Road Trip Part 3: Hungary Times

The drive from Ljubljana to Budapest is a little over four hours, but we wanted to get going on the early side (for us) because we had a stop in mind that was a bit out of the way: a little Hungarian town called Tapolca, where there is a lake under a cave. It occasionally takes us f-o-r-e-v-e-r to pack ourselves up and get going and this seemed like one of those mornings. However, we got on the road and drove, drove, drove without much of note to report until we got to Lake Cave Tapolca. There was a long line. We had no cash. We were hungry because we should have gone for lunch prior to getting in line for the lake cave (cave lake?). When it was finally our turn to pay, the credit card machine broke, so there was some delay while they got it back online. After that, we waited another chunk of time for the tour to begin. "English?" the guide asked Chris. "Yes," Chris responded. Was the joke on us? There was no tour in English, and though the interpretive signs were offered in English, it was either too dark or we were moved too quickly through the rooms to read them. I really do not mind if a tour is not offered in my language but we thought it very strange that they asked us and then didn't really give us any information. When it came time for the film, the guide indicated for English, sit in the front. We assumed there would be subtitles. No! So funny! We wondered why they asked us about it without following through. Finally, after the seemingly-interesting-but-we-will-never-know tour, we reached the highlight: the rowboat through the cave upon its lake. This part was fun and we enjoyed it although crashing boats into the cave wall seemed like poor cave management practice, something we learned about this spring in Arizona.

Ever wondered what a lake in a cave looks like? Kind of like a brook in a cave...

After briefly rowing through the lake cave, we popped into the restaurant next door where we had our usual pizza and played Wizard while we had our meal. We then headed over to Budapest, where it began raining as we approached the city. We got to our Airbnb, met our host and were settled in a jiffy. We made soup for dinner and it was the right choice on the cold, rainy night.

Bring your florints

The next morning we walked a couple of blocks to Andrássy Avenue (Ut) which is a wide, lovely street well known for being just that. Some call it the Champs-Élysées of Budapest -- I don't know about that, but it is very nice.We ducked our heads into the beautiful Opera House, but our destination was the hop on/off bus office where we would grab passes then be driven around listening to knowledgeable guides and do some hopping on/off. We ended up getting passes for both Budapest and Vienna while we were there.

View down Andrássy Avenue

Setting off! So excited! Innocent abroad.

Taking in grandeur of Opera House

Close up of Opera House exterior

Interior of Opera House

My idea of going to the miniature museum called the Miniversum was not embraced but it had this display set up on the street

We waited a little while for our bus, which gave me time to pop in to a little pop up souvenir shop, which I really liked and not for the first or last time wished I had the room to carry something back home. Draconian purchasing regulations are in effect when you're living out of a carry on for months. Once on board we realized that unlike when we did this in London last November, we had a recorded (not live) guide. Otis lasted about 10 minutes with the headphones and then settled in to look out the window and soon enough, to read his Kindle and ask if he could do Pokemon Go. We rode around a bit, really enjoying the scenery, up and down the streets, through Heroes' Square and then alighted for lunch. Our destination was Napfenyes Restaurant which was fabulous! We loved this place -- great ambiance, lots of super good food at very reasonable prices (still so welcome after a month in Italy in high season!!) and extremely friendly service. We all really enjoyed our meals and I wished that we were going to be in Budapest for a longer time so that we could return!

All aboard

View of Heroes' Square from second deck

Delish desserts at Napfenyes (word to the wise: they use carob in many of their desserts. ha.)

Hopping back on the bus, we rode around some more checking things out and then hopped off at Gellert Hill and the Citadel for some beautiful views and a short walk through the park. The weather was turning overcast, cool and breezy.

We hopped back on and headed down the hill to the stop for our boat tour. We took a leisurely and definitively indoor cruise down the Danube, catching views of the bridges, Parliament, Castle and Margaret Island, a popular park and recreation point.

Look son, Parliament

Chris and castle

We waited a while for our next hop on, but this gave us time to enjoy a really pretty sunset by the river. We hopped on and enjoyed watching the city light up as we headed back to our place.

Views at night are stunning and cannot be done justice with our photograph equipment...but that didn't stop us from trying...

Raining. Cold. No problem.

Opera House at night

Street statue

The next morning, we ditched our Airbnb keys and set off to check out St Stevens Basilica, where Saint Steven's hand is housed and where the dome collapsed during construction. Guess where we stopped first? A cat cafe! This one was much bigger than the one in Ljubljana, housing more cats, entertaining more visitors and with a different vibe. We also went to look in at the Opera House one more time - it is so beautiful.

Fan favorite, he gives high fives

Runner up for fan favorite due to countless adorable positions in one basket

You better believe we have hundreds of pictures of these cats

St Stephens

Segway tourers making me jealous

St Stephen's right hand, allegedly

After a quick but delicious lunch at Olive Tree Hummus Express, we headed back to the garage to grab our car and set off for one more look-see: we headed to Momento Park, a grouping of Communist era public artworks just outside of the city. Having been learning/reminded of Hungary's experiences with Communism, it felt like a more tender than kitschy place. It was overcast and rainy while we were there and that, combined with the fact that we were the only ones there, made it feel sobering in a way we hadn't expected.  We didn't stay for too long, and soon we were Vienna bound. Having only gotten a small taste of Budapest, I can't wait to go back and explore.

Olive Tree had a chess set

Sign at Olive Tree. So true. Chickpeas love love.

Momento Park...