Don't forget to visit the Europe page for a local map!
Don't forget to visit the Europe page for a local map!
Well, the good news is that we're out of bunkbeds. The bad news is that its raining. Getting into decent accommodations turned out to be a lot harder than we expected.
After dragging our packs around Buda for a while, we finally tracked down a hostel that claimed to have doubles..after checking out the room and the outrageous price they wanted (about $50 a night!) we decided that we would stay there our second night, enjoy a day in the city, and move on to a third location the following night.
We finally came upon a slightly cheaper hostel in a more remote part of Buda. Like most hostels here, this one is a converted dorm room. The difference is that this one is pretty clean and actually includes a private shower and toilet. Luxury, I tell you!
This brings up the difficulties in trying to balance going on a 6 month honeymoon with living in reasonable accommodations. And so, if case you're curious about our budget for this trip, here is some current information..
Most other regions you can get a double room for $20-30 a night. For some reason, all of the hostels are very expensive here in both Buda and Pest. Here that range is more like $30-50. Its quite strange too because everything else is relatively cheap. Meals are usually $6-7 for both of us, and a beer is about $1 or $2. Aside from housing, this puts Budapest about 30% cheaper than Prague and on par with Olomouc.
The other frustrating thing about trying to travel on a relatively cheap budget is that the US dollar is very weak right now. Prices that we read about in books have the dollar and the Euro at about 1:1. But with the US economy in the dumps right now, the dollar is worth only about 0.80 Euros. The rest of Europe has kept pace with the Euro too. Couple that with normal inflation, and everything we visit is roughly 20-40% pricier than our guidebooks are quoting. For example, our guidebook might tell us that a walking tour is 3000Ft (Hungarian Forints) - and that the US dollar is worth roughly 250Ft. So the walking tour would cost $12. Instead, US$1 is worth 200Ft, and the tour is 3500, putting the tour at about $17.50. Now multiply that by two travellers... And all the while, the Euro is remaining pegged at about 250Ft.
So back here in travel land, we spent the day on a walking tour (as mentinod above!) by Absolute Tours. It was very good! It was quite a lot of walking but it gave us such a great background about Hungary. (and why the Hungarians call it Madgyar - or rather why non-Hungarians incorrectly attribute the 'Huns' to these people)
Tonight we'll be looking for some local restaurants and trying to escape the rain. A trip to Marxim Pizzaria gave us some Hungarian/English translations of a lot of food names, so we could get by a little more. But take note of this restaurant, where we ate the "Bill and Monica" pizza while listening to trash metal and trying to decode the Russian-occupation themed art on the walls. The Hungarians are still bitter about the Soviet occupation, (justifiably so) but this restaurant was able to find a little humor and irony in the whole thing.
Off again to explore!