Hungary and Romania 2006

This is a trip report for a trip my wife and I took to Hungary, Romania, and London for March 12th through March 26th 2006. It is a pretty long report, so it is broken into sections. The first section is an overview of the trip and some brief impressions of the places we visited. The next section has (what I think is) some important information about travel to these countries that I couldn't really find in other resources. Finally I'll explain in detail what we did there.

Also, I want to thank both Clifton and Michael from Fodor's. Their trip reports were very helpful to us in planning our trip.


Overview

For reference I am 40 and my wife is 42 and we live in NE Ohio. We have three kids ages 8, 10, and almost 12. We travel lightly (backpacks and a small piece of checked luggage). In general we prefer meeting people and understanding cultures more so than sightseeing. We've been to most of Western and Central Europe, and are starting now on Eastern Europe. The total cost for this trip was approximately $4000 (for Hungary and Romania...London was just insanely expensive. I'll try to give specific details below). Note that all costs in this report are in USD and include taxes. We're both black and experienced no hints of prejudice at all.

Getting there: We have friends in England, so we try to arrange a London layover whenever we go to Europe. We took Northwest Air (NWA) from Akron, OH (CAK) -> Detroit (DTW) -> London Gatwick (LGW) for approximately $475. Kind of expensive, but with the rising fuel costs and increased travel to Europe it is harder to get cheaper flights. Also, we traveled on a weekend. From LGW we flew EasyJet to Budapest (BUD) for $110. So, total cost to get to BUD from CAK was just under $600.

We chose NWA because we flew them last year to Europe and loved them. This year they weren't as good. Not bad...just average. I would not go out of my way to specifically fly them again.

EasyJet was fine. No frills, but cheap. I would fly them again.

Other than our return EasyJet flight (BUD -> LGW) which was one hour late, all flights were on time.

The weather was cold (and even some snow flakes and drizzle) for the first half of our trip. The second half was sunny and much warmer.

We landed in Budapest, picked up our rental car, and drove into town. We stayed in Budapest for three days and made a side trip to Szentendre. From there we drove to Romania. We stayed in Transylvania for three days and then headed to Eger in Hungary for three days. From there we went to Pecs for one day and then back to Budapest for two days. Finally we went to London for two days.

Hungary was amazing. Way better then we thought it would be. Food excellent, people friendly, land beautiful. For both of us, Hungary became our third favorite European country (for me, behind Italy and Ireland and tied with Austria; for my wife behind Italy and Croatia). We ended up spending two extra days in Hungary.

Romania was...a disappointment. Short story is that we loved the people and hated the country. Long story below in the meat of the report.

Both Hungary and Romania were very cheap. $20-$25 for a sit down meal in a nice restaurant for two. Half that in "normal" eateries. A pint of beer ran $0.75-$1. Romania was definitely the cheaper of the two...you could travel here very comfortably for $50-$60/day (for two people including hotel).

Even though Romania wasn't what we expected, this was one of our best European trips. Certainly the "weirdest" (see the details section below...)


Important Information

This is a collection of things I found out (some the hard way) that I couldn't find previously anywhere else.

• EasyJet is easier! Actually, in the London and Budapest airports they had signs up saying they had removed the carryon weight restrictions. I know this was a pain before and it looks like it is gone.


• Driving in Romania. Yes, the roads aren't great but, in all honesty, they are no worse than the roads where I live. The big difference is that I know where all of the potholes are where I live, but needed to be constantly on guard there. Also, there were many people (including children) walking partially in the street. And dogs just wandering around everywhere. Basically you need to pay a lot of attention while driving here. Additionally, there are no speed limits posted, cops with radar hang out everywhere, virtually all roads are single lane and people go very fast. People not including us, that is. I was stopped (just a warning given), but it spooked me into driving slowly through towns (which means pretty much everywhere). I probably averaged 50km/h. Bottom line, driving here is stressful and it takes a while to get from point A to point B.


• Dogs in Romania. There are...dead dogs lying in the street. A lot of them. They were all hit by cars. For me (and I suppose most people from America), this is a hard thing to see.


• Romanian Money. There is the Old Lei and the New Lei. One new lei is ten thousand old lei. The problem is that both currencies are in circulation (in fact I only got old lei from ATMs). This makes it incredibly confusing to pay for things or count change. You might have 3 Lei as change and get two ten-thousand lei bills and a one lei bill. Also, you'll carry around million dollar bills. And have coins with one thousand on them that are worth less than a one lei bill. Bottom line, be careful and count your change. I was given incorrect change three times. I don't believe any of the times were on purpose (Romania people just aren't like that). Additionally, I incorrectly accused someone of giving me wrong change once, and I was incorrectly accused of giving wrong change once.


• Anyplace you use your credit card in Romania will require you to enter a PIN (like it was a debit card) so make sure you know it.


• You need a sticker to drive in Romania...but I couldn't figure out what roads it was for. Since it was about $2 for seven days I just bought one.


• Renting a car is very, very expensive in Hungary. Even more so if you want to drive to Romania (if you can find a company that will allow it). We ended up going with an independent - Steve's Rent a Car. It cost about $700 for 12 days and we were met at the airport and dropped the car off there. If we had paid in cash, it would have been about $560. Steve (really Istvan and, really really his son who spoke English) had a Hungarian motorway sticker on the car for us (see below). The company was very professional and, really, less of a hassle than a "normal" company. I would definitely use them again.


