Thermal travel in Hungary :)
This is how our Schengen visa story began, it was the 20th anniversary country in our travels and it was Hungary. A year before the trip, monitoring promotions, I found these wonderful tickets for 781 UAH for two in both directions at that time it was about $ 73, in general, we flew for 195 UAH one way, per person. At the moment, this is our record. The wizzair system was not designed for the fact that someone manages to buy tickets through a mobile application on the promotional day with a return to Kyiv on the 366th day from the date of purchase. As a result, problems began with the purchase, but the thirst to get tickets at such a price was invincible. As a result, after a series of complex manipulations, I received a canceled reservation, but the money had already gone to Vizeyr by bank transfer. I needed to create another booking and ask the operators to redirect the money that came in from the canceled booking to the current one. The first operator wanted to say that it was impossible, but the phone miraculously sat down and the connection was cut off. The second operator assured me that this is a great solution and he will do just that. 2 days after the bank transfer, I still received tickets. There are 360 days left before departure.
A year has passed
At first it was self-obtaining a visa, and then on the road! During the trip, we only paid with a bank card, or withdrew cash directly from the hryvnia card. The conversion failed a little on cash withdrawals, but I will deal with this separately with the bank. When paying by card, the conversion worked at an acceptable rate. It all started with shooting crocodiles at an altitude of 11.000 meters. All 75 minutes of the flight were spent with a favorite toy on the tablet. The plane landed and our adventure began. The driver on the bus completely refused to sell tickets to us for an unknown reason, but the Brazilian student shared his own, as we are on the way, and later we will be able to pay him without change. When I got to the hotel, my sneaker was completely torn, but fortunately I had two of them. Let's start our acquaintance with Hungary through the kitchen.
Kitchen
I read somewhere that in Europe food is expensive, but large portions. You can’t argue with the price, it’s really expensive, but there’s a bit of a problem with the portion size, it’s completely impossible to eat Hungarian portions. Here Turkish cafes came to our rescue, there are a lot of them, the food is as tasty as in Turkey, and the prices are much lower. In general, we learned Hungarian cuisine through Turkish. But still there was one Hungarian cafe where you pay for the entrance, and then all inclusive. Here we have already come off for all the days. When we approached the waitress, another waiter whispered something in her ear, after which the girl began to laugh hysterically. She laughed about something of her own, but damn it, how interesting it was, what two Hungarian words were enough to say to make her laugh so much. After waiting for some time, the girl calmed down and began to answer our questions. The words became more and more uncertain, a slight shiver went through the body, and then a new burst of laughter, so much so that the waitress covered her face with a tray. We were eventually called by another and served. For the next 20 minutes, we watched the meal as the poor girl was literally dying of laughter and could not calm down. Well, it's a good animation. Then he told Misha on Skype that he ate Shaun's lamb deliciously.
We spent the first evening walking along the Danube embankment from the side of Pest. We got acquainted with the numerous bridges of the city and the parliament, don't say it, but the bridges are beautiful.
Parliament
Parliament, in principle, is also the norm, but in the night illumination. We spent the night and went on the route.
Szekesferhervar
This city is so difficult to pronounce that I was even able to restore from memory on the bus, something like Seher-Neher! And of course they couldn't understand me. In this city, kings used to be crowned, and now everyone just eats ice cream. It’s like you don’t want ice cream, but everyone and everywhere eats it, which you also start to want and buy.
Walking along the old streets, we were touched by how people of different nationalities are united by eating ice cream. Even at the restaurant tables they sit and eat horns. According to our tradition, we got acquainted with the Hungarian McDonald's. Next on the plan was a visit to Bori Var Castle. Since only Hungarian was spoken in the city, the explanation with the postmen was only in the form of photos on a tablet. We were handed an official form on which they wrote the bus number. Who would have thought that I would receive my first foreign mail in Szekesferhekaktotak.
After half an hour of driving out of town, we found out that the castle would open in just a week, which saved us on entrance tickets, since it was easy to inspect it through a low fence.
