Budapest day 3

July 3, 2017July 3, 2017 Paul

Paloma our motorhome, is taking a well earned rest, her wheels have remained completely still, at our Budapest home of Camping Haller.

After the last 48 hours of sight seeing, I still had a couple of things I wanted to see and then when the campsite was running an offer meaning we could another night for free, the deal was sealed.

Budapest has been a delight, it was somewhere I fancied but Michele wasn’t all that keen, so the fact she was more than happy to spend another day here says it must be winning her over….

She has already priced up a city break for next for next year, but the cost of a weekend with flight etc is nearly as much as we are spending on a months travel in the motorhome…. umm guess that will go on the back burner…….

Top of the list was Margaret Island which is said that it provides a peaceful hideaway from hectic downtown Budapest with large green areas, flowery gardens, old trees, and lots of entertainment

With its beautiful parklands to wounder around and epic displays of flowers, and even some ruins, nothing could be close to the truth….

Round another tree lined corner we found the free entry mini zoo with its collection of rescue birds of prey, small deer, silks chickens and vast amount of ducks

A trip to the island would not be complete without seeing the fountain

The stunning musical fountain is one of the largest in Europe, it shutes the water up to 10 meters in the air!

Just to the side of the fountain is …..

The Centenary Monument (by István Kiss) made to celebrate the 100 anniversary of merging Buda and Pest.

So that was the first off the list,

Next a riverside walk down past the Parliment building to the “shoes on the Danube” as yesterday the whole area was covered in people watching the air race.

Prisoners accused of Jewish activities were forced to strip naked on the banks of the Danube and face the river; a firing squad then shot the prisoners at close range in the back so that they fell into the river to be washed away.

A sad bit of history that is Remembered so well in this strangely moving monument.

Lastly on the list was the chain bridge

If you asked someone to name a site in Budapest this would probably be it.

So with my big three ticked off we decided to see another side to the city,

A Ruin bar, a Budapest only experience

Each of these ruin bars has its own personality, we ended up in Szimpla, which probably is the most tourist friendly…

but they all follow a few basic principles: find an old abandoned place, set up a bar, fill it with flea market furniture, have a few local street artists come in to leave their mark on the walls and ceiling, add in some weird stuff , serve alcohol, and watch people.

But it all adds to the “underground” feeling of a ruin bar has.

hell in Britain the HSE would have a field day ….