• You need a sticker to drive on the motorways (M1, M3, etc.) in Hungary. These are the Autobahn (i.e., no speed limit) roads...not the "E" roads. This sticker was included with my rental car, so I am not sure of the price, but they are only a few dollars.


• Driving in Budapest is...interesting. You only see signs once you get to where you are going, so unless you know, or have a good map, good luck. Also, the Romans must have never made it to Budapest because there isn't a single straight road in the city. And trust me, if you've been going straight and it doesn't for some bizarre reason turn, it will fork. Lastly, the roads change names often. Many major ones change names every few blocks (this is actually in other Hungarian cities also).


• Unlike in Romania, Hungarians do overcharge on purpose. It is very difficult to understand what you owe in restaurants as the items are handwritten in Hungarian. Sometimes a tip is included and other times it is not. You might have a cup of tea and get a service charge, and then have a nice meal and not get one. Bottom line, the number of things written on a bill never matched the number of items we consumed. That being said, we are talking about a difference of dollars. $25 for a nice meal instead of $20. So it is more a principle type of thing.


• Most hotels in both Romania and Hungary have liquid soap in the bathroom. Some people don't like to wash with this, but, more importantly, you can't always reach it from the shower. So, bring a small bar of soap.


• Most traffic lights have timers on them (counting down in seconds) so you know when they will change.


• All gas stations in Romania and some in Hungary are what we would call full service in America. Basically a guy pumps your gas and cleans your windows. However, you do not pay more for this and you do not tip the person.


• In Hungary they celebrate "Name Days" like birthdays. Essentially, each day of the year is assigned a name and if you have the name for the day, party time for you!


• The bathrooms in Romania and Hungary were all exceptional. We are used to very little water pressure and/or little hot water when we travel in Europe. Everyplace we stayed had plenty of hot water at a very high pressure. And the bathrooms were all large, except for the one in our boat hotel.


• In addition to the "standard" European breakfasts at the hotels, some would cook eggs and bacon to order. This wasn't offered, though, you had to ask. But it was free.


• All hotels we stayed at had parking and it was free unless noted otherwise.


• Hotels in London are very expensive. I recommend using Priceline. We paid $80/night for the Jolly St. Ermin's, right in the heart of Westminster next to a tube stop. Rack rate is about $250. As always, go to www.biddingfortravel.com before using Priceline.


• Lastly, on a slightly funny note, they have candy in Hungary called "Negro".

Detailed Information

Below is a detailed description of exactly what we did on our trip. It is long, but hopefully not too boring...

3/12 - Budapest, Hungary

The biggest fear I had on this trip was getting a car from a place called "Steve's Rent a Car". I shouldn't have worried. Steve, his wife, and his son (who spoke English) met us with a sign at the airport. The wife was eyeing us a little suspiciously (we weren't at our best...I was unshaven, we had backpacks, and probably weren't at our freshest). However, I said a few Hungarian words to her (I only learned about 10) and she smiled at us from there out. We signed a few pieces of paper, got the keys, and were on our way.

Our car was interesting...it was an American car. The speedometer was in mph. The funny thing is that I didn't notice it until we were on the Autobahn and I was having problems going more than 80kph. I then realized I was going 80mph and relaxed.

This trip was unusual for us in that we reserved all of our hotels in advance. Normally we just show up and try to get a good deal (which actually works very well), but we are getting older and saving a few bucks isn't as important as it used to be. So, we had booked the Hotel Fortuna in Budapest. This is a boat hotel that sits on the Danube. We stayed in a "Botel" in Prague and were happy with it, so figured this would be good too. Plus, since it sits on the river, it would be pretty easy to find.

Once we got there, we weren't disappointed. The hotel was fantastic, especially the restaurant which served incredible food. We paid 15,000 HUF/night (about $70) and felt it was more than worth it. Plus, the hotel was situated such that all of the major sights were within walking distance. The only problem was getting there the first time. I've done a lot of driving in Europe, but was about to be introduced to Budapest's unique system of streets.

My cheers of joy at finding the hotel without getting lost turned to curses as I crossed a bridge to the opposite side of the Danube, unable to make a turn onto the one-way street that would take me exactly to where I wanted to be. No problem I said, I'll just turn around on the other side and we'll be there. Well, after going a while and realizing a U-Turn was not an option, I decided to take a side street and make my way back. Again, no worries as I have a pretty good sense of direction. I turned around, but then the road started to bend and fork and I missed the turn to go back over the bridge. OK, still no worries. I doubled back again and started my descent into the Rubik's cube that is formed by the Budapest city streets. It's really like the Hungarian's did it on purpose. I mean, nothing is straight. Everything bends and forks and curves. And there are no signs until you get to where you are going. It's really like the signs are to welcome you to your destination instead of leading you there. One hour later all of the sides were the same color and we arrived at the hotel.

