Wofford Travels – 2018 -10-06 – Budapest, Hungary

Now our travels have taken a different turn. We have left Southern Italy and moved to Eastern Europe, beginning first with Budapest, Hungary. (The locals pronounce it BOO-duh-pesht.) We left latitudes 40.7 N, 14.6 E degrees and went to 47.5 N, 19 E degrees. This is equivalent to Kansas, Missouri, New York, & West Virginia for Minori to Maine & Wisconsin for Budapest. Did we do this backwards?!

We left our Best Western Hotel (almost like a microtel) in Rome at 6:00 AM via shuttle for the airport (our flight was 9:20 AM). We were surprised to learn that we had to pay 45 Euros ($52.00) each for our luggage. The fine print in red in our AAA printout noted possible extra fees, but that seemed more than we would have expected.

A tram arrived at 8:20 to take us to the plane. We were in pouring rain, and even with a cover over the steps to the plane, we got fairly soaked, as we had to wait in line for people to board. The plane left at 10:00 AM and we arrived in Budapest at 11:20, pretty much on schedule.

Remember that “Frosty the Snowman” classic Christmas song which says, “There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found?” Well, there must have been some magic in the 45 Euros we spent on our luggage because they were the first and only two pieces that came out on the carousel as everyone waited for theirs.

We were advised by our AAA travel agent in Greensboro that there would be someone to pick us up and take us to our hotel, and sure enough, an elderly gentleman, Leslie, was there with his “Wofford” sign. We loaded our luggage and ourselves into his vehicle and began engaging in pleasant conversation as we headed to our hotel, when he said that his tire needed air. Not a problem for us, so he exited the main road and found a gas station where he could fix his tire.

With that taken care of, we continued on a ways, and in a short time Leslie said that he had to go to the garage as his “air light” was on. He was most apologetic throughout all of this. Sure enough, at the garage, he was shown the large nail they removed. They eventually replaced his tire and we were on our way again. It was definitely an important stop, and it brought us to a part of Budapest we normally would not have seen.

We got to our hotel, the Carlton Wein Budapest, at 1:30 PM. Though the room is small, it is very nice and looks brand new.  Obviously, there was major renovation done. The best part is that it is right in town and close to the Chain Bridge, a Budapest icon.

We figured we would look around town a bit, and started with the Pest Walk tour. Remember, we follow traveler Rick Steves and keep his handy travel guides with us during our trips. We didn’t get far this time, however, as we had difficulty locating a specific site. We’ll have to get used to the layout of the “utcas” (streets), “ters,” (plazas or squares), and more.

We were about ready for dinner (keeping with a 2-meals-a-day plan and eating early to avoid the crowds), so at 4:00 we stopped at the Belvárosi Lugas Etteren. We started out with a shared bowl of goulash soup. Notice that it is a “soup,” and not a mixture of meat, vegetables (including potatoes), and a thick sauce…as we think of it. I had stuffed chicken breast with cottage cheese, wrapped in bacon. Tom had pork medallions with grilled vegetable sides. And, we had the standard beer and wine beverages, and always the “sparkling” water. All was delicious. And, as you can see, we got immediately into Hungarian food.

An evening walk seemed fitting, and after a while we stopped at a gelato. (I know this is a surprise.) If you bought a cone, they made the gelato into a rose. You could get 2 flavors for the small, 3 for the medium, and 4 for the large. We both got medium, but I chose the cone. The roses are quite pretty, especially with the different colored gelatos. And, yes, I did get a photo.

By 8:00 we were back to the hotel, checked out the weather and plans for the next day, and retired. It was a very long day!

Tita