We have just spent a lovely five nights in and around Budapest and have officially declared it our favourite city to date, with Hungary rating very highly as a country overall too!  Of course – Budapest is stunningly beautiful with endless architectural delights, thermal baths galore and the delightful Danube, but it also has a great laid back vibe and after Switzerland and Austria, prices that make us feel almost comfortable again. We are having a ball here!

We actually arrived in Hungary slightly ahead of schedule following a quicker than anticipated drive through Slovakia.  We had intended to spend a couple of days in Bratislava, but when we pulled in to one of only two campsites in the area (we had rejected the other due to really awful reviews), we found the funfair was not only in town, but in the campsite, and the heavy bars on the windows of the campground bungalows were not at all welcoming, so we decided very quickly to move on (really we feared William might run away to join the circus if we stayed).  Unfortunately, as we were not heading north to the Tatras (they will have to have a dedicated walking holiday one day), our next best option was to drop down to the Hungarian border.  Sorry Slovakia – it isn’t personal!

We stayed the first two nights in Komáron – an uneventful town which is split between Slovakia and Hungary by the Danube, where we stayed in a slightly shabby campsite within a delightful thermal resort.  We ‘took the waters’ in the hot pools, while Will ‘took to the waters’ in the big pools.  Very little English spoken around here so some great games of charades are being played – blowing up a virtual balloon was topped only by me and another woman pretending to be cows when I was trying to buy beef mince….

We then wended our way around the Danube bend, enjoying the sights of Esztergom and Visegrád en route.  Esztergom is even older than Deane, and has been inhabited since the ice age (mammoth stew anyone?).  It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary and has the country’s largest basilica – a massive 71.5m high dome which we climbed to the top of for stunning views across town and down the river. The town has a fascinating history – but you can read about in books by people far more knowledgeable than me – so let’s move on.  Visegrád means ‘Upper Castle’ in Slavic and that is exactly what the town is famous for – a huge castle overlooking the sleepy town.  I have to admit we felt lazy and didn’t walk up to it, instead continuing through pleasant villages to our end point of Szentendre.

Szentendre is a sweet artist’s town, with a well protected historical (touristy) centre, and an unassuming but thriving new town.  Our campsite was a couple of kilometres outside the centre and the ride in along the Danube was delightful!  We spent a couple of days relaxing in and wandering around this town, eating langos, ice creams, goulash and rosé spritzers in amongst galleries, gift shops and stalls set up for slightly subdued midsummer celebrations.  We got chatting to a woman who had opened an art co-operative and she was having a fashion show in the evening which we went along to.  It was quite small (in fact we hid in a churchyard and peeked down the street until a few other people turned up) but fun to be at.

We also used Szentendre as our base for Budapest to save moving again into a city campsite (not often all that great). The first day we headed right across town to Esceri Piac – Europe’s biggest flea market.  There were all sorts of weird and wonderful things there and for a moment I considered buying a trailer but thought better.

Given the gorgeous architecture, we decided to do a hop on hop off bus so that we could just sit and enjoy it.  The trip up to the castle (which has been rebuilt an astounding six times) past the glorious Gothic Matthias Church and relatively modern neo-romanesque Fisherman’s Bastion, with the absolutely gigantic Gothic Parliament Buildings in all their grandeur on the opposite river bank was mind-blowingly beautiful.  We hopped off, picked up our jaws, walked around marvelling at the fountains, buildings and views, and ogling (only me I think) the young soldiers guarding the President’s residence who we happened to see change guard.  On to the Citadel for more beautiful views before returning to the city centre.  The bus and our various stops were a great choice….although after the fourth time we did the central loop, we decided we had had enough and got off for the day!

Budapest celebrates midsummer by opening all their museums late and putting on lots of activities in the evening.  We tried to do three, but only managed two before it got too late, we walked for too long trying to find food and then needed to leave to make the last bus home.  Strangely it was the museum of agriculture that was most fun – Will tried his hand at lassoing a cow’s skull and then we rode an old oxen pulled cart – both of which made us smile.  The Transport Museum was a hit with the boys too – with some great old trains, planes and automobiles.  I liked the small pleasure yacht built for Lake Balaton (about the size of the trailer sailer my parents owned when I was young) which two hardy sailors adapted and used to become Hungary’s first round-the-world yachtsmen.

The next day saw us back in the city on the bus and taking the boat to Margret Island, apparently named for the martyred daughter of King Béla IV, who lived in a convent on the Island, and which is now a city green space.  We are loving hanging out with the locals in the parks on weekends and this was no exception.  As well as walking through the park, we went to Palatinus Thermal baths, a huge water complex, where we all tried every pool and nearly every slide (well the boys did).  Excellent family fun!  Hungary is certainly blessed by superb thermal water – but our little kettle is not quite so sure and is suffering from furry spout disease.

We could have spent another week in Budapest without a problem – we will definitely be back here but it was time to move on and as always, we got quite a buzz as we climbed behind the wheel and hit the road again – Lake Balaton is our next stop.