Hungary-Budapest (Part 1)

Hungary-Budapest (Part 1)

So after boring Belgrade, I've landed in Budapest. Before coming to this place, I always thought that Budapest is kinda old and a place for drug trafficking all thanks to the movies. To my surprise, this Capital was called Budapest because there are two island to this Capital, namely Buda and Pest thus giving it's name.

Train down to Budapest

Budapest HERE I COME!!!

We arrived during the evening and checked into this hostel called boomerang and I was given a whole apartment when I only booked a twin private. DAMN COOL! Unfortunately, the photos is with my friend so I couldn't share with you guys how big it was, not to mention the staff are very friendly. After checking in, I decided to check out the place abit before heading for dinner in a restaurant that was recommended by the staff in the hostel.

St. Stephen Basilica during a rainy night

We walked further down abit to view the famous Chain bridge that linked Buda and Pest together.

The Chain Bridge

It was drizzling quite heavily and I decided to head for dinner and have an early night. The place I went was Lugas and they serve typical Hungarian food and it's pretty near my hostel.

Lugas

Food we ordered

We woke up pretty early and decided to cover the stuff over at Buda as we were staying in Pest. It wasn't a great day to explore as it was raining, nevertheless we still brave out into the rain and explore.

First stop, the Parliament building which is situated at Pest.

We then head over to Pest and by that time, I was totally drench in the rain since my umbrella was already damage in Dublin(long time ago) so I threw it away.


We saw this buffet restaurant with free flow champagne and decided to head in to seek shelter from the rain and meanwhile grab some food since it was near lunch time.


After the buffet, I was on my way the the Fisherman's Bastion which is a place that overlooks the whole of Pest and along the way I came across this church called St Mary's Church but it was close found the church architecture nice so I took a photo of it.

Fisherman's Bastion

The awesome view

The Parliament from Fisherman's Bastion (isn't it magnificent!) 

The Matthias Church that is situated opposite the Fisherman's Bastion which is undergoing reconstruction.

A monument beside the Matthias Church

After absorbing the view, next on the list was to see the Royal Palace that is about 20minutes from the Fisherman's Bastion.
Random shot I took upon leaving the Fisherman's Bastion area

Sat the Funicular up to the Royal Palace.

On the top

 

The Main gates of the Royal Palace that greets you after you leave the Funicular terminal

View from the Royal Palace towards Pest

The Royal Palace

Backyard of the Royal Palace

A sign showing the places of interest to visitors

After exploring abit, we went back down and went back to Pest and to a Jewish Synagogue.

The Bridge on the other side of Chain Bridge

But before that, want to show you guys something below castle hill (does it reminds u of God of War?)

Looking back to Royal Palace on the bridge

Back in Pest...The Great Synagogue, the biggest Synagogue in Europe, and is rumored to be the most impressive in the world.


Keep a lookout for my other days in Budapest! will be updating them soon.

Serbia - Belgrade

Serbia - Belgrade

The train ride was smooth and there wasn't much problem during the custom check but again...I'm in the land where I don't understand a single sign or word, luckily the people here speak some basic english. After saying that there isn't much stuff in Belgrade, it's a very small city and can be covered in 1-2 days depending how fast you walk.

Before hitting Belgrade

At the main train station

After we arrived, we followed the map provided by hostelworld and because we were unable to comprehend the road names, we got lost and seek helped from a pedestrian who could speak english. OH MY you don't know how relieved I was, and we realised we are suppose to head north but instead we went south. She told us to take a cab which wouldn't cost much but we aren't got no Serbian Dinar. We went to scout around the area for money exchange and after that we found this pastry shop beside the money exchange shop. 

Pastry Shop *looks great and I'm a fan of pastry* 

Bought 2 pastry and we hailed a taxi, and off we were to our hostel, Captain Hostel. 

Captain Hostel's Common Room

The hostel looks great and we caught like the French Open during our stay there, we were given a 6 bed-room for the 2 of us as they ran out of twin rooms. After checking in, we went to eat our pastries and realised they don't bake their pastry but instead, they deep fried them, it was so oily and we couldn't finish them. 

Got the map and circled the places of interest and off we went to explore Belgrade. I wouldn't say Belgrade is that fantastic as what wikitravel wrote but then it's just my own opinion. 

A mural near my hostel

Republic square

The roads in the city

The old Palace 

I heard they change the flowers frequently

Took this that was beside the old palace

The St Sava Church which is the biggest Eastern Orthodox Church in the world

They didn't allow us to take photos in the church, sorry guys but inside it's amazing cooling and spacious and there were some renovations going on in the main hall. They allow visitors to visit the chapel that is beside the main hall. Must go for the experience but if you are not interested in churches then maybe this is not for you. :)

National Assembly of Serbia which you can see is undergoing some restoration works

Knez Mihajlova *a popular pedestrian-only streets in Belgrade*

Now you know why I say I don't understand road names just look at the bank's name

Belgrade Cathedral or St. Michael's Cathedral

Another church opposite of the Belgrade Cathedral 

The Belgrade Cathedral is very near the Kalemegdan and Belgrade Fortress which are highlights of Belgrade. I went to explore this 2 places mentioned above the next day. Unfortunately, I forgotten to bring memory card out on that day and used my friend's camera to take pictures of the place. Sorry guys no PICTURES :(((

Next Stop: BUDAPEST!!!