14 May 2018, Monday
After spending two short days in Serbia, it was time to move on to another city and country – Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Before this trip, I have heard so much from my relatives and friends who have visited Budapest, and they all said that it is a very beautiful city, so I was very much looking forward to experiencing it myself.
At about 6:30am, we checked out of our Airbnb apartment and walked to the Belgrade Railway Station to catch our train to Budapest. The approximately 350km journey takes quite a long time because there is no high-speed train service between the two cities. The Avala 344 EuroCity is a very slow train and the entire trip takes around 8.5 hours.
At 7:35am, our train departed Belgrade and crawled northwards towards Budapest. During certain sections, I’m not exaggerating but the train moved slower than a bus. Thankfully, the seats were comfortable enough and the toilet was decently clean and spacious. Along the way, we made a brief stop at Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia.
At 11:43am, we stopped at Subotica, the last town in Serbia before crossing over to Hungary. A lady in uniform came on board and collected all the passengers’ passports. She went away carrying a stack of them before returning with our passports a while later.
At 12:12pm, the train moved off again before crossing the border and making a stop at the small village of Kelebia at 12:28pm. There is no time difference between Serbia and Hungary. Here, three female police officers came on board and they went cabin by cabin to check the passengers’ passports. The officers were each equipped with mobile data terminals and stamping chops so they could process our passports on the spot without having to disembark from the train.
After that, a few other Customs officers came on board and they began checking bags randomly. They asked if we had any alcohol with us (answer: no) before inspecting dad’s suitcase and mum’s backpack. The checks were done professionally and it wasn’t intimidating. At 12:58pm, we moved off again.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. There wasn’t much to do so I took out my laptop and worked on my blog posts. I managed to complete two posts during the ride, which was not bad.
At 4:10pm, we finally arrived at Budapest-Keleti station in Budapest. We were just so happy to alight from the train after a butt-numbing 8.5 hours. Before making our way to the apartment, we had to settle one bit of business first – collecting our onward train tickets to Vienna.
I had pre-booked the tickets using the Hungarian Railways (MAV) website (click here) but collection has to be done via the machines at Budapest-Keleti station and other main Hungarian stations. There is no print-at-home option available. The Seat 61 website (click here) provides excellent instructions on how to book and collect the tickets.
It didn’t take us much effort to locate the yellow self-service ticket machine at Budapest-Keleti station. Redeeming the tickets was a breeze too as the machine had English instructions. For the record, the MAV train ticket from Budapest to Vienna costs 5,890 HUF / 19 Euros, or about S$31.40 per person.
Once done, we proceeded to buy tickets for use on the Metro. We bought a bundle of 10 single-trip tickets because it was cheaper – an individual ticket costs 350 HUF (S$2.19) but the bundle costs 3,000 HUF (S$18.75), i.e. savings of 50 HUF (S$0.31) per ticket.
Exchange rate: S$1 = 160 HUF (Hungarian Forint) / 100 HUF = S$0.625
From Budapest-Keleti railway station, we took the Metro from Keleti Pályaudvar station to Blaha Lujza tér station, just one stop away. We then walked less than 10 minutes to our apartment.
Airbnb apartment – Szimply Threee Apartment Downtown
Address: Budapest, Nagy Diófa utca 19, Budapest 1072
Price: S$298.59 for 3 pax for 3 nights
Link: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/6750806
The first thing I can say about the apartment is: it’s HUGE! There are two bedrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen and two bathrooms. It’s great for families with young children as there’s plenty of space for the kids to run around. The walls are adorned with funky paintings of animals, and there’s even a foosball machine to keep you entertained.
After settling down, we headed out to search for dinner. Our host had recommended a few restaurants and we decided to check out one called Menza, located a short distance away from our apartment. Along the way, we passed by the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, a concert hall and music conservatory named after the famous Hungarian composer. When we walked by the building, we heard strains of music emanating from the rooms inside. Such a nice feeling to hear real music being played by real musicians.
Menza was crowded when we visited at about 7:20pm, so we decided to try other restaurants instead. The area near the Franz Liszt Academy of Music had a stretch of nice restaurants so we picked a random one called Porto di Pest that wasn’t too crowded. We were really famished by then as we didn’t have a proper lunch during the train ride earlier.
As we were in Hungary, we had to order the beef goulash, which is one of Hungary’s national dishes. Goulash is a stew of meat and vegetables usually seasoned with paprika and other spices. Our beef goulash was very good – the beef chunks were tender and the soup was tasty and yet, not heavy. We also ordered a pork dish, fish & chips and chicken paprika. Together with drinks, the total bill came up to 14,060 HUF (S$87.88).
After being fed, we were contented and…ready for bed! The long train ride took its toll and we were feeling the lethargy setting in now. Anyway, it was already 8:30pm and the sky was getting dark, so it was best we left the sightseeing for tomorrow instead. In any case, we had another two full days to explore Budapest so there was plenty of time. So that was the end of Day 14, a rather uneventful day spent travelling between cities. Lots more to come tomorrow!
