Finally made it to the proper Europe this week, but also felt a bit tired. Perhaps, it’s finally summer now and it’s time to go home. This was perhaps the first week I actually looked into how to get back home.
Day 1
Last day in Belgrade, first was to get some food from a local market
Again, I have to say how much I like about having fresh market baked into the city core.
Since it’s Sunday, the national museum was free. Though, it’s a good museum but I was also just very tired to pay much attention to it.
Walked about a bit more
It’s lunch time, and the German I met from the hostel really wanted to try some Chinese, especially once he found out there’s authentic restaurant from my hometown.
1520RSD per person, a bit pricy. This is the part where I don’t quite like where cheap dishes charging restaurant prices.
Day 2
Last city to visit in Serbia – Novi Sad.
My guesthouse costs only 25euros per night, what a bargain. It comes with a stove and sink for cooking if I want to. Sizable space with a beautiful garden.
I walked around the old town a bit
Walked around more before calling it a day
Day 3
Woke up leisurely to see the castle next to my guesthouse
There’s this very interesting museum that’s describing Albert Einstein’s biggest contritions in physics, aka, space time
What made it somewhat intriguing is that his first wife – Mileva Einstein-Maric lived in Novi Sad. Though was one of the first female physicist herself, her contribution was barely mentioned (all papers published was under Albert Einstein’s name only).
Lastly, Albert actually abandoned his son after discovering his mental conditions, hence leaving his wife to quit science and tend the son full time.
It was by far one of best museums. It’s probably underrated since I was pretty much alone most of the time
The museum also sits on top of an old well that was nearly 100m deep which served as a backup in case of enemy siege
Walked around the castle more before finding a restaurant that serves the special fish stew.
Despite the stew is very popular, i thought it was just all right. It’s catfish based, a bit fishy to my like as a stew and the pasta noodles don’t absorb the flavors that well. It is a Hungarian influenced dish, thus lots of paprika.
Though, I don’t criticize cuisines. The Hungarian take on food which is just bluntly fatty and salty isn’t really my thing. The only thing I like is the Goulash soup
Day 4
Slow day just to walk around the city
It’s a nice day to just meander, it’s also just half rain and half sunny entire time.
I found this brewery which serves very good beers and food at an affordable price
Dinner was a food delivery of a wrap.
Day 5
Bus to Hungary! First time taking a Flixbus though (20euros)
The bus ride was supposed to be only 4hours or so, but we didn’t arrive until almost 4pm (3hours after, part of it due to one passenger tried to smuggle some cigarettes and we had to wait for him to get fined)
Central market next to my accommodation
Dinner time was to try everything that’s famous in Hungary
We climbed to the Liberty statue (well, for the Soviet liberating them from the Germans..)
Met up with a Canadian from the bus ride and another guy from Sweden in a pub. Fun night, I got hammered.
This probably sat up my vicious bad sleep cycle and eventually leading me to decide on going back to the USA early. (It’s just getting way more crowded and expensive than I initially though even in the early summer. Everything requires more planning thus makes the trip less fun and spontaneous)
Day 6
Walked along the river to get to my “free” walking tour.
The tour itself was great, lots of history to learn. Unfortunately, it’s raining quite hard. I probably should have gotten used to it by now.
(in a nutshell, Hungary was never at the right side of the history. Great on losing just about everything. A lot of other countries like to “liberating” them for some reasons)
On the side note, toilets in Europe aren’t free. In Budapest is 400HF or 1euro per use. Crazy price. (more expensive than in Western European) I asked my tour guide why its that high, turned out there were too many Asian tourists “squatting” on the western toilets hence destroying them and requiring replacements constantly.
I don’t know if it sounds borderline racist. Though, there are very many Asian restaurants in Budapest and some of them are impressively good.
Short lunch break to try the Goulash soup again along with the special beef roasted.
Took an Underground to the other side of the river.
Another tour of the day is the Buda Castle tour.
Funny it’s sunny again, and I decided to take a stroll around the parks
It’s Friday, though I was invited to go out but due to the previous night hangover, I decided to take it easy and stay in.
Day 7
Finally a museum day. Since I didn’t actually do a tour related to Communism, I decided to take a stroll at this Retro museum. Ticket is quite pricy at 15euros. It’s a small compact museum, but the effort is good. I didn’t quite enjoy as much, perhaps I was just not in the mood.
After the museum, I decided to go to the hero park and was also hoping to get into a Turkish bath, finally.
Overall, while I like Budapest, there’s also lots to be desired. For one thing everything has a price including Churches in which I never had to pay prior to coming to Hungary. Another is the maintenance or lack thereof, lots of buildings were partially closed or just don’t look what they should look like.
Later, I met up with the Swede, and we decided to go to the suburb for the most local food
The meal was about 15euros for each person, though I decided to give my left over cash to them as a thanks for taking me to have the most authentic experience.
I am definitely a more West European food person in that regard, and I gave Greek food an exception as well (lower Balkans are all pretty solid)
Expenses
| Week 28 | Currency: | RSD | 109.0701 | ||
| Day | Food&Drink | Lodging | Transportation | Other (tickets/tours etc) | Day total |
| 1 | $25.47 | $18.39 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $43.86 |
| 2 | $32.50 | $30.95 | $6.12 | $2.00 | $71.58 |
| 3 | $33.51 | $30.95 | $0.00 | $3.67 | $68.13 |
| 4 | $32.72 | $30.95 | $0.00 | $0.46 | $64.13 |
| 5 | $63.80 | $21.72 | $28.66 | $1.10 | $115.29 |
| 6 | $39.61 | $19.40 | $1.00 | $15.61 | $75.62 |
| 7 | $60.25 | $27.16 | $4.08 | $15.81 | $107.30 |
| $287.87 | $179.53 | $39.86 | $38.65 | ||
| Total | Grand Total: | $545.90 |
I loved seeing Serbia and Hungary, including the museums, sights, music, and food! That is interesting how expensive the drinks and things are, including even going into the Budapest church. All of these things like the expensive bathrooms seem bizarre to me, but that’s how they work there.