Tired, jet-lagged, and hungry (luckily in the right country for it!), we were really glad to see how nice the hotel was. We dumped our stuff, freshened up, and hit the streets. As I mentioned, our hotel was in a great location and it was easy to walk to the "fun" stuff. We got some pizza (really good pizza) and did a few bar-hops to sample the local beer (for me) and hot chocolate (for my wife). After two or three stops we ended up at a place called Yes. It had a basement, and in the basement was....Karaoke! Now, I never do Karaoke at home, but when I'm on vacation I'm a caterwauling fool. And this was going to be Karaoke in a different language. I couldn't resist.

We went downstairs and noticed it was just starting. Besides us, there was just a group of girls in the corner celebrating a birthday. The guy running the Karaoke started singing some songs and then the girls started singing. I've heard a lot of music in different languages and, mostly, I don't like it. But Hungarian music is great. The beats and rhythms are very similar to what you would hear on an American radio station. So, we really started to get into it. Also, since it was Karaoke and the words were on the screen, we could even sing along on the choruses, etc.

The place started to liven up. More girls came down and they were all really friendly with each other (starting to be my type of place!). They tried to get us to sing, and when I explained that we only spoke English, we were shown a list of English language songs. Long story short, we sang (or I sang...my wife has stage fright), the place got more crowded, drinks (and shots) flowed rapidly, and a good time was being had by all.

Then, this girl walked in and started to sing some songs I knew - Cabaret, Copacabana, The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, etc. And her voice was good. Not American Idol good, I mean Whitney Houston (pre-Bobby Brown) good. I was floored. When they tried to get me to reprise my "not even good in the shower" singing, I declined and said this girl should sing again. And that is when everything came into focus.

We noticed the girls in the bar hanging on each other and having a good time. But girls do that anyway and with alcohol do it more. Yeah, it looked like that waitress was getting a lap dance from that female patron, but it was all in good fun. Yes, it was weird that soft-core porn was played for the video for some of the Karaoke songs, but hey, I was in Europe. Anyway, why should I complain about half-naked women dancing on the TV? And yes, the clientele was almost all female, but why is that a problem?

But when I was told that wasn't a girl singing but was a man, I briefly reached a point of sobriety. We were in a gay bar. And, even better, a lesbian bar. I apologized profusely to the guy (girl), but he gave me a smile that said he was complimented and no offense was taken. Of course, then it was obvious he was a guy. For starters....no chest. Zero. I mean ironing board. And, of course, his song selection. But I'm telling you, this guy carried himself very naturally like a woman. And he was wearing slacks with no pockets! What man, gay or straight does that?

Hehe. Actually, we felt pretty stupid as now the signs were all there and very clear. Women were making out, there were lesbian magazines in the bar, etc. And we've been in gay bars before, so we weren't fish out of water. I chalk it up to the long flight and lack of sleep. I can never sleep on planes anymore and just fly the ones that have the video systems in your seat and watch lots of movies.

The night was only halfway over and we still had a lot of drinking and singing to do.

Many hours and many shots later we had made lots of friends. We danced with many, shared birthday cake, and sang more songs. Language was a slight problem as only a couple of people there spoke English, but with alcohol around, the language barrier is never that big. When the Karaoke machine was shut down I almost cried as this was one of the best first nights on a vacation we had ever had. I stumbled upstairs, my sober wife helping me, and out into the streets to head back to the hotel. Abruptly I realized I would never make it back without a nature break and returned to the bar. This is when we noticed the party had moved upstairs and ended up staying for another couple of hours.

By the time all was said and done, we were exhausted when we reached our room for bed. We slept in until 2pm the next day. But it was worth it. Welcome to Budapest.

3/13 - Budapest, Hungary

This was, obviously, a slow day for us. The weather was not great (it was snowing slightly) so it was no problem we missed most of the day. We decided to walk to Hero's Monument (which is a pretty amazing looking square) and do little else. We came back to the hotel early and sampled the restaurant.

This day was to food as the previous day had been to fun. I had Goulash for my appetizer and venison in a cream sauce with a type of noodles for my meal. My wife had garlic soup for her appetizer and pork stuffed with ham and cheese (like a schnitzel) for her meal. Wow. We were going to like eating here.

We turned in early to rise early the next day.

3/14 - Budapest, Hungary

We got up early and drove to Szentendre. We had hoped to see the open-air Ethnographical Museum (Skanzen), but it was closed. Instead we saw the Margit Kovacs Museum (all ceramics) and it was pretty good. Well worth a visit if you go there.

Actually, Szentendre should just be called "Museum City" as there are about 20 museums tucked into this tiny town. Besides the one we went to, I'll note the Marzipan museum in case anyone likes that type of food.

Szentendre is an OK town. Everything of note (except the open-air museum) is within the old section of the town and can be easily walked to. We did see a lot of tours and there are many shops set up selling stuff. In other words, it is touristy. Unfortunately we never made it to the little towns further up the Danube (on the Danube bend) so can't comment on those.

We got back to Budapest much earlier than we expected, so we decided to see some other sights. We walked past the Parliament building on our way up to the Castle. The next day was a national holiday (like the American July fourth), so people were out giving away little pin on flags, etc. There is also a huge display where you take a flower of one of the colors of the Hungarian flag and stick it on a huge ribbon, matching the color of your flower with the color of the parts of the ribbon.