Bori Var
It's snowing in Kyiv, but here we have the sun. When we were waiting for the return bus, the Hungarian grandfather came up and began to tell us a brief history of the country in beautiful Hungarian. When we tried to tell him that we speak only English, he was almost embarrassed and he continued to stick to his line in Hungarian. Why the history of the country? Because he told it long and expressively. After 40 minutes, a bus came up, and we drove back to the city with a complicated name. After 5 stops, the same grandfather got on the bus, from the first stop, he is also a magician. This time he saved us from having to listen to his story. Returning to the bus station and picking up the left things, we went on.
By the way, tickets for 781 UAH did not include any baggage or large hand luggage, so on this trip we also had a record number of things - 1 backpack and a women's bag. The backpack miraculously passed the dimensions of small hand luggage at the airport. When we were checking in, we thought that the debriefing would begin now. By right, we should not pay extra for the dimensions of large hand luggage, this was stated by the official rules in the form of bugs on the wizzair website, this contradicted the information on our tickets, but nevertheless, the rights could be defended here.
Keszthely
We came across not the most successful bus, this bus drove through a lot of cities, respectively, for two and a half hours we admired the Hungarian steppes and fields. The city of Keszthely was located on Lake Balaton. Shortly after getting off the bus, we found a Hungarian who kindly agreed to take us to the lake, and even told us about the country in Russian. The lake, of course, is not small, but this, in principle, its merits end)))) Perhaps there are more merits in the season)))
Lake Balaton
But it's nice to take a walk in the evening. A flock of swans was walking on one of the banks, when Dasha went to take a picture, the leader swan hinted that he was going to drag us in, so we had to leave this company. Since no one in the city speaks English, and even very late - 18:00, everything around is closed and there are no people on the streets. Eating here has become a problem.
At one cafe, after a long struggle with a $20 Hungarian menu, we got about 6 olives, 5 slices of cheese, two cherry tomatoes cut into quarters, some arugula and a tasteless dried bacon. But this is not a Turkish cafe, so that's the norm. Further on the road!
Heviz
Heviz thermal lake
When Dasha made a route, this day seemed somehow potentially irresistible for a second - 4 cities. But remembering our South American route, we didn’t even worry that there was any risk. Since we arrived in Heviz already quite late at night for Hungary, at 20:00 we could only count on mivina for 16 UAH from the only market operating in the city, which is open right up to 22:00. The goal of this whole chain of cities was a thermal lake. When we woke up in the morning, the weather was cloudy, it was 9 degrees Celsius outside. I said “I don’t know what should happen on the lake to block all this difficult route and food hemorrhagic”. I assumed that only the presence of mermaids could fix everything. There is also an entrance, about $ 20 per person. Having changed, we went out onto the terrace from which steps descended into the lake. Starting to enter the water, the water did not seem very warm to me, but the dubar on the street simply pushed me into the water. On a 9 degree cloudy street, under the blowing of a cold wind, you can’t resist especially in swimming trunks. The body got used to the water in seconds, but I didn’t want to stick out at all, because at the slightest raising of a wet hand outside the water, an unreal frost of a cold wind was felt. After a couple of minutes, the lake already seemed unrealistically warm, and steam rose above the water. Swimming in this pair you experience some strange euphoric feeling. It seems at first glance nothing special, but how impressive it is. And the best part is that this is the cold part of the thermal lake. Having sailed through the door into the room, we got into the warm part, framed by tiles. Relaxation went through the body. In warm water it was pleasantly debilitating. But that's not all, then we were waiting for the hot part of the lake. It was a bit difficult to even get into the hot pool. In hot water, it completely melted away. Also, in the water, you need to take a turn and move one person forward with each ringing of the bell. The hot tubs were waiting ahead, each time they moved forward, different parts of the body were massaged. Having heard our travel plan for the thermal springs of the country, the guys from St. Petersburg kindly offered to hold a place for us until they moved to the beginning of the massages. Since they have 10 days to this lake, and we have 3 hours, and we need to start moving to another part of the country to the thermal caves. During this time, we had a delicious snack in a Turkish cafe, on the territory of the complex. During a massage in hot water, everyone talks at ease about current topics about water temperature, blooming lilies, and other thermal springs. Grandmother from Moscow wished us a good route and we had to move on. Three hours of flopping in the water flew by unnoticed. Finally, we once again made a circle from cold to hot. In general, the city of Heviz gets credit, the lake really made a strong impression. Our next baths were planned at the Gellert Hotel, Budapest.
