The day brightened, however, as Ally safely arrived from Luton and after a big unpack and repack of Paulina in the airport parking lot, all five of us were tucked in and on our way. We were giddy. It was an injection of a new personality!
She loved the moonroof...but who wouldn't!
As I drove us into the Pest side of Budapest, Paul loaded the Tomtom for a potential hostel. "A Lonely Girl on the Planet" it was called.
We pulled up along a wide street, the sun beating down. It was a spectacular 33 degrees. Tomtom said we were within 50 meters, so Paul jumped out to investigate and inquire. He came back 10minutes later-
"Well?" we ask.
"I need more eyes. I can't find it."
I pull ahead a bit further and turn the corner to park at the edge of the intersection we needed.
"Okay, this is the exact intersection where it should be," says Paul.
The four others all climb out and start scanning the streets, up and down, high and low. We all congregate back at Paulina. No one can find this hostel. I'm beginning to wonder if it even exists.
In a last ditch attempt, Paul heads back in a direction previously checked. He and Mike came back grinning,
"We've found it!! It's up there!" they say, pointing to the second and third stories of a large building, with no sign or even a clear front entrance, for that matter.
Paul had found a large wrought iron door with a key pad intercom mounted to the side. It had a list of surnames, but the final name on the list was "Lonely." He pushed the buzzer.
"Hello?" a woman's voice asks.
"Is this the hostel?" Paul replies.
"Yes, it is!" she replied cheerily.
Paul and Mike were buzzed in and made their way up to the second story, taking a wide concrete stairwell with ornate wrought iron railings. The first landing had tall high windows opening to another brick wall outside- a few panes were broken and no real light was coming through. Pieces of plaster were missing from the high corridor walls and ceiling.
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| The inconspicuous entrance to A Lonely Girl on the Planet |
Despite the unsuspecting entrance and stairwell, the hostel was incredible. Truly of hotel quality. The hosts were exceptionally friendly, handing over a pile of maps and finding a nearby place for us to park!
All for less than 15euro each per night! Paul came back to me in the car,
"Okay the man will come show us where we can park- I think it's in his friends building or something. I'm not really sure. But he assured me it was secure."
A tall Hugarian man hops into the front seat dressed in work overalls and nattering away loudly on his mobile phone. Paul slides into the back seat.I turn the car on and pull out onto the busy street. I move along slowly, still awaiting some for of instruction. The man is still talking loudly in Hungarian. I'm starting to think maybe he's just hitching a ride somewhere...
Paul leans forward, and taps him on the shoulder,
"Umm... where are we going?" Paul asks the man.
The Hungarian man gives a small wave of his hand to point onward.
Straight it is.
After another 100 meters our guide covers the mouthpiece of his mobile and says in broken English,
"At...next...lamp, turn right."
"Okay," I say, "Thank you."
Paul leans forward again and asks me, "What did he say?"
"Left at the next lights."
"He meant lights," I reply.
"Ahh."
The Hungarian man is still nattering away loudly on the phone. I make the right turn and right again, now navigating my way in our relatively wide Peugeot on a very narrow cobblestone street lined with cars.
He hangs up his phone abruptly and points ahead,
"Up...there....the yellow car. Next to it wait."
I see a yellow car parked ahead with a gap behind it, but I'm still not sure whats going on... am I to park in the space behind it... is he moving that car to make room for ours? I stop right next to it, as instructed. Meanwhile I'm blocking the single lane of traffic while pedestrians look on.
Our guide hops out and points to a set of big wooden doors between the gap in the cars,
"I open," he says.
We watch as the man lifts up a 7foot long rusted steel crossbar from the front of the door to allow access, then unlocking a deadbolt and pushing the first of the two doors open.
"It looks like we'll be putting Paulina in there," says Paul.
I pull ahead a bit further to get as much maneuvering space as possible. This was going to be exceptionally tight. Pedestrians continued to pass by and the lane of traffic was still entirely blocked. It was 35 degrees and I felt like I was driving a monster truck in an ancient lego land. With finger waving from Paul and the Hungarian, I managed to slide the Peugeot into the narrow passage way, with clearance on either side of little more than a few inches. Another car was parked in behind us- Paul noticed that it had Irish license plates.
"Is this car yours?" Paul asks the man.
"Yes, yes it's mine," he replies.
Paul whispers to me as we shuffle out through the narrow opening between the walls and the car, "hm...he's got Irish plates. This is weird."
Our conversation with the Hungarian on the way back to the hostel, through broken conversation, revealed that he had worked in Ireland...and apparently drove it all the way to Hungary. Hm.... Whatever the reason, it surely was locked up well- and now so was Paulina.
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| Where the car was safely stored whilst in Budapest- with steel crossbar and all. |
Once settled in the hostel the five of us made our way into town for dinner, taking in the city in the lovely early evening light.
We stumbled across a bit of a tourist-trap-y restaurant, but it was dead quiet and relatively removed from the main tourist areas. We decided it was where the bus tours were taken for the "traditional Hungarian meal" part of their Budapest tour. Despite meeting the criteria for tacky tourist experience, it was a delicious meal in a quiet outdoor courtyard- with just a handful of others enjoying the space alongside us. The warm night air was a welcome change from cooler nights at the campgrounds.
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| Hungarian Goulash and spatzle |
After dinner we had plans to meet up with a friend of Paul's from Queen's College in Cambridge. Zsofia, Hungarian born but having spent part of her life growing up the the UK, finished in Cambridge back in July after completing her LLM and was now working in Budapest. She had agreed to show us around after work on this lovely Monday evening.
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| After a quick stop at a neat little bar off a corridor for a taste of the local liquor called Unicum- the Hungarian version of Jagermeister. Not as good. |
We met at Deak Square and headed for drinks at an outdoor patio not 50m away. For a Monday night, this place was packed. It was an outdoor courtyard bar, spread across a long, wide set of stairs into an underground plaza. Our Hungarian hostel hosts had pointed us in this general direction, describing it as an area "where young people congregate." And congregate here they did.
We then headed toward the Danube River to take in the sights of the city lit up at night. It offered spectacular views- and I simply couldn't get over how nice it was to be out and about late in the evening with temperatures in the mid twenties.
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| A view of Budapest Castle from across the Danube... which, I will finally admit, I first pronounced as "Dan-oouu-bee" when we first encountered it in Regensburg, Germany. |
Zsofia then led us to Szimpla bar, which we later discovered was rated by the BBC as one of the top places to visit for night life in Budapest in an article called: Exploring the ruin pubs of budapests seventh district. Words don't do the place justice, but the decor and atmosphere were so eccentric that it could easily double as a quirky museum by daytime in addition to its growing popularity as a nighttime haunt.
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| Ally in one of many "bathtub" couches lined with cushy lambswool at Szimpla bar. |
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| Enjoying pizza in a room of deep red- and plenty more graffiti and bathtub couches. |
While we were on holiday, Zsofia had a job to return to early the following morning, so we said our thank yous and goodbyes and ventured onwards on our own. We found ourselves enoying another quirky spot in the same neighbourhood in a large outdoor courtyard. They served a tall gin and tonic and had a few swings suspended along the bar...safety lap bar included! Now this is a holiday.
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