Travel blog of a digital nomad
Walking along the Danube River in Budapest I had to double take when I saw a cruiseship flying the Australian flag.
[Scenic Sapphire - Australian and Hungarian Flags]
The cruiseship is the Scenic Sapphire, which was built especially for Scenic Tours, an Australian company that runs river cruises from Budapest to Amsterdam. They look like comfortable rooms as each cabin has a balcony.
[Scenic Sapphire Cabin Balconies]
The ship is registered in Basel, Switzerland.
[Scenic Sapphire of Basel]
Whenever I pass a grand European train station I can’t help but have a look inside and see what possibilities are on offer. Even though I am in one of the great cities of Europe and not in any hurry to leave, the lure of European train travel is always strong.
Budapest has three main train stations, of which Keleti palyaudvar receives most of the international arrivals and departures.
[Keleti Palyaudvar]
One afternoon when I wandered past there were trains waiting on the platform for Moscow, Zurich and Venice, with a train for Bucharest listed on the departure board.
[Budapest Keleti Departure Board]
[Moszkva Train]
[Venezia Train]
[Zurich Train]
A Hurdy Gurdy, or “wheel fiddle”, is an instrument used in folk music, particularly in Hungary and France. (And I thought hurdy gurdy was just psychedelic dribble by Donovan).
The Hurdy Gurdy has a bass drone like a bagpipe. I find the sound of bagpipes hypnotic and I always end up following them in parades. So to with this curious instrument.
Here is a busker in Budapest playing the Hurdy Gurdy.
The Timewheel, near the City Park of Budapest, is the world’s largest hourglass. Technically it’s not really a hourglass as it does not measure time, nor does it run by the hour.
[Timewheel]
The Timewheel was commissioned to commemorate the enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004, when Hungary joined the Union.
[Timewheel Base]
The Timewheel is turned once a year midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The Children’s Railway in Budapest is an interesting curio left over from Hungary’s Communist past.
Formerly known as the Pioneers’ Railway, everyone working on the railway is a child, except for the engineer (the train driver). The kids are aged between 10 to 14 and run the operation to the same standards of the State Railways of Hungary (MÁV Rt). They even have the same uniforms as the adult railway workers.
[Children's Railway Carriage]
the railway is set in the forest of the hills of Buda and runs on a narrow gauge line for eleven kilometres. There are different stops on the way so you can get off in the forest along the way.
[Children's Railway]
[Child station master at Szechenyi Hegy Station]
[Hotel Bus]
A triple decker hotel bus, the Alfons Meilhamer Hotelbus-Reisen. Overnight sleeper buses are common in Asia but you don’t them in Europe with such a good train network. I can tell you from lots of personal experience it makes a big difference in comfort to be lying down when on an overnight bus.
[Dandy Workman]
Men at work sign seen in Budapest, Hungary.
[Cow Parade - Blue Melting Ice Cream Cow]
Cow Parade has made its way to Budapest.
Flying over Budapest, along the Danube river.