Budapest
Now there is an opportunity to see the capital not only at night, but also during the day : ). Upon check-in, I pointed out to the owner an error in the booking regarding our food, for which I received 10 euros back from the cost. This warm evening we decided to highlight the island of Magrid, which is located on the Danube in Budapest. The island is big and green, runners run everywhere : ) At first, we got into a free mini-zoo, when the storks saw us, they immediately began to demonstrate acrobatic numbers, standing on each other. Moreover, the stork performed the trick so skilfully and professionally keeping his balance that I am sure that if I had stood on the stork, I would not have been able to keep it up. After the zoo, after passing a series of clearings and lawns, we came to some ruins. Of course, for some they are undoubtedly a landmark, but even somehow they looked too ruined. But behind the ruins, a Japanese park was waiting for us, in which a tree similar to sakura blossomed. We got to the end of the island, probably in an hour, it turned out to be really big. On the way back we walked along the Danube, watching the runners. Why should they run if just passing through the island already makes their legs fall off. Meanwhile, the city turned on its night lights, which means that it will soon be eight in the evening and all the cafes will be closed.
Perhaps that is why the runners ran to have time to eat. Evening beauty of the city is certainly bewitching. The city seems to be changing. A small passage along the Buda embankment for a photo against the backdrop of the parliament, and we went to have a meal in the Turkish cafes of Pest, which are always happy to accept us despite the late night - 9 pm. In the morning after the hiking route, the legs simply could not move normally, but ahead relaxation awaited us - baths in the prestigious hotel Gelert.
Relax
After the lake, the hotel pools are not particularly impressive. Of course, it looks beautiful, but natural beauty is stronger. But hot water is always nice. The 40-degree pool relaxed the whole body so much that even the fatigue and soreness of the legs disappeared. For some reason, it was possible to swim in one of the pools only in hats, when I dared to go in without a hat, some Hungarian woman with a sheet on her head swam up and was able to squeeze out the only foreign word “Shaapka! ”, showing on her sheet.
From the outside, she looked like she was bragging. Although I can’t understand, if my back is all hairy, then I also need some kind of hat on my back, that is, why is the hair from the head worse than the hair from the back? ))) Oh, how did we get steamed up in hot pools. The guy at the information desk kindly agreed to keep our things until the evening.
Since the journey was hellishly expensive, we had to cover hourly distances on foot, at the same time we got to know the city better. Climbing Mount Gelert, we looked around the surroundings and plotted our route to our goal - the Buda Castle.
We walked for about an eternity, perhaps because we were in no hurry, but most likely because in the wrong direction, as it turned out. Since it is tight with English in the city, we caught the Hungarian and with a gesture asked him to continue the associative series “Gelert wanted, gelert hil, ??? ” In response, he said something a lot in Hungarian, but we caught the most important thing “Buday var”, this was the missing link. Now this phrase was enough to get directions from the locals. On the way, we stumbled upon a Vietnamese restaurant and decided to start getting used to the cuisine in 300 days. Then there were long steps up, and we were at the goal.
Having walked along the streets of the old city, we began to ask tourists what else in this whole complex you can see. Everyone told us where there are other monuments, and especially in that courtyard, because there are generally mega-monuments. Boredom in general, solid monuments. But the streets and views are just beautiful. But we came here not only for this, under the old city there was a labyrinth of Count Dracula. None of the tourists knew about the labyrinth, and Google also did not give anything sensible about its location. But the locals, hearing the word "Labyrinth", confidently pointed to us in the yards. Walking for about 20 minutes through various inversions, we still found a door with a corresponding sign and steps leading down. Entrance tickets turned out to be expensive - $ 9 each. Well go ahead!
The next paragraph reveals the details of the labyrinth, if you want to experience everything without knowing the details, then skip the paragraph.
