Day 4: 3 countries in 1 day...!

Team Contiki!

Another early start for another long bus day today - and today as Darius must have mentioned a million times by this point already, we were having all our meals in a different country.
We of course had our brekkie in the hotel in Krakow, but we were going to stop off in Slovakia for lunch, and then dinner will be on a River Cruise in Budapest (more on that later).

Our pit stop in Slovakia was a small town called Banská Bystrica, not too far from the mountainous areas we had to travel through. Slovakia doesn't have many motorways, so we had to go cross-country, even passing a couple of ski resorts. Of what I saw, the view was really pretty, but I had only got 4 hours sleep the night before....

When we eventually stopped, we took a huge group photo in the main square (see above) and the went off for lunch. There was a burger place Darius recommended, which sold a burger with chips and a drink for around 5/6 Euros. I got a veggie burger with aubergine and mushrooms in it. It was v.tender and leaking juice everywhere - and bloody lovely, worth the wait!

Back on the bus, we were on our way to Budapest - this was the city I was most excited about. All my friends who had been there already would not stop raving about it - thankfully it was the other city we were staying for 2 nights in.
We arrived at our hostel, the Wombat, set in the Jewish area of the city at around half 5 - and we had some time to get glammed up before we went out for the River Cruise. Darius said that the best way to see Budapest is from the water. I would say that's true - but would also add "at night".

We boarded the Cruise boat to find a glass of Hungarian sparkling wine on arrival, plus a bottle of red and white and soft drinks per table. Down the middle of the table, was one big buffet platter filled with traditional Hungarian dishes. I firstly went to the far end and got a bowl of goulash (which was delish, and defo didn't need any extra spicy paprika paste), plus a plate of salad/bread/cold meat and fish at the front of the table.

The mains were next to the goulash at the back, and included chicken in a trad. gravy with plenty of paprika along with potato rice (I don't know what else to call it, it tasted like some rice and gnocchi had a baby). There was also pork meat wrapped up in cabbage leaves - I will be honest and say I didn't like it that much but at least I tried it.
Pudding was a fresh fruit platter, and a gooey cake with squirty cream on top that was similar to Black Forest Gateau.

Once we had finished eating, I went up to the top of the boat to take some better pictures.

We passed quite a lot of the famous monuments in Budapest that you can see from the water including their very own Statue of Liberty - originally built by the Russians, it has now stayed up (unlike a lot of the other monuments in Budapest) to symbolise freedom from Communist rule, as it faces the direction the Russian armies left.

And of course, there was the famous Parliament building. Holy hell it is a beautiful building!

A picture can only capture it to an extent, so if you are in Budapest, I would definitely recommend going a cruise of some kind. Of course the meal was lovely, but it's crucial you see the city from the water.

We hopped back to the hostel after the cruise for 2 minutes, before Darius lead us to one of Budapest's Ruin Bars. They're a big sprawling industrial looking spaces full of bars - the one we went to in fact reminded me of Afflecks (only with bars instead of shops). On this occasion, I only had 1 drink and then wasn't feeling too well - think it was the smell of the smoke in the open air spaces, so I walked back to the hostel and went to sleep.

Better for me to get plenty of sleep before a busy day in Budapest the next day...!