Into the Hungarian woods.

We'd seen Budapest by night from a distance and got our bearings on the massive city last night. Today was time to day explore and see the city up close. We had a bit of a sleep in, leaving at 9am. It was a mix of bus tour/walking tour. We visited chain bridge (Szechenyi Lanchid), Heroe's square (Hosok Tere), Schenchenyi Turkish baths, and Budavari Palota (Buda castle). The architecture in the city centre is amazing. Not what I expected at all. It actually reminds me of Istanbul/Turkey a bit. It was such a beautiful city. Probably my favourite of the trip so far. But Turkey is still my fav place of all time so far.

Old Turkish phone booth in the hotel

Driving around town

View of Buda castle from the bottom

Chain bridge

Buda castle from the bottom

Castle territory

St. Matthias church in the castle walls

Castle walls

Budapest by day - with parliament on the left

In the castle walls

More lace!

Danube flooding

Heroes square - national art gallery

Heroes square

Turkish baths

Then we were set loose on the town. Mum and I walked a bit of a distance to the local food markets. They weren't what we expected lol. We wanted local delicacies and lunch, etc. but they were more like agricultural markets. We headed back into the centre, and grabbed maccas for the free wifi. I had a tzatziki wrap! It was the first time I've eaten maccas and it has looked the same as it does in the picture and tasted amazing. We skyped Laura and dad from there too.

We just walked around and shopped a bit. Then walked along the Danube to check out the flooding. It was pretty full!

Main street

The food markets at the end

Inside the markets

Flooding

That little dome - that's the usual tram line

Chain bridge and Buda castle from Pest

Heading back to the hotel around 4pm, we had a few hours to ourselves before going into the woods for a traditional (tourist) experience! I had a nap haha. I love naps now. I've got napping down to an art now so I don't feel crap when I wake from them. Such a great thing.

We drove into the woods about 20 minutes away. It was like driving through the set of the Hunger Games (no pun intended). When we got there we were given a small traditional apricot alcoholic drink in a cute souvenir cup. It smelt like metho and burnt on the way down. I only took a small sip then poured it into a communal bucket with most of the others haha. 

Inside, the wood hall was decorated with dried corn and hand painted plates and the like. As we arrived earliest and walked in first, I was sitting right at the front, next to the stage. I panicked later on when they started pulling people onto the stage haha but it was all good. I wasn't picked. The music was traditional Hungarian and gypsy music and then dancers came and did their thing. Their dancing was awesome! Slapping and stomping everywhere haha. All of the noise made me feel like dancing, so mum and I got up and grabbed a few of the tour on our way up and danced. A great night!

Hungarian music