Our Hungarian Rail Trip 4/4 - Gödöllő + Budapest
So, to finish our rail trip off, we caught a train to Budapest and did a couple of excursions from there, as well as met up with Julcsi's friend from uni, Ági. We stayed at Lavender Circus again - please please please stay there if you ever go to Budapest, it's such a gorgeous place! I know I've said it before but it really is such a special hostel with its artwork and quirky atmosphere! This time around, we got the Elephant Room, which was just as pretty as the Space Room we had before. Once again, check out the beauty of this place:
I want to live at Lavender Circus, seriously! Since we found it, we've stayed there every single time we needed accommodation in Budapest.
DAY 1
On our first day, we arrived so late that we basically went straight to bed. On the next day, however, we visited the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, or Sisi's palace as it was one of Queen Elisabeth of Hungary and Austria's favourite places. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures inside the palace; unfortunately especially because there was this absolutely PRICELESS portrait hanging on the wall there of some king's first wife! I laughed so much (I know, I'm being mean, but you should all see this portrait to understand the humour in this!), probably to the point of being disrespectful, but honestly, how can ANYONE look that bearded under that much powder?!? If anyone knows the portrait I'm talking about and wants to link me to it somewhere, PLEASE DO! It has to be my favourite painting in the world, heh...Unfortunately I don't even remember the name of the person in it, or whose first wife she was. I might need to go back just to see the picture once more...
Anyway, other than this, the palace was gorgeous! This is all I have from there, I hope it's enough to make you want to visit, too :).
Inside, you can see all the rooms plus lots of portraits of royal people. The garden is gorgeous as is the palace itself. It's a bit outside Budapest so you need to catch the HÉV suburban train there from Örs vezér tere in Budapest.
Then we had a Chinese lunch at WestEnd the shopping mall before heading to Margitsziget, or Margaret Island, to meet up with Ági. We walked along the river bank and took some pretty pictures on the way...
On our way back to the hostel, we still snapped some lovely night pictures of Budapest:
DAY 2
On our second and final day, we caught several buses to get to Pál-völgyi barlang, the dripstone cave up in the hills. It was a bit difficult to find the right bus stops but with a little bit of asking around, we found our way and arrived just in time for the next English tour of the caves. This was such a cool place to visit! The cave is big and deep, too, and there are all kind of fossils to be seen on the cave walls. At one point, you need to climb 120 steps and a 7-metre ladder so maybe it's not the best place to visit for someone very old (or for someone who's just climbed a 40-metre minaret, heh) but if you can possibly brave all that, go!
Once we got out, it was raining like mad and there was a crazy thunderstorm that we had to wait out before heading home. We still had lunch at the mall but then it was bye to Budapest and hello to Szeged. What a fun trip! We did so many things and visited so many places that it's hard to believe it now :D! Hungary is so versatile and even if it is a relatively small country in size, the different parts of the country have so many different things to offer. The trains are always late but the tickets aren't very expensive compared to countries like Finland, so you can easily go around a lot even on a smaller budget.
The next updates I have coming up for you are a day-cruise to Serbia and a random collection of fun little things to do in Hungary AKA how to have a baby lion on your head! Keep reading :)!
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| The common room. |
I want to live at Lavender Circus, seriously! Since we found it, we've stayed there every single time we needed accommodation in Budapest.
DAY 1
On our first day, we arrived so late that we basically went straight to bed. On the next day, however, we visited the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, or Sisi's palace as it was one of Queen Elisabeth of Hungary and Austria's favourite places. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures inside the palace; unfortunately especially because there was this absolutely PRICELESS portrait hanging on the wall there of some king's first wife! I laughed so much (I know, I'm being mean, but you should all see this portrait to understand the humour in this!), probably to the point of being disrespectful, but honestly, how can ANYONE look that bearded under that much powder?!? If anyone knows the portrait I'm talking about and wants to link me to it somewhere, PLEASE DO! It has to be my favourite painting in the world, heh...Unfortunately I don't even remember the name of the person in it, or whose first wife she was. I might need to go back just to see the picture once more...
Anyway, other than this, the palace was gorgeous! This is all I have from there, I hope it's enough to make you want to visit, too :).
Inside, you can see all the rooms plus lots of portraits of royal people. The garden is gorgeous as is the palace itself. It's a bit outside Budapest so you need to catch the HÉV suburban train there from Örs vezér tere in Budapest.
Then we had a Chinese lunch at WestEnd the shopping mall before heading to Margitsziget, or Margaret Island, to meet up with Ági. We walked along the river bank and took some pretty pictures on the way...
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| The Parliament. |
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| Margitsziget. |
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| Pretty pretty! |
DAY 2
On our second and final day, we caught several buses to get to Pál-völgyi barlang, the dripstone cave up in the hills. It was a bit difficult to find the right bus stops but with a little bit of asking around, we found our way and arrived just in time for the next English tour of the caves. This was such a cool place to visit! The cave is big and deep, too, and there are all kind of fossils to be seen on the cave walls. At one point, you need to climb 120 steps and a 7-metre ladder so maybe it's not the best place to visit for someone very old (or for someone who's just climbed a 40-metre minaret, heh) but if you can possibly brave all that, go!
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| From the outside. |
Once we got out, it was raining like mad and there was a crazy thunderstorm that we had to wait out before heading home. We still had lunch at the mall but then it was bye to Budapest and hello to Szeged. What a fun trip! We did so many things and visited so many places that it's hard to believe it now :D! Hungary is so versatile and even if it is a relatively small country in size, the different parts of the country have so many different things to offer. The trains are always late but the tickets aren't very expensive compared to countries like Finland, so you can easily go around a lot even on a smaller budget.
The next updates I have coming up for you are a day-cruise to Serbia and a random collection of fun little things to do in Hungary AKA how to have a baby lion on your head! Keep reading :)!
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