Budapest is awesome. We only spent 3 nights but would have liked to have spent a week due to the fun and the amount to do and see.
We arrived from Bratislava and left our car on the side of a road on the west (Buda) side of the Danube river. It was getting late so got a taxi to the hostel, "Tiger Tim's". Initially dubious about the hostel, as getting there required going through a little complex of tiny shops then up 3 levels into what looked like an old apartment block via steep stairs or a tiny, dodgy, rickety, communist elevator. Communist in the sense that its from the Hungarian communist era, the elevator itself doesn't, as far as I could discover, believe in communism. "Tiger Tim's" however turned out to be the best hostel we had visited. It felt very much like Tim had just converted his house into a hostel, filling all the rooms with bunk beds, decorating it with cool graphics and filling the main room (which also included the kitchen) with bean bags, games and a TV with a bunch of movies and stuff to watch. The atmosphere was amazing, the staff were all so friendly and outgoing that it spread to the guests and everyone just becomes friends with everyone. On arrival Dave, a cool Irish bloke working there, showed us around and then told us to "go out, have some dinner, grab some beers and be back here by 9 for the drinking games before we go pub crawling". Who are we to disobey such excellent orders.
Got dinner from a really cool "Hummus Bar", $3 for a big pita bread filled with hummus, fries and salad, then got 12 beers for $8 from the nearby supermarket. Beginning to realise how amazing Budapest is at this point. Got back to the hostel and join the other guests (plus Tim and all the employees) in a game of drinking Jenga, which essentially is Kings (or Ring of Fire if you will) but there is a rule on each block and whoever knocks it over drinks the cup filled at the start with a little bit of everyone's drinks. After that we did a couple of Australia vs The Dutch (the 2 groups being the majority of the guests) boat races before embarking on the pub crawl. Apparently the hostel does this every night, they actually have one of the staff members to run it and the others come along anyway because its always fun.
The first place we visited was this little cheap bar doing $1 (or like 230 of the Hungarian funbucks we never got the name of) beers and which, unexpectedly, started showing rather explicit ads for hardcore porn on the TV. Befriended a group of Irish girls from the hostel while we were there. The second place was amazing, and I really wish I got its name so we could have gone back, and was a big room with a bar at one end, karaoke and a dance floor up the other and in the middle a big table set up for beer pong and boat races. Stayed there for a while, sung "The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang with a couple of the Irish girls then we moved on to the final place of the night, called "Instant". "Instant" became my favourite place in Budapest, an awesome ruin bar (bars that used to be ruined buildings, bought up and converted to bars, graffiti, ruins and all) covered in crazy decorations, series of rabbits running into the room, a huge owl-woman, lots of cool artistry and little rooms off each level (2 + the basement, each with a different style of music). Hung out there until about 3am.
Slept in and bummed around the common room, recovering and watching national geographic, until 3 when we went to the bus/train station, bought a large pile of tickets and went caving, which was absolutely amazing. 2 and a half hours of exploring a massive cave system under Budapest in a group of 12, lead by a crazy Hungarian guy who just dived headfirst, literally, into the various drops and climbs. I am a caving ninja. We also befriended 2 girls from Melbourne, Elizabeth and Anita, who we amused with our dumb shenanigans and talk of cave bears.
Got back to the hostel at 8:45, changed and then me and Macky left Lewis and met up with Elizabeth and Anita at 9. Went to some awesome Hungarian and Thai restaurant where we sat on cushions and spent very little in exchange for starters, full meals and a couple of beers each. We then went to "Instant" again, explored a little more before going to an open air ruin bar for a couple of quiet drinks and heading back around 2am.
Got up at 9 in order to make a 10:30 walking tour. Didn't make the tour. Instead we headed over to the "House of Terror", a building that was home to the Hungarian Nazi party and then the communist secret police. Lots of displays on the time Hungary spent under the nazi and communist thumbs as well as the torture that was inflicted and the victims of the regimes. The basement level also had a lot of the original holding and torture cells. Very worthwhile for the entry fee. We left with an hour to make it the 15 minute walk to the start of the afternoon walking tour, stopped in at the hostel to get jackets as it had started raining and ended up running late to the tour and missing out of lunch as a result (and also breakfast earlier), leaving me somewhat grumpy with hunger. Toured around Pest, the eastern side of the river, then crossed a magnificent bridge to Buda and walked up the hill to the castle. Lots of awesome information, cool buildings and an amazing view of the city from the top of the hill the castle was on. Ended the tour at the entrance to a small cave system called the labyrinth, which contains at its end a fountain of wine (which is not meant to be drinkable but according to the guide tastes very sour and, according to a couple at the hostel, can be drunk in severe quantities without any negative effect) and at 6pm turns off all the lights and gives guests a lantern to explore in the dark.
Made our way back to the hostel via the synagogue in the Jewish quarter, apparently the second largest in Europe, and a much needed, cheap and tasty Dutch pizzeria. Got back intending to have a quiet one in order to wake up at 8 for the long drive to Belgrad, but with Macky skyping Jo and Lewis on his laptop Grace, an American who was running the evening, convinced me to join them for drinking games. Telling myself I wouldn't go out after I joined in for the 2 rounds of drinking Jenga and then everyone got ready to leave for another pub crawl. Again, Grace convinced me (probably more easily due to the whole drinking thing this time) to join them for "a short while" and went to the same first place as the other night then on to "Instant" again, hanging out with Grace, Dave and a group of poms from Bristol and exploring more of "Instant", finding a room where the room was covered in furniture glued upside down, tables and chairs, a carpet and all sorts of paraphernalia, ala the Twits. Ended up leaving rather late, having issues getting back to the hostel and getting in around 4. Oops, I guess.
Woke up the next morning at 8:15 in order to commence the drive by 9. Due to needing to find maps and the needs of the other members of the party to skype their girlfriends while I vegetated on a beanbag. Left at 12.
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