At first, in the twilight, we walked through the underground nooks and crannies, and on the sides there were various installations on the theme of royal families. But then the light completely disappeared, and we were in complete impenetrable darkness. A rope hung along the wall, which you could hold onto to adjust your route. Through the density of absolute darkness, almost non-luminous elements in the walls were visible. Moreover, it was impossible to focus on them. Further, the dripping of water began to be heard and it became really a little uncomfortable. I was most worried, but suddenly it wasn’t planned that way and the bulbs just burned out. After ten minutes of wandering in the dark, we came out into the semi-darkness. One hand was wet, because somewhere in the dark he climbed into the water. The map on the wall showed that everything was just beginning. Stories and facts about Count Dracula hung on the walls, and ominous sounds began to be heard from behind the nooks and crannies. Then severed heads began to appear on spears. From behind the inversion, a children's choir began to reach, around the turn a tombstone and a coffin can be seen in the fog, on the other side a hanging cage for torture of prisoners. Naturally, I decided to climb into the cage, but as soon as I entered it, the door closed with a creak due to inertia, I tried to push the wrong bars and it seemed as if I had closed with the ends.
The labyrinth made a tremendous impression on us, we really, really liked it, it added points to the rating of the whole trip. We spent the evening already in Pest, on the central Vaci street. Everywhere there are solid Russian-language signs, which greatly reduces the feeling of traveling abroad. One woman tried to lure us into a restaurant, saying that “it costs only 6 euros to eat, it’s not expensive! ” Not sickly salaries from promoters, that it is not expensive for them. In general, there is something to see in the city for a day and a half. It was necessary to sleep well, because in the morning, the train was waiting for us.
Miskolc
The train really cost twice as much as our air tickets, if we count everything in hryvnias, but there was wi-fi, though only in one direction. A couple of hours on the road, and we are in a city where they speak either Hungarian or German, and we still have to go with a bunch of transfers and far away. There was such a strong language barrier in the city that the cashier could not even understand that we wanted to buy two tram tickets, given that she was the only one selling them. We had to get to the city of Miskolc-Topolc and this, ironically, was the only word we knew in Hungarian. Whom you do not ask, everything is like a zombie, no one can say or show anything.
Zombie wants my ice cream
Finally, some erudite guy still dared to show us the tram and the name of the desired stop on the sign and even said that we would need “Zvai” later. The good news was that in just 20 minutes we were able to figure out the route. The bad news was that the guy was wrong about stopping. In general, upon arrival at the bus stop, we still had a chance to walk the streets of the city. By the way, the city turned out to be more beautiful than Budapest, so we never regretted it. Then we waited for this Zwei for 20 minutes and rode it for another 30 minutes. How much it cost in total to get to this Topolets, it’s just scary to imagine, but also the road back is ahead. Upon arrival, they tried to find out where the indigenous non-speaking people had a bath, but by the protruding towel from the bag, they quickly understood and indicated where we should go. So, we are at the goal, having a snack on the way in the park, we went to the cave baths. They were not as thermal as all the previous ones, but they were beautiful.
Cave baths in Miskolc-Tapolca
Swimming in the water among the cave labyrinths has never happened before. Most of all I liked the cave, in which there was darkness, and stars and the moon were illuminated by ultraviolet light on the ceiling. Unfortunately, these baths are not too big, we stayed there for a maximum of an hour. In general, the most spectacular of all visited is the lake in Heviz. Why didn’t our camera worry about trips yet, just six months ago it was flooded with a Brazilian waterfall, and now it swims with us in cave baths. At first they fought against fogging of the lens, wiping it with wet fingers, then with a bandage from the hair, then scored. That's how Canon knows how to make cameras durable.
The tablet, by the way, also passed the baptism of fire. There was an excellent park around the baths, we love parks. So that our things would not be stolen, according to the Bolivian tradition, we asked an unfamiliar Hungarian woman to watch them. Here the conclusion was logical, we ate in her cafe, she cooks deliciously and imposes large portions, which means a good person! After reading the information from the Hungarian banners, I was even able to agree with her that we would literally leave for an hour.
