And so to Budapest

Oops! This entry should have been published before our Vianna posts. Don't get confused!

Budapest is a strange city. Originally two separate cities called Buda and Pest divided by the river Danube, they were combined as late as 1873 but each retains their individual character. Pest is relatively flat and contains our hotel. Across the river, Buda is hillier and arguably more historic.

Who's that good-looking guy in the foreground?

We only have about 30 hours to spend in the city. We start with a quick brunch, sitting outside a proper Hungarian cafe. We have a traditional dish called Langos, a deep-fried flatbread served with toppings such as goulash or cheese and bacon - just what the doctor ordered!

Our cafe was at one end of a self-guided walk in the guidebook covering the Jewish quarter. The area has several synagogues, some no longer in use, along with shops and houses. What are called "ruin bars" - we would call them "pop-ups" - have been temporarily established in the run-down buildings, bringing life back into the area. Our map lists several, and we felt obliged to check them out.

Our impression was that many of the bars on the list are actually pretty well-established, with professional signage and proper bar furniture so they don't really qualify as pop-ups. We found a good one which has been built into a courtyard and has the ramshackle air of something thrown together over a weekend but is actually a proper bar. Nice beer, too!

Later in the afternoon we set out to tour Buda. We crossed the Danube on the Chain Bridge, and took the funicular railway to the main tourist area. Housed here are the National Gallery as well as various other historic buildings.

We didn't visit the gallery - it had been a long day - but our guide book told as that it's home to Hungarian art from the earliest to the present day. It would probably have taken several hours to do it justice and we didn't have the time.

Pest by night from the Fisherman's Bastion

Instead, we toured the area around the gallery, which has been home to royal palaces and fortresses and is now blessed with a selection of stalls selling T-shirts and a superb collection of lovely fridge magnets. We followed the walking tour of the area which ended up at our next port of call, a restaurant at the Fishermans Bastion, built into the surviving fortifications and offering amazing views over the Danube and Pest.

The centrepiece of the restaurant

The restaurant is everything we expected it to be - beautifully designed and very comfortable. The menu features international cuisine with a Hungarian twist, and excellent local wines recommended by the sommelier. While we ate, musicians played light classical pieces arranged for violin, bass and cimbalom - a string instrument played with hammers, which you might have heard in Janacek's Harry Janos suite or the theme tune to The Persuaders. It takes skill to play it well and our man was an expert, playing Chopin and Mozart pieces as if it were a piano. We bought the CD and look forward to getting home to play it!

We didn't get the hang of public transport in Budapest at all, not helped by the complete lack of signs and none of the metro staff speaking English - perhaps it's unreasonable to expect this but we have been spoilt so far in this respect. We ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel, money well spent. After a restful night we checked out and made our way to the railway station - about five minutes walk - for our next port of call. Vienna!