We chickened out and took the funicular up to the castle (instead of walking). Let me make it clear that the castle is more of an area instead of an actual castle. Really, what you are in is the castle grounds. There is a palace (which is now an art museum) and an "old" section full of shops and a Hilton. There is also a labyrinth beneath the castle you can go into (we didn't, but it did look cool). The view from the castle is simple amazing and you get a good feel for how beautiful Budapest is.

We went into the art museum (it was free) and looked around for a little. I'm not a big fan of art, but I do like the stuff that looks like the stuff it is (to paraphrase Homer Simpson). I found a painting by Karoly Kisfaludy called Ossian's Complaints that was the most amazing painting I had ever seen. If anyone reading this knows how I can get a reproduction of that paining, please let me know. I have been unable to find it on the Internet.

After that we walked around the rest of the castle grounds. As mentioned before, the views were incredible and the architecture was too.

We turned in early as we had a long drive the next day.

In Summary

I've heard some people compare Budapest to Prague. I like Prague. I like it a lot. But it is really doing Budapest a disservice to say it is like Prague. Budapest is perhaps one of the best cities I've been to and only Rome, in my opinion, is a better capital city.

The best way I can describe Budapest is like a tiny Paris with only the good parts. The Danube substitutes for the Seine. The road to Hero's Monument (I have to admit it is straight) is exactly like the Champs D'Elysee, right down to the way trees are planted. Hero's Monument is similar to the Arc D'Triomphe minus the traffic circle (remember, only the good parts). The food has lots of sauces on it. And dogs are seen everywhere as pets.

OK, there is no Disney, the people speak a language that is very difficult to learn and the city is extremely clean (both with respect to litter and dog poop), but hey, bottom line, Budapest is great.

3/15 - Sighisoara, Romania

Ah, Romania. Where did we go wrong? Perhaps we had built up Romania too much in our minds. Perhaps we went at the wrong time of the year. Perhaps we were too old.

Whatever the reason, we didn't like Romania. The people were amazing. Actually, among the nicest we've met. And we had a great time there. But the country itself left a lot to be desired. I believe it is a combination of recent communism and the reluctance of the Romanian people to become "Westernized" And I think that reluctance is a good thing, but, unfortunately, not something that will be possible to prevent.

We woke up early today since we had a long drive. The scenery was nothing special. The border crossing was easy. When we arrived in Romania, we could tell we were in a different country but, in all honesty, it didn't look that "strange". I think it is because we live near Amish, so seeing people using horses for travel instead of cars isn't that big of a deal. Yeah, the older people dressed a little differently, but all of the younger people were wearing jeans.

I spoke above about the "problems" of driving in Romania and because of that our trip took close to twelve hours. Once we arrived in Sighisoara it was dark. And, while Hungary had no signs until you reached your destination, Romania was the reverse. Perfect signs to get us to where we were going, but once we got close, the signs disappeared. As a result, it was impossible to find our hotel. We drove around for about 30 minutes and finally stopped a cab driver and got him to lead us to our hotel. He charged us about $9, which is a fortune in Romania, but was money well spent to me after driving for so long. I even tipped him $1.

Our hotel was the Legenda and we paid about $30/night for it. The room was amazing...very spacious and clean. It is in the citadel in Sighisoara, so way up on a hill in the "old" section of the town. Please note that to drive up to the citadel, you must pay about $3. This enables you to park there for 24 hours.

We dropped off our stuff, freshened up, and went out to find some dinner. It was then we discovered that Sighisoara was a pretty quiet town. We picked it because it would have been an even longer drive to Brasov and Sighisoara boasts the birthplace of Dracula (Vlad Tepes) and I love vampires. But had we known it was so quiet, we might have picked a different home base.

The Hotel Sighisoara was the only place still serving dinner so we ate there. My wife, we are pretty sure, had pigeon. We saw pigeon on another menu, and we confirmed pigeon is eaten in Romania. The menu we ordered from said "Chinese Chicken Wings", but this didn't come from any part of the chicken. I tried it and it tasted fine to me, but it freaked my wife out. For the rest of our time there she was not loving any of the food.

At the restaurant, we met a group of Americans who were in Romania to help orphaned children. We talked with them for a little and then turned in.

3/16 - Sighisoara, Romania

The next day we woke up and drove to Sibiu. This was a nice little town and we had lunch, did some shopping, and poked our heads into a few churches. Sibiu has a nice square and pedestrian shopping district. Right now, the pedestrian street is torn up and construction is being done as Sibiu will be the capital of Transylvania in 2007. It was a little muddy, but it was still really nice. We found very few people who spoke English, but that wasn't a problem. Hand gestures do well enough, and some spoke French (which I do) and that was enough to get by on.

We returned back to Sighisoara just as it was getting dark. We had wanted to eat in the birthplace of Dracula (which is now a restaurant), but it was closed for renovation. The owner of our hotel was nice enough to call over to it and the workmen stopped working and gave us a tour. This is an example of how nice the people were over there. This is certainly not something you would see in America.

We toured the citadel a little even though it was dark. It is very small and you can walk it very quickly. We then walked down to the town to see if it was any livelier. It wasn't. We found a place to eat, and had some traditional food. Sorry I can't remember the names of anything other than "force meat" and there was something that looked like grits. I thought it was pretty good, but my wife was still thinking about pigeon.

