Day 53 Hungary 10/11/2010 Budapest Trams, Metro and on foot.

We had another good sleep followed by a leisurely breakfast. It's good to make the most of these as they don't happen too often on the road.

The plan today was to visit a bike shop and get some inner tubes to replace the ones that I had punctured. In this we were successful which was a 100% improvement on yesterday's shopping attempts. From the shop we visited the Parliament building and then took a tram along the river to the central market. The market was very good and had we been in a position to buy lots of things I am sure we could have filled our bags. Not least with honey, paprika and some very nice looking sausages and salamis. Upstairs Debs had a lemon and sugar pancake and I filled myself up with a rather more traditional Lángos (a deep fried flat bread topped with your choice of filling).

From the market we made another attempt to find swimming shorts and then gave up and returned to the hostel. It has to be said that we did find some shorts, but I didn't want to pay nearly £30 and although smaller I still won't fit into an XS size.

With the weather overcast and rainy we decided to spend the afternoon at the Szechenyi baths. The Szechenyi baths are the biggest in Budapest / Europe and the first built on the Pest side. With three outdoor pools and twelve indoor, not to mention several saunas we were spoilt for choice. For me personally the 38°C outdoor pool was the best. It was nice to be sitting in the warm water, breathing fresh air in beautiful surroundings as the sun set on our last day in Budapest.

We will be spending a bit of the evening re-packing as our, or at least my bags, have rather exploded all over the room. There also appears to be a wine tasting on this evening in the hostel so Cheers or Egészségedre for now!

Not sure where we are going tomorrow other than south, hopefully the weather and roads will be kind!

Day 52 Hungary 9/11/2010 Budapest. The metro and on foot.

We both had a good nights sleep and were ready to face a day of sightseeing. We had decided to do a free walking tour in the morning, which would hopefully give us a good idea of what there was to see in the city.

The 'All free walks Budapest' tour set off from Vörösmarty square at 10:30am. Our guide and helper were excellent and the information we were given were both entertaining and informative. The free tour is basically an orientation guide to the city and it's attractions. It also covered the potential pitfalls and rip-offs that we might encounter if we were not careful. Starting in the Pest side