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]
This week was the 61st anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, which began on October 23rd, 1956. This day is now a public holiday in Hungary, and as it fell on a Tuesday this year it made for an extra long weekend as many people took the Monday off as well.
Reading up on the events of that time I stumbled upon the event known as the Blood in the Water match. This was the meeting of Hungary and the USSR in the Pool at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics (it is known in Hungarian as the “Blood Bath of Melbourne”).
A documentary was made about it in 2006 called Freedoms Fury, which was produced by Lucy Liu and Quentin Tarantino.
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]
Every guide book will tell you to sample the national food where you visit. Hungary is renown for many of its national dishes such as goulash and paprika chicken, as well as its sausages, like the Debrecen sausage.
These are all good but I haven’t truly sampled a nations food until I have tried their snack foods. In Hungary the local snack food that reigns supreme is the Túró Rudi. If Hungary was to have an official national snack, this would be it.
[Túró Rudi]
If you’ve never had one it is probably best if you eat first then ask questions later. It consists of sweetened compressed cottage cheese, covered in chocolate. It shouldn’t work, but it does.
Those who have already converted to the way of the Rudi, there is a place for you at The Túró Rudi Fanlisting.
[Túró Rudi Half]
[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.