We walked around some more and found virtually everyplace closed. We stumbled into a very local bar that I think was about to close. They made us feel welcome even though no English was spoken. Luckily by then I knew how to pronounce some of the local beer. We stayed for one round and then left so they could close up. We then headed back up to the citadel.

There was a youth hostel a few doors down from our hotel and they were supposed to have live music this night. We stopped in and found the place empty except for the band. We learned that they play here every week to give the local kids something to do. For some reason, no one showed up that week. We listened to them play for a while, and then we all just started to talk. Three were Romanian and the other was German. They communicated in English to each other, so we could talk with them easily. This was really our kind of night as we love to talk to people. We got pretty good insight from the three Romanians about where they thought Romania was heading and where it should head. And it was interesting listening to the German because he was talking as a Western European (even though he was originally from East Germany) living in Eastern Europe. Two of the Romanians were too young to remember Ceausescu, but the third wasn't, so that was a pretty interesting discussion too.

We made plans to meet the two older members of the band, Alina and Volker (Volker was the German), the next night and headed off to bed. It was like 2am in the morning and we were having so much fun we didn't realize how late it was.

The next day was St. Patrick's Day and we were pretty sure things would liven up then. We were right.

3/17 - Sighisoara, Romania

We had originally planned to drive to Sinaia today, but driving was so painful in Romania that we decided to go to closer Brasov instead. But first, we were going to Bran Castle. Otherwise know as Dracula's castle. Yes, I know Dracula never lived here (at best he attacked the castle), but like I said I love vampires so was looking forward to seeing the castle.

To say it was low key is probably overstating how sleepy this little town was. I'm sure it picks up in the summer, but it was virtually dead when we were there. A tiny sign told us where to park, but there were no signs leading to the castle. There was a group of Japanese guys who parked when we did so we just followed them. We got to a place with stalls selling Dracula stuff so we knew we were close. Eventually we found the ticket booth and headed up to the castle.

There was absolutely nothing Dracula about it. As recently as 50 years ago people lived here, so there was nothing spooky about it at all. It was more like some of the Chateaus you see in southern France (although not as fancy).

Still, it wasn't a total disappointment. We bought some Dracula vodka and Dracula wine.

Then we headed off to Brasov. Although Brasov is about 1/6 of the size of Budapest, it actually felt much bigger. Lots of traffic and people and everything felt rushed. We found a place to park the car and walked into the older section of town. This was a square and pedestrian district like Sibiu, but it wasn't as nice. There was just a vibe missing. Most people talk highly of Brasov, but we didn't get it. The city was ok at best. We had an early dinner here and headed back to Sighisoara.

When we reached the citadel, we decided to walk around some more as there were a few places we didn't get to the night before. We took a casual stroll and passed some time until nighttime. We then headed back to the youth hostel as they promised a live band playing traditional Irish music.

Well, I know Irish music (my name is Kevin after all) and this was no Irish music. In fact, it was American southern rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, for example) and 60's English music (Stones, Donovan, etc.). And it was great. We were in a hall surrounded by people who spoke no English (except for Alina and Volker who met us there) but all knew the lyrics to these songs. It provided our second surreal moment on the trip.

We've seen lots of interesting music in interesting places in our travels. Elvis being playing in Iceland. John Denver being played in Cesky Krumlov (Czech Republic). 70's American Soul in Brussels. But there was something different about this. The friendliness of the people made the place come alive. It was so much fun to be in that place that I never wanted it to end. And it was so weird to hear these people singing the lyrics in English, yet knowing I couldn't talk to them because they couldn't understand English. Luckily, like I said before, alcohol goes a long way to tearing down language barriers. We made a few friends, did lots of dancing and even more singing and had the time of our lives.

It was a little bittersweet, however. We had already decided to leave Romania the next day so it was sad to be having so much fun on our last night. We were going to leave Transylvania regardless and head north to Maramures, but we decided we had had enough of driving in the country and just wanted to leave period. We thought about trying Ukraine or Moldova (and met a lady from there at the St. Patrick's Day party). We also thought about Slovakia. In the end, we just decided to head back to Hungary and play it by ear.

In Summary

The country of Romania lacks charm. I know this will upset a lot of people, and I could be way off. I'll just say that it is my opinion and other people might have differing views. Later in our trip we traveled through northern Hungary and that was exactly what we felt Romania should be like...indeed, what Romania could be like. And I think that is the crux of the issue. We didn't feel Romania was living up to what it could potentially be.

We had a great time here because of the people, but it was a hard country to be in. Driving was hard, seeing dead dogs was hard. Seeing the countryside littered with trash was hard.

Lastly, I'll note one other odd thing. Many signs (ads), names of stores/shops, and even products are in English. This is odd because we found that most Romanians didn't speak English. We went into a "super store" and found things like detergent and hair conditioner with English brand names.

Bottom line, loved the people, hated the country.

3/18 - Eger, Hungary

The drive back was a little shorter, but still took ten hours. We were headed to Eger and the famous wine cellars. Par for the course we got lost trying to find our hotel. I got my second stop by foreign police while making an illegal U-Turn. They were pretty cool, though, and gave me directions...sort of. They didn't really speak English. But I had a map and they pointed me in the right direction.

When we got to the hotel we were sure we were in the wrong place. This was a five star hotel. Super fancy restaurant in its own building, sauna and workout areas, the nicest rooms we've stayed at in Europe period. The price for all of this? $60/night. Here is a link to the hotel, although I think they might have their own website now with slightly cheaper prices.

