Walking in Pest

Buda, being on a hill, has impressive monuments and views but Pest, while it may be the lesser cousin of its neighbour, has its majesty too. It is helpful, if somewhat simplistic, to think of Buda as the old town and Pest as the new to see how Budapest compares to other grand European cities.

Pest has a touch of Paris about it, and having a leisurely morning coffee in a French cafe in a pretty square with a fountain and a statue certainly helps to foster that feeling, as do the wide boulevards and the art nouveau buildings.

A lot of the main areas are car-free, or car-light, and so it is easy to stroll between the parliament, cathedral, square, market, river, etc. Along the way you can look up to see beautiful buildings with decorations, ornaments and balconies, all of which are best observed at leisure over a large glass of a local beer. This is what holidays are about.

Citadel, Budapest

A golden rule of travel is to climb the high places so I spent a day on the hills of Buda exploring palaces, museums and old cobbled streets while enjoying the extensive views of Pest across the Danube (the views of Buda were less impressive!).

Citadel is on one of the hills of Buda and is worth the tortuous, and confusing, walk to the top to see the magnificent Soviet era statues.

The Liberty Statue was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces. It is 14m tall and stands on a 26m pedestal. It depicts a woman holding a palm leaf.

The brutal concrete landscape, the large statues and the stunning views remind me very much of Vitkov Hill in Prague, one of my favourite places in that city.

Visegrad, Hungary

A colleague of mine who lives in Hungary took us for a trip out of Budapest to the Danube Curve where the Danube loops around Visegrad, which means high castle. We spent the afternoon and evening in pretty villages, in wild woods, up high hills, on a car ferry, learning Hungarian history and enjoying the occasional beer and an enormous pizza.

Visegrad is steeped in history. The Visegrad Group was formed on 15th February 1991 at a meeting of the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, Václav Havel, the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Wałęsa, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, József Antall.

 A similar meeting, took place there in 1335 and was attended by John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia, Charles Robert, King of Hungary, and Casimir III., King of Poland. The central motif of the two meetings was the desire to intensify mutual cooperation and friendship among the three Central European states.

Parliament building, Budapest

After less than two days in Budapest I feel worn out already, which is why I am taking a short break with my PC! I've climbed the hill to the cathedral twice, walked all around the large park by Heroes Square and explored Visegrad (about an hour drive away) and the surrounding area.

My hotel is by the Danube, on the Buda side, and looks towards the parliament building on the Pest side. The tram stops almost outside the hotel and the nearest metro is about 200m away so it is easy to get around. A 7-day travel card costs just 4,000 HUF, which is around 15 GBP, so one day's unlimited travel on the metro, trams and buses costs about the same as one bus fare in London.

The plans for today are less ambitious, I want to see inside the parliament building and then explore the main shopping street before going to a concert in the park this evening.

Last day in Keszthely

The last nine days have flown past in a flurry of bikes, pizzas, bridge, walks, beers, reading and generally not doing very much - just like it was meant to. One day was lost to rain (more reading and bridge) but otherwise we've been out and about exploring the town and the neighbouring villages.

The lasting impression of Keszthely is that it is rather like Center Parcs but without the fences to keep you in. Cycling around is easy because of the many roads, paths and tracks and because of the light traffic. And the cycling takes you to interesting places where you can enjoy the view in peace while savouring an ice cream or a beer.

We came here to relax and are leaving relaxed and ready to hit the cultural highlights of Budapest.

Keszthely is colourful

Our last holiday was to Tunis where everything was painted white with blue highlights so it is something of a change to walk/cycle around Keszthely where the houses are in bright vibrant colours.

The town is more than living up to our expectations by providing the peace and quiet we were looking for, giving us the opportunity to catch-up on books and podcasts, play cards and gently explore the area.

Keszthely also provides quite a few places worth exploring, more than we expected, and in addition to the lake it has a grand town square, a castle on top of the hill, buildings old and new in various states of repair, statues and fountains, and the amazingly quaint hamlet of Szendrytelep a short cycle ride from the town.

This is proving to be just the sort of holiday that we wanted, and needed, it to be. Even the rain does not spoil it.

Keszthely, Lake Balaton, Hungary

Following a fairly painless journey via Stansted with Ryanair I am now at Keszthely on the north eastern corner of Lake Balaton in Hungary. The lake is a major holiday destination offering traditional seaside activities as well as relaxation and recuperation at the nearby spa.

I am here for a week of chilling out with nothing much to do all day before heading to the hustle and bustle of sightseeing in Budapest next week.