Walking in the park, we did not suspect that the most interesting entertainment of this city was yet to come. In the distance, some metal rails appeared, twisting into various turns, but they were so low above the ground that it seemed as if it was just something unfinished. As we got closer, we saw a warning that bobsledding is at your own risk. Interestingly, we come closer, some mechanical beds on the rails and a worker. It is working! I sit down in this device, the cable starts to pull me along the rails uphill.
Bobsleigh
For control, there is only a brake lever. Hmm… Ride uphill for a couple of minutes, until nothing happens. On the side there is a sign with a warning that everything is already on its own at the top. The machine reached the top, and the cable was released. Bob flew like a bullet down the bends, the speed began to increase so quickly that the wind began to crush his face a little. In the flow of adrenaline, I grab the brake, it works, but the brake is not so interesting. I release the brake, the speed is probably 70-80 kilometers plus body weight, from the unexpected speed, horror just surges, the fear of flying out is real. I flew to the bottom, I hear Dasha's cry somewhere in the distance, a minute later Dasha flew in, her first phrase "More? " the answer is "Of course!!! ". On the second lap, I gathered all my courage into a fist and decided to fly without braking at all. I haven't felt such extreme fear in a long time. The total speed was such that the bobsled was tossed up and kept on turns only thanks to the belt. The body was not ready for such a load, upon arrival it even got a little worse.
Flying
In general, Miskolc-Topolc is a solid test, not so much for the caves, but for the bobsleigh. Returning to the city of Miskolc, we had a couple more hours to wander through the streets. The town really impressed me, it is something between Lviv and Georgian cities. We even looked into the confectionery to feast on. There is a kind of serenity of antiquity in the town. And only modern trams do not fit into the old style. We walked an hour to the train station, saving ourselves 3 euros.
While waiting for the train, I connected to the wi-fi and immediately received an email from the Vizeire. There was a reservation number and a phrase about changes. Since until the end of the visa there were a day, the first thought was “We got to the Schengen”. Looking at the reservation number - I felt better, "Fuh, not our flight. " But further events developed worse. The letter said that Vizeir Ukraine is closing and tickets to Georgia have been cancelled, expect a refund. The trick was that these tickets were bought for 1200 UAH ($100) for two, for the off-season. But since Vizeir managed to shift the time of departures twice, we, in our full right, moved them forward twice for free, right up to May, for the season itself. It was necessary to act quickly and decisively. But first, the road home.
Then there was an overnight stay and the morning drive home. We always leave for the airport with a very large margin of time. This time, he was more than ever useful to us. Since having reached the final metro station we needed, we found out that this was the wrong end of the line... In general, we dashed into the metro. Arriving in Kyiv, immediately to the phone and dial the Vizeira number.
- Young man, we're stopping flying, what can we do?
- But you are flying in April, and the money has not been returned to me yet, so you can move the canceled reservation to those dates when you are still flying, right?
- In principle, yes, but which ones?
- We have the very last flight back.
-Okay, I'll write a letter to the managers to restore your reservation.
Half an hour later, new tickets came to the post office with a discount of UAH 18.000.
An interesting fact about the trip, the city of Budapest is similar in many places to the city of Buenos Aires.
So, on the 51st flight, the 20th country opened our first Schengen. Where to go? Course to the historical homeland!
Trip information
Date of travel: 03/22/2015 – 03/27/2015
Duration: 4 full days
Flights: Wizzair, bought under the promotion 366 days before the return flight
Hotel: Caterina Private Rooms and Apartments in Budapest, Appartmans Yowan in Hé ví z
Excursions: All by yourself
Visas: Self-obtained
Trip difficulty: 4/10 (average)
Price details for two:
Train Budapest-Miskolc-Budapest (EUR 48) HUF 18.000
Entrance to the baths on Lake Heviz (16 euros) 5200 forints 3 hours
Entrance to the Gelert Hotel Baths (29 EUR) HUF 9800 - day
Entrance to the Cave Baths of Miskolc (€11) HUF 3900 - day
Delicious meal in a Turkish cafe (6 euros) 2000 forints
Labyrinth in Budapest (12 euros) 4000 forints