The hotel is next to the Valley of Beautiful Women (where the wine cellars are) and about a 15min walk from the center of Eger. We decided staying by the wine cellars was the best option as it would be better to walk into town while sober rather than walk home from the Valley drunk.

As is our habit, we dropped our stuff and went to find alcohol. In this case, the wine cellars.

These places are so cool. First of all, most are actual cellars. The place we were in was small and packed. We liked this place so much we came back each night, so I can't comment much on the other cellars. We were served homemade wines for about $0.50 a glass. A long tube with a bubble at the end is filled with wine, and turned upside-down. The owner used her finger and with the help of Bernoulli (sorry, geeky physics joke) the wine spurts out and into your glass. Or, for the more adventurous (like my wife), into your mouth.

We got seated next to a guy from England who married a Hungarian and was out with his wife and in-laws. He handled the translation for us and we all proceeded to drink and eat (bread and cheese) and have a generally good time. Guys with violins were serenading the tables and it quickly became standing room only. I picked up a few more Hungarian phrases (like how to toast and how to say delicious) and tried the Bull's Blood wine.

The history of Eger is that a small force of women and soldiers (2000) lead by Istvan Dobo in 1552 held off 150,000 Turks. Needless to say a lot of things are named after Istvan in Eger. The women got the Valley named after them. And the special wine Istvan gave to his troops got the name Bull's Blood.

Anyway, this comes in a bottle and you get a new glass for it. Everyplace in Hungary has it, but it was best for me in Eger. It is a red, dry, wine and it is strong. Oh yeah, and it is good.

Well, after another night of drinking and music (although no singing or dancing), we turned in; very tired from the long drive, but very happy.

3/19 - Eger, Hungary

We slept in this day, tired from the night before. When we woke up, we decided to explore the town. Wow, Eger is nice. The town is beautiful. I don't think many Americans come here, but I would recommend they do. Eger is only 90min or so from Budapest. After Budapest, I would say this is the city in Hungary to go to.

We mostly walked around the old section of the town, seeing a few sights. As mentioned, it was beautiful. We took lots of pictures. Eger has a great pedestrian shopping street and we wandered through there. It was Sunday, and everything was closed, but it was nice to see it this way.

Eventually we wandered up to the castle. Again, another very cool place. Great views of the city and there is even a playground! There is a wax museum here (detailing the battle with Istvan and the Turks) but we didn't go in. We did go into an exhibit of weapons throughout time. It went from about 1000AD through 1950 or so and was the most fascinating thing I've ever seen. It was so detailed and there were so many examples of weapons from different areas and how they were used. I've just never seen anything like it. I loved it and I am a diehard pacifist. I don't know how long it will be there, but I would definitely recommend it. The castle was free, but the wax museum and weapons exhibit were not (they were like $5 each).

There were some other things in the castle also. Some homes that were "preserved" from "olden" times, some castle stones and a graveyard from the 1200's. There are also some catacombs that you need a guide to tour.

Eventually we headed back to the Valley and found a restaurant to eat in. We had traditional food again. My wife had a pancake filled with meat and I had a wild boar stew soup for an appetizer. My wife had beef done in some style that had a blueberry type sauce (and blueberries) on it and I had pork Gypsy style (which means lots of garlic). The food was amazing and fun to order as, again, no one spoke English and the menus, although in English, didn't describe what the food was exactly. This was a place that I am pretty sure we were overcharged in. But, still, the meal including drinks was only like $25 and the food was great so I didn't complain.

We headed back to the wine cellar for a couple of glasses and then back to the hotel to bed.

3/20 - Eger, Hungary

Originally we were supposed to leave Eger today, but we liked the town so much, and had two extra days from Romania, that we decided to stay. We had heard of some caves to the north and decided to check them out.

The caves are in Aggtelek National Park and are on the Hungarian/Slovakian border. In fact, when you exit the caves, you can see Slovakia. The drive there was great. We drove through many small towns and stopped at an outdoor market (kind of like a flea market, but also kind of not like a flea market). The countryside was beautiful and it struck us as how Romania could be. In fact, people here used horses and carts and dressed in "traditional" clothing just like in Romania. But gone were the dogs, litter, and people in the streets.

I've been into a lot of caves; it is something I really like to do. But I've never seen caves like this. First of all, the entire cave was still very much "alive". Calcified water was dripping everywhere, and I mean everywhere. You could even see holes it had started to make in the cement walkway. This gave all of the stalactites and stalagmites a creepy gooey look. If you have ever seen Aliens, it looked like the scene where Ripley sees the colonists all stuck in the Alien "stuff" so they can be impregnated. In fact, it even looked like faces were staring at you from the rocks. There are also lots of streams and pools running everywhere. This was a spooky cave.

The tour (which cost like $6 or $7/pp) was given in Hungarian. This wasn't really a problem, though, and didn't stop our enjoyment of the cave. At one point you enter a large room with a man-made stage. Concerts are held here. The guide played a little classical music for us with an accompanying light show that was pretty cool.

