Last week Chris and & I were treated to a wonderful 4 days in Budapest by my lovely Inlaws on a child free break away. While I would love to say it started off wonderful and romantic, I don’t think you can call fighting for the bathroom in order to throw up the most romantic of gestures ever!
The Saturday before we left Olivia picked up a stomach bug and was up all night vomiting…and I mean ALL NIGHT LONG. I have never felt so sorry for her as she has never been sick like this before. At one stage she just fell fast asleep in the middle of the floor in her room totally exhausted from it all. My heart was breaking when she was sick then turned around and said “sorry mummy”…ohh I could cry when I think about it! She’s a trooper and on Sunday she was a bit better but had no appetite. We were not going to go to Budapest but after she bounced back a bit on Sunday my parents were very kind to step in and keep her for a couple of nights which eased the pain of going away.
Things were looking rosy on the plane until Chris started fidgeting loads. I knew what was coming. A mad dash to the toilet and all hell broke loose…he had the bug! I was quite smug that I was ok but that was soon wiped off my face when we arrived at the hotel and had a quick nap. I woke up and it was my turn. Needless to say we didn’t leave the hotel room all of Monday 🙁 🙁
Anyhoo…From that grim scene back to Budapest!
When we arrived at the airport I had done some research via tripadvisor on how to get to the hotel we were staying at but that involved getting a bus and 2 trains so you can just imagine the look on my dear husbands face when I mentioned that after the chaos on the plane. We were going to get a taxi but the line was massive so we spotted an airport shuffle called Mini Bud which offered a door to door service for £16.00 which we thought was quite reasonable. To be fair at this point we might have paid double just to get there and quickly 🙂
We had reservations at the Continental Hotel which was absolutely gorgeous. Upon arrival the main reception had just been refurbished and was immaculate. The staff was extremely helpful and polite and our room was ready to go which was brilliant. Just look at those light fixtures..dreamy!
As Monday was a write off we woke on Tuesday and whilst our appetite wasn’t great we knew we had to eat something. Breakfast was included in our room rate and the choice on offer at the hotel buffet was fantastic. You can just imagine how excited we were to then be eating dry toast and drinking iced water…we were not taking any chances! Thankfully by Wednesday we had stepped it up to coffee, pancakes and some fruit…we are wild I know!
The best way to see the city and hear about the history I believe is to do a local bus tour. Public transport in the city is really quite easy to operate and we probably could have done it ourselves rather than a company but you don’t get to hear the story behind the buildings and monuments. In Budapest there are 4 companies that offer hop on hop off tours. I looked into them all before travelling and the one that fitted our needs bests and had stops located near our hotel was the Giraffe Hop On Hop off tour. We got a 48 hour tickets so we could use it day or night and there was also a boat trip included along the Danube river. It was extremely worthwhile and the sights and scenery of the city are beautiful especially when the sun is shinning.
With not being able to stomach much food we didn’t venture out that far to eat in the evenings. In fact we only dined at two different restaurants that I would recommend which were very good value for money. The first being called Lado Café. This restaurant offered a typical Hungarian menu but with plenty to choose from and at 8pm every evening there was a Jazz band/singer on stage to entertain diners which we really enjoyed. It was also a stone throw away from our hotel and I think we timed it just right as it got quite busy by the time we were finishing our meal just before 9pm.
The second restaurant we ate at was a Dutch pizzeria called Den Haag. We just stumbled upon it after getting off the tour bus at the Jewish synagogue. After browsing the menu we were surprised how cheap it seemed to be especially in such a tourist area. We both ordered a pizza each, Chris had a pint and I just had water and the whole meal came to just under £8.00 as they had a special deal where the drink was free. We literally couldn’t believe it! The pint was only working out about £1.30 anyway for the local beer which was impressive enough. I would definitely recommend it as the service was also fast.
All in all while we didn’t get off to the greatest of starts we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would recommend the city to others especially our hotel and its location with plenty of bars and eateries surrounding it but still quiet and peaceful off the main road from hustle and bustle.
