Off to Hungary

All very tired after our previous night in Vienna, we managed to make it up for our early morning start to catch our 7.50am train to Hungary. After a quick breakfast dash in was onto the train where we all tried to sleep for a bit, and managed some very uncomfortable quick naps. We arrived just after lunch and felt immediately objectified as tourists (damn those big backpacks..), with scammers trying to corner you from every direction unless you keep your head forward and look as if you know what you’re doing. After trying to get out money from machines that wouldn’t work, and being forced to change some Euros into HUFs at the station (where they usually have the worst exchange rates), we had to bypass the scammers outside trying to swindle you, yelling their offers of ‘very good rates…’

We weren’t meeting our couchsurfing host for Budapest until the following day, so with a day to spare, we decided to try out a place called Balatonfured, on the coast of huge Lake Balaton, for some swimming and relaxing before the big city. Trying to organise tickets to get there when no one spoke much English was quite hard, as was trying to master any of the Hungarian language in the short time we were there. This was the first place we’d found quite so out of our comfort zone, and when we really knew we needed the underclothes travel wallets. After finally deciphering the train system (and discovering we needed to depart from another train station to go in that direction, which was across town), we grabbed whatever food we could find and departed for the lake.

Boarding the oldest train we’d seen on our journey in the stinking heat, we had to use one of our bags to hold the window down, which didn’t do much at all to subside the heat. Sticky and sleepy, we endured the three-hour journey, and the toilets, which were basically a hole onto the tracks, with a warning sign not to use them when the train is at a station. In a relatively empty train we did hear some familiar voices behind us, and ended up meeting three New Zealanders on this tiny overland train. Much sweat and many empty water bottles later, we arrived at our station. We had booked accommodation over the phone, and the guy we’d booked it through told us to give him a call when we arrived at the station. He gave us directions, and we walked down the street to a green gate, and he would meet us there. Awaiting us was a rundown house with a sign outside “Cheapest rooms in the area with lake views in this house!” Maybe from the roof… The inside was very tidy, and fine for one night.

Deciding a swim was much needed after the heat of our train ride, we pulled on our togs and headed towards the lake. We then realised that most of the lake around the promenade is all fenced off, and the only place we could find to swim charged an entrance fee. Everyone else seemed to be going there, so we ended up paying, only to walk into swarms of families and elderly bathers crammed like sardines onto the grass by the lake. Not quite our scene, but we were here now… After naps in the shade it was time for a swim, and the water was nice and warm, but not very clear as the sandy lakebed gets stirred up by swimmers and makes it cloudy. Disappointed with the area, we weren’t sure we were in the right town at all.
We ended up walking back to our accommodation and getting ready to go out for dinner. Choosing a place called Balaton by the lake, we met our gruff waiter who proceeded to present us with the somewhat strange meals we had ordered. The lakefront was filled with wine stalls, as there was a wine festival in the area, but again, it wasn’t quite our scene. We decided to pick three different wines, one of which was good, the others okay, and as we weren’t really feeling the vibe, we went home.

Waking up in need of a coffee and breakfast, we walked in the growing heat to the supermarket to buy some picnic ingredients and ate by the waterfront. Afterwards, in search of a coffee through an area where everything looked equally crap, we looked at the menu at one place before Cher starting blazing through the speakers “Do you believe in life after love…” loud and proud; enough to send Josh running immediately, even before I’d realised what was playing. We found another small bar, and had a pretty decent coffee in the end, and even managed to order what we wanted when the girl only spoke Hungarian. The spirits among the group seemed low, and this was when we all proclaimed that Balatonfured was dead boring, and we’d rather not be here. After questioning whether to go back to Budapest early, we decided to give the place a go (mainly because the hassle of having our bags in Budapest for five hours before we met our host was enough to deter us).

We walked back up away from town in the scorching heat to hire bikes for a ride around the lake, as we’d heard there were some free areas to swim that way. Making it to the bike hire place just as the guy was closing for lunch, he quickly dashed inside, which we thought was to help us out quickly, but was actually to give us a map directing us to the other store in the opposite direction. We were getting over it all very quickly, but ventured to the other store and made it there with enough time to get a few hours riding in before our train to Budapest. After continuing past a few areas in search of one with sand (which we’d heard existed), we were running low on time, so settled for an available spot for a swim. It was nicer on this side without the hoards of people, and after a swim and a dry-off it was back on the road. After dropping off the bikes and picking up one of the best fruit salads ever with perfectly sweet melon from a street market, we headed off towards the train. The journey back was only slightly less hot than the first one, but we did have to share a carriage with the most shriek-happy child, who drove me to put on earplugs for the trip.

We made it to Budapest and this time we (kind of) knew where we were going, and jumped on the metro to meet our host Krisztina. After arriving around 8pm, she met us at the metro station and we walked back to her room. We couldn’t believe she’d agreed to let three people invade her small place for four nights, which was basically one room that was filled up when all of our beds were laid out, and a tiny separate kitchen and bathroom. We were incredibly grateful, and she was a saint to tired travellers, and such a welcoming host, who had cooked for us, as she knew we were arriving late. We sat and enjoyed her home-cooked meal with a glass of Tokaj Hungarian wine, which was very nice, before having an early-ish night as Krisztina had work the next morning. She even gave up her bed for us, and took a foldout futon, while we made Andrew a make-shift bed on the floor and crammed into the room for a very hot night’s sleep.