Heading out we saw a bat hanging on the ceiling. OK, I thought to myself...kind of cool. The ceiling was low (maybe 7 or 8 feet high) and the path narrow, but I just ducked and went past the bat. Crisis averted. But then there were more bats. And more bats. It seemed like hundreds but there were probably only about ten. Still, that just added to the total creepiness of the cave.

Once out we hightailed it back to Eger. We took a slightly more direct way back and bypassed some of the small towns we hit on the way up. When we got back it was still daylight so we walked into town again. It looked as good as we remembered it from the day before, but now it was filled with people. We did a little shopping, a little more sightseeing, and then found a nice restaurant to eat at. My wife had the pancake w/meat thing again and I had "meat soup" for our appetizers. Hehe. Meat Soup is Chicken Soup. Really good homemade Chicken Soup, but Chicken Soup nonetheless. We both had a pork dish for our main meal. Total cost was about $20.

One funny thing that happened while walking around Eger this day was that we passed a young (college age) girl handing out flyers. We assumed it was to a restaurant or maybe even a concert so we stopped to take one. It turns out she was a Hare Krishna and wanted to talk to us about that. I actually burst out laughing as we walked away. I didn't think those guys would be found in Eger, Hungary!

That night we stopped once more in "our" wine cellar for a couple of quick glasses and then turned in early.

3/21 - Pecs, Hungary

The next morning we got up and drove down to Pecs in southern Hungary. The drive was uneventful and we reached the city easily. Of course, we couldn't find our hotel for a while, but even that wasn't as hard to do as it normally is. We were staying at the Hotel Fonix. It was a nice hotel, although the worst of all the hotels we had stayed at so far. It wasn't bad by any means, just average while the others were all above average (or even great). The cost was about $50/night with another $11 for parking.

We dumped our stuff and started to explore. We tried to go into a few museums, but didn't really like them. I'll state for the record that it is us and our lack of culture rather than the museums being bad. If you are into art and stuff you'll probably like them. One we went into was an exhibit by a painter that Picasso called the only other great painter of his generation besides himself. We just didn't get it. But we don't get Picasso either!

We then headed to the pedestrian shopping district. We liked this a lot and spent some time window-shopping. Next we walked around the rest of the town, hopping in and out of bars. Eventually we wound up back in the pedestrian area just as it was getting dark. We decided to walk to the end of it, which we did, and then hung a left. We were going to loop back around the outside and head back to our hotel, but we passed something that there is no way I will be able to adequately describe in writing. It provided our third and most bizarre surreal moment.

It was a bar...that much was obvious. It appeared to be a private club type bar. The type of place that is the size of a large kitchen and older VFW type guys frequent. We knew it was a bar because we could see through the windows and could hear the music, but there were no signs outside. We paused. The music sounded good and we wanted to go in, but at the same time it really looked private and I didn't want to get yelled at in Hungarian.

While we were waiting outside, a man stumbled (and I mean stumbled) out of the door. He held it open for us (or maybe he was using it to stand) and motioned for us to enter. Not one to refuse an invitation, we quickly went in.

This is the part I can't describe. Picture Deliverance meets Andy Mayberry meets Once Upon a Time in America all mixed in with a little Twilight Zone. The youngest person in the bar was about 3. The oldest was at least in their 80's. I kid you not, every person in the bar had some type of physical deformity. In most cases it was missing teeth, but some had missing fingers, some had open sores all over their faces, some had limps. Everyone, to a tee, had something wrong with them. There was a guy in motorcycle leather sitting next to a guy in normal work clothes in one corner. Both looked stoned (but an opium type of high instead of a weed type). Next to them was a family (minus the father). The youngest (the three year old) and his brother (maybe ten?) were dancing with their mother. They all held hands and moved in a circle, like a square dance almost. Continuing counter- clockwise was the bar. A man was shoving a long ladder from behind the bar towards the door and yelling at anyone who helped him. At the bar was a woman, very drunk, wife of a man on the other side of the bar who was dancing with another woman. She was yelling at him for dancing with the girl (later he came closer and yelled back while taking time out to smile and talk to us). She was also trying to make a cigarette and was putting more tobacco on the floor than in the papers. We were standing next to her at the bar. Continuing were several random people sitting at tables, and the aforementioned man dancing and flirting with a woman. Next, there was the 80+ year old man who looked at my wife several times and kept rubbing his eyes. Eventually he just plopped in a chair. Lastly there was a man of about 50 in a nice, but old and worn, suit. He was circling the room and eventually started talking to us. He kept talking in Hungarian and we would say that we don't understand and he would just smile, laugh a little, and continue.

Now, you might think we would turn around, apologize, and walk out, but no. We couldn't move. It was the strangest place we've ever walked into. And everyone was friendly. We had a few people trying to talk to us and lots of people trying to buy us drinks. I ordered one beer (in the bottle, no glass!) and we started to soak in the scenery. If only I had a hidden camera...words just really can't describe this place.

After one round we had to leave. People wanted us to stay, and, like I said, were trying to buy us drinks. But the place was cloudy with smoke. I think we both got the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes in our short time in there. If not for that we would have stayed because the people were friendly, the music was good, and it was just amazing to see everything.

Pecs is a college town. It is also a "young" town. We enjoyed it, and had fun, but one day was enough for us. Since we really enjoyed Budapest, we decided to head back there early and have some more fun.

