Today we are going exploring Budapest. Unfortunately we are late setting off as we didn't sleep well last night from the torrential rain, some even made it through the campervan and landed on me waking me up.
We're 25 mins away from the centre by public transport so first we take a bus then a tram to the bottom of castle hill to get up to Fisherman's bastion. The weather hugely improved to the point of course where its sweaty work climbing all that way. We had a beautiful view though and the architecture here is stunning.
I had read about Harry Houdini being from Hungary and there is a museum dedicated to him with a magic show so that was where we headed to next. It was a guided tour but only 2 rooms with artifacts and the lady told us about his life from start to finish and it was just the right length that the kids didn't get bored. Then we got to go into a small room where we were given an up close magic show. The look on Liliya's face as the tricks were performed was something special.
Next we sought out the shade to have our picnic before taking a stroll around the old town. We ended up finding an art and sculpture display which the kids really enjoyed, Liliya seems to be a big fan of art.
We then jumped on a bus to take us to the grand market. It was certainly grand and sold many types of meats and a huge amount of paprika.
We were all very hot and quite tired so found a nice cafe just outside the market to enjoy a drink and try some local pancakes.
Afterwards the kids spotted a park so we took the opportunity to extend our rest and let them have fun.
The next museum on the list was the flippermuzeum. This museum has the largest number of pinball machines in Europe. For a flat fee you get to stay for as long as you like and play on any of the arcades.
It was quite late when we left and needed to get food that everyone would eat but not take long to make. Al found a fresh pasta restaurant run by real Italians which we knew the kids would prefer to Goulash.
We got to take a metro to get there which was our fourth type of transport of the day (bus, tram and trolleybus being the other three and I never really realised trams and trolley buses were different until now!) and added the very fun adventure the kids were having.
When we arrived we weren't quite sure we were in the right area as this seemed to be where the hen dos and bar crawls were congregating, but the kids loved the tunes and dancing down the street.
The pasta is freshly made every day and you choose from a variety of different shapes then add the sauce. My black truffle and ricotta ravioli with 4 cheese sauce was delightful and Al tried casarecce with cream and porcini sauce, another good choice.
By now we were actually having to hurry the kids along since the last bus home was approaching so we took the rest of Liliya's pasta to go.
Budapest is probably my favourite stop so far, and I'm sure the weather helps. We got a quick glance of the parliament, where we are booked to visit tomorrow, and castle all lit up, bad photo as we were on a moving bus but it was truly stunning. I would highly recommend this as a long weekend destination to visit.
