (1000HUF/£2.57). The Langos was INCREDIBLE! I absolutely loved it! It was a bit like a thick pancake with a crispy outing, with soured cream spread, cheese sprinkled, and I had bacon on mine. Phenomenal and I’m gutted I only had one!
Before moving on, we went to the Vajhahunyad Castle and saw the Anonymous Statue.
We finally arrived at Szechenyi Baths which I was SO EXCITED about! We paid our 12300HUF/£31.63 which covered our entry and a cubicle (changing room) hire which I thought was a fair price. We really enjoyed our time here, and stayed until 4.30pm.
We got a Bolt to McDonalds near our hotel next (1850HUF/£4.75) where we had dinner – I had a McChicken Sandwich, Matt had a Generous Jack, and we each had an ice cream, which came to 4980HUF/£12.80.
We next stopped by a local Aldi for breakfast for tomorrow to save being stung another £15 at the airport. We each got a pastry (I think Matt got two) for 526HUF/£1.35.
We got back to the room at 6pm, so showered, packed, sorted through photos/notes, and chilled for a bit. I fell asleep at 9.30am.
The next day…
The alarm went off at 3.30am – ouch! I checked as soon as I woke up to make sure I could call a taxi on Bolt quite easily, and I was relieved to see that I could, so we got ready and left the room at 4am. We arrived at the airport, via Bolt (7640HUF/£19.65) at 4.30am, and again, it was seamless. It was however incredibly busy!
We grabbed some drinks at the Relay store for 1198HUF/£3.08 and sat and waited for our gate to be called.
Our flight took off on time at 6.25am, and landed at 7.50am. We were outside waiting for the transfer to our car park at 8.20am, which was perfect, as we had the whole day ahead. We stopped by McDonalds for some tea (and pancakes!) for me, and then started the drive back home to Bournemouth.
And that was it! Our New Year adventure and the first of many of 2020. Thanks for reading along!