3/22 - Budapest, Hungary

Hurray! We didn't get lost getting to our hotel. We kind of cheated, though, as we went back to the Fortuna Boat Hotel and we knew exactly where that was.

But before we hit the hotel we went back to the Castle. I had to see that painting again to get the artist's name and wanted to walk around the grounds a little more. We drove up and paid about $2 for an hour of parking (the funicular we took the last time was about $6/person or so).

Next we dropped the luggage and car at the hotel and decided to head to Budapest's pedestrian shopping district - Vaci Utca. It was a little bit of a walk (maybe 30min or so), but pleasant. Right before we got to it we noticed a bunch of stalls set up. It turns out we had walked into the Budapest Spring Festival. The shops were selling great (and I mean great) food and miscellaneous knickknacks. We did a little shopping and more than a little eating. I also got to play chess against an old guy who was really good. Since Hungarians are known for chess playing, I was hoping to play one. The guy was charging 200 HUF a game (a little less than $1) and I played him twice. I lost both times, but carried myself respectfully. I think when I was playing regularly I could have taken him, but there was no way I could have beaten him now. He was really nice, and although he spoke no English, we had fun games.

There were some singers (sounded like opera) who came out later in the night. All in all it was really fun. We did stray into Vaci Utca but the prices were insane. We spent $15 on a cup of tea and a glass of Palinka. Remember, we were only spending $20-$25 on full meals for two. So, we quickly left that area and went back to the festival. We listened to the singers some more, and ate some more, then headed back to our hotel for the night.

One cool thing: we saw our first black guy at the festival. We were nearing the end of our trip and I thought we would go the entire time without seeing another person of our color. Stay with me, it gets pretty funny...

3/23 - Budapest, Hungary

This was our last day in Hungary. We decided to walk to the zoo and spend time there and around that area (which had a park). The zoo was behind Hero's Monument, so first we walked there and took some more pictures. Today was sunny and warm and the last time we were there it was cloudy and cold.

Along the way we saw...the same black guy from the previous day. A city of 2.5 million and the only two black guys see each other twice. Go figure.

Also, along the way, we saw a group of American Indians playing music and selling CDs. As an adult, outside of a casino, I've never seen a pure blooded American Indian. Now I'm in Eastern Europe and I've seen more of them than of my own people. They were decked out in full native garb and playing traditional music. It was yet another surreal moment.

Anyway, we walked around the park for a while and then went into the zoo. This provided our last surreal moment of the trip. You can see the pictures on my website, but I'm telling you this was the Island of Dr. Moreau. This is the zoo where Cat-Dog was created. Scary things were happening here.

What am I talking about? Well, a pig-sheep to start with. Picture the largest, fattest pig you can imagine. Then, picture it with wool. Lots of wool. Not fur, not hair, but white wool. Not enough for you? What about a duck with brilliant colors but the head of a chicken? And, furthermore, all of the animals were big. Bigger than the counterparts I've seen in American zoos. I didn't know what they were feeding the animals, but I think the people were eating it too as there were a lot of huge Hungarians also.

Otherwise the zoo was pretty "normal" and was actually quite good. Where I live the Cleveland zoo spent a few million and made a several acre wolf area. Only problem is you can never see the wolves. They even have cameras to help you see them, but you can't. Here they had a cage about the size of a football field with about 7 or 8 wolves in it running around and playing. Yes, there were lions and tigers and bears. All very healthy. And camels and birds and snakes. All normal zoo animals and all very healthy looking and all huge.

There were only two other strange things. First, they had raccoons there. This was funny to me as I see raccoons when looking out of my kitchen window. But since they are native to North America, I guess it was a "treat" there. Second, the animals were arranged in a mixed fashion. You'd walk into one building and see a snake, monkeys, and fish. You'd walk into another building and see spiders, fox-like things, and fish (fish seemed to be everywhere). And inside of the cages, there were mixtures too. Several species of snakes in one cage. Monkeys with groundhog looking things and birds in one cage, etc.

After the zoo we walked by the circus which was next door. It was closed for the season but looked like it would be fun. We also tried to go into another art museum but it just wasn't doing it for us.

Next we walked back to the hotel and had a final Hungarian meal. We then went out to some of our favorite bars (including the Yes bar) and had a round at each. It was then time to say goodbye to Hungary.

3/24 - 3/26 London, England

Nothing much to say about these days other than London is expensive. What we spent in 2 days in London was almost twice what we spent in 3 days in Romania (and that was with our great Priceline hotel deal). Still, we were there to meet up with some friends so we drank a lot, saw a few sights, and had a great time. Then we flew home.

By the way, since I mentioned our hotel was right next to a tube stop, you are probably wondering if we got lost getting to it. I'm happy to report that we did. In all fairness, we asked people on the street and even went into a few pubs where the hotel was. We even asked where the street was that the hotel was on. No one knew. We did eventually find it. We needed to make a 180 and get to the opposite side of the tube entranceway. Then the hotel was recessed in a little street. Very sneaky and very British.

In Summary

Hmmm...the report is really long enough as it is so I won't add much more. I will just reiterate that we really liked Hungary and we liked the people- part of Romania. Food in Hungary was top-notch and, if in Budapest, you must a) go to the zoo and b) go to Eger.

If you are still reading at this point, please stop. The report is over!