Budapest: Goulash

The hostel is great. It's a bit like a little house with 5 dorm rooms. The woman who runs the place lives upstairs and it's located on the second floor of an apartment building. My room is quite cute. There are two beds with hut- type roofs over them and draping canopies. The strange part is the whole room is decorated with wigs which is a little creepy. Each room has a separate name and a theme to go with it.

I pair up with two American travellers- who soon become five Americans (and by the end become five too many).They are all just in Budapest for the weekend and doing a study semester in Prague.

Budapest was originally two separate cities - Buda and Pest - and became Budapest when they were joined by a bridge- logical. Today we did Buda. First stop was the largest mosque in Europe. It was large. And over the top. We then bought tickets to a food festival and strolled around sampling a million different types of cheese, jams, meats, biscuits, chocolates, mustards etc. I even daringly tried horse meat- it's disgusting (and not just because I knew it was horse meat). The day was full of walking, we walked to a church where the main attraction was the fantastic view (it's funny how far you go just for a  view), we walked to the royal palace, got a bit lost, back tracked then walked up a mega never ending hill to see the liberty statue but mainly another fantastic city view. By this stage it was getting dark and the lights started coming on along the river. We spotted our next destination- the second biggest bar in Europe and walked to it. On the way down however, one of the girls slipped and rolled her ankle and by the time she had hobbled all the way to the bar her foot had swelled to double the size. The bar was located on a three- levelled ship. We were a little early for kick off so meanwhile we went to Europe's first biggest bar- the Ruins bar. It's pretty cool. Seats are anything from a bathtub to a toilet seat. You write on the wall any message you want to give to the world and there are plants and vines lining the roof.

Saturday morning is market time. The market is well under way by 8.30 when we get there. We head straight for breakfast- an interesting idea for brekky but we have to have it as Budapest is famous for it's fried bread. Picture a giant deep fried pancake with whatever topping you like- sweet or savoury. We opt for a semi healthy topping to try and balance out the artery clogging- sour cream, onion, tomato, cucumber and garlic. We purchase cheap fruit, admire the whole dead skinned pigs sitting on top of each other on the shop front ledges and take in the atmosphere of the hungarians fighting over food.

Then it's park time as it is of course a lovely sunny day. The park is home to an old lovely castle, a bustling flea market, crappy stalls all selling bathing suits, towels and fairy floss, and the largest thermal spas in Hungary.

Tonight there is a spas festival! You pay 20 euro and can go to any of the spas to enjoy bathing, music, dancing and drinking... Not a very smart mix but it's quite an atmosphere and awesome fun despite the filthiness of the place. I had to laugh at some of the swim costume choices... hideous!

By Sunday, I'm a bit sick of the Americans. They were a lovely people but too big a group so I get up early and escape. I market, shop, wander and then sit in a cafe called "Anna's cafe". I choose it purely for it's name because it is damn expensive!

That evening I decide to go to the opera, primarily because the building looks amazing and I'm dying to see inside and also because you can get cheap last minute tickets. I paid five euro for a pretty good seat- I could hear and see everything. On the way to my first opera experience I stopped in to a dingy dingy looking pub for some goulash made in a loaf of bread. The pub had two other customers having a beer and the lighting was tinged green. But the goulash was the most delicious meal I had had in Hungary and it was about 80 cents! The opera was great. I couldn't understand the first half so I bought one of the books mid way through and then things started to make more sense. But the theatre itself was spectacular. I was sitting next to a bunch of old ladies who couldn't speak English at all so I had to put up with my own company but lucky I had a block of chocolate as a companion!

And then I fly to Roma. But hec the train is hard to navigate! And I'm forced to remove half my clothes at the departure gates and still beep as I go through the damn detector. So then I have to be body checked and then my bag beeps, so then my bag has to be emptied and OMG... but it turns out I'm not a criminal so I can go to Roma after all. Thank the lord, I need to get out of here!