Budapest

Budapest was one of my most anticipated cities on this trip. Partly because I had a more personal interest in the history of the city, and Hungary overall, as my mother was born here (and I still have family in the country).

Budapest is also the only city on this trip that I have in fact visited before; although, given that I was three years old at the time, I'm not going to be regaling you with many memories of that visit. Still, I feel it counts in some way.

The city felt to me like it was built on contradictions and oppositions. That's certainly helped by the geography of the place; old, hilly Buda on the west side of the Danube, and flat, busy, bustling Pest on the other side. And perhaps it's also down to my hostel being in a more down-at-heel location. But I felt like the city was both cosmopolitan and struggling, upbeat but also gloomy at times.

Again my hostel had an influence in this. Run by a couple of locals, they were extremely friendly and welcoming, but also more than willing to share all their opinions about their city, their country, its politics, and those of the EU. Given that one of the bunch spoke hardly any English, this took place in the form of numerous hand gestures with the occasional reference to Google Translate - which was bizarre and amusing, but also left me with the impression that Hungary is a country that was optimistic about the post-communism future, but has not seen all of those hopes realised.

This impression was confirmed further when I went on a walking tour which focused on the communist history of the city, where the guides spent some time talking about the older generation's experiences and their views now. The tour as a whole was fascinating, actually - some buildings still have not been renovated, and we walked past more than one which were still covered with bullet holes from the 1956 uprising. Apparently these streets are in high demand by Hollywood, as it saves them having to build sets for shooting scenes.

Anyway, that's enough of me being depressing and political. The place is interesting, exciting and beautiful. There are heaps of good places to eat - though, perhaps unsurprisingly, none of them served goulash soup as good as my mama's. If you ask nicely I'll make it for you sometime.

One thing I had decided on before I arrived was to visit one of the many baths - Szechenyi in particular, which is the oldest of all the baths in the city. And I'm so glad I did. Elegant and ornate old buildings combined with lounging around in pools and a sauna - what's not to love?

I also paid a visit to Café Gerbaud. This is a highly ornate establishment off the main shopping street in Pest, founded by a Swiss man who, according to the tour guide, was a highly skilled confectioner and master baker (heh...) but was too penniless to start his own business... Until, that is, he married a rich Hungarian lady. I'm glad he did - I had a delicious Dobos torte, which is a Hungarian cake made of many thin layers of cake and chocolate, with a hard caramel topping. As a girl who dabbles in baking occasionally, I know exactly how fiddly it would have been to make that cake, and that just made it all the more delicious.

I loved Café Gerbaud so much, in fact, that what was supposed to be cake and a cappuccino for elevenses turned into lunch - the second course of which was another cappuccino and a large ice cream sundae consisting of some kind of cinnamon cake, walnut and chocolate ice cream and layers of cream, topped with a chocolate macaron and solid chocolate sprayed gold. God, I would eat happily eat that 'meal' for the rest of the week.

Anyhoo. As I write this, I am no longer in Budapest (for which my teeth are probably thanking me). I have moved onto a small town called Révfülöp, on the north shore of Lake Balaton. The whole of the lake is something of a holiday destination for Hungarians, although more so in the larger towns around the shore.

Révfülöp is not one of the larger towns. And that's exactly how I like it. If you have no interest in swimming in a beautiful blue lake, or cycling through a national park, then Révfülöp is probably not for you as there really isn't much else to do. The town itself seems to consist of three restaurants and a couple of shops. As it is, I've been quite contented with swimming, sunbathing and ploughing my way through the books on my Kindle still left to read. And my hostel provides home made meals every night, as much as you want for the cheerful price of f1200 (less than four quid). I've just filled myself up on a massive (and delicious) bowl of goulash with heaps of fresh bread.

After this post, however, there may be a silence for a while. My next stop after Révfülöp is to visit family in Debrecen, which isn't really sightseeing or touristing or travelling but reuniting with people I know little of but wish I knew more, whom I haven't seen since communism first fell in the early 90s. As this is more interesting to me and probably considerably less interesting to you, dear reader, I won't be publishing those exploits on this blog but on the (slightly) more private medium of Facebook. So if you really care, you can keep your eyes peeled on there.

The houses of parliament

The changing of the guard on Castle hill in Buda

One of the buildings still awaiting renovation from the 1956 uprising. Apparently Jude Law and Jason Statham were hanging out making a film here recently. No big deal.

The houses of parliament at night time

The Chain Bridge