The King Is Dead
I stayed at a hotel, I’d used before with C.
The King Is Dead
It was a rather waste of time, as the room I had was noisy and very hot. with little ventilation. but I suppose the wi-fi was good and free.
Would I Go Back To Bratislava?
Yes! If only to go back to the Arcadia Hotel and to eat in the restaurant again.
But it would be a good stoping off point on a trip back from say Kiev or Belgrade.
From Bratislava To Vienna
I left Bratislava on Wednesday morning. Not by train, but by taking a fast boat on the Danube.
The fare was just twenty euros and it was a very pleasant trip, that took you from one city centre to the other in about seventy-five minutes. As there are three ropund trips a day, you could easily stay in one city and visit the other.
I was particularly fascinated by the fishermen’s cottages along the banks, where they use nets to get the fish.
I have tried to nake all of the bridges, but information on the web is a bit lacking.
From Budapest To Bratislava
On Tuesday, the 9th at 15:25 in the afternoon, my train left Budapest for Bratislava.
It was a very uneventful journey in an almost empty First Class carriage, which was comfortable enough, although a bit slow at fifteen minutes short of three hours. But it’s one of the fast trains.
When the Slovakian Ticket Inspector checked my ticket, I said about the palaver to get it in Budapest. I think he agreed.
A lot of this journey was alongside the Danube. Living in the UK, you don’t realkise how huge it is.
Would I Go Back To Budapest?
Budapest is certainly a city, that would be worth a second visit. My visit was just a passing one and I didn’t really have time to do the city justice.
I didn’t find any major problems, but I did find the Hungarian language and currency difficult.
In the former, it was difficult to relate street and station names to the map you are using and in the second, as the currency is about 350 forints to the pound, this made purchasing things difficult.
As regards the second, you can understand, why the euro was embraced as an idea and why some countries either use or closely link their currency to the US dollar.
After all, when I’m in a euro or dollar country, if you treat these as pounds, all you’ll get is a bit more change. Using forints was a bit like using lire in Italy some years ago.
Budapest would make an ideal base to explore the Balkans and places like the Ukraine by rail, as there is a comprehensive list of places that trains go to from the main railway station.
Note Timisoara in the Departures display above.
You can apparently get easily from Budapest to Kiev in the Ukraine, so I would assume the reverse is possible. Ever since I saw the film; Battleship Potemkin, at school, I’ve always wanted to see the steps in Odessa, where the famous scene from the film takes place.
I did think about going during Euro 2012, but we had the Olympics coming up.
So if anybody wants to go to Odessa and Kiev and then come home by train, send me a message. I’m going to do it, to prove it is possible.
Remember though, I won’t be doing it in cheap hotels or Second Class.
Looking at Seat61; the bible for all train travelling, I’d probably fly to Budapest, take the train to Kiev and then after the detour to Odessa, I’d come home via Warsaw.
Note
Around Budapest Station
Budapest station is an old station, that was probably built in the grand manner.
Compared to say, a British station of similar importance, it didn’t seem so busy. Perhaps, rail travel isn’t as important in Hungary.
A Ticket To Ride Out Of Budapest
I hadn’t bought my ticket before I left London and it was the right thing to do. The reason, I say that was that I enjoyed Budapest a lot and if it hadn’t been so cold, I might have stayed another day.
But I almost regretted it, as buying a ticket was a bit of an obstacle course.
In the first place, there was no automatic machine.
You first had to get the time of the train, by getting a numbered ticket to go and ask what the times were. I had an idea that the train left at 15:25. Eventually I got this confirmed and then got another numbered ticket from the machine so that I could actually buy my ticket to Bratislava.
A Ticket To Ride Out Of Budapest
As you can see, the ticket was like an old-fashioned airline ticket of forty years ago.
I would advise that if you’re taking an international train out of Budapest, that you give yourself plenty of time. You can buy them before the date of travel, so if you’re going on the 25th and you’re there on the 23rd, it would not be a bad idea to purchase the ticket early.
The ticket I had, was valid on any train on the day I travelled.
Exploring Budapest
As I usually do, I used a combination of walking and the various trams and metro lines. There is a card called a Budapest Card, but at the first station I tried near the airport, they just sold me an ordinary 24 hour ticket.
These are some of the pictures I took.
Particularly useful was the number 2 tram, which ran up and down the Danube. If you’ve got a 24-hour ticket, just get on the tram and sit down. You don’t have to touch in, although my ticket was checked on the Metro.
The only problems I had were the extreme cold and the lack of information and maps on the street. But Budapest is one of those cities, where you can generally see one of major features like the Danube, Buda Castle or St. Stephen’s Basilica.
On the other hand, when I did get lost, a friendly Hungarian usually put me right. I was plagued a bit by hop-on/hop-off tourist bus salesmen, but I just ignored them, as I prefer to play my game of chance with the public transport. You see more interesting things, like the little girl sitting on the dog statue. How many places would allow that?
Incidentally, Line 1 of the Budapest Metro is the second oldest in the world and is included in the World Heritage Site for Budapest.
Inside And Around Le Meridien, Budapest
I stayed in Budapest at Le Merieden. Not the cheapest hotel, but I got a reasonable deal and I could trust the food for breakfast. These pictures show the hotel in its very central location, on the major interchange of the Budapest Metro.
They even offered to bake some gluten-free bread, as I left. That sounds late, but I suspect they hadn’t realised I was coeliac before.
They did find me an excellent restaurant though called Rezkakas. I did take a Hungarian celiac travel card.
I’d certainly stay in the hotel again.
Jamie’s Italian At North Terminal, Gatwick Airport
I was surprised to see a branch of Jamie’s Italian at Gatwick and that it had the full gluten-free menu as well.
Wild Rabbit Tagliolini
I had a wild rabbit tagliolini.
The only problem was the texture on the table, that made it difficult for me to write. But food, wine and especially the service were all very good.
It was also good to see a decent gluten free offering in an airport.
I do like to see rabbits working!
The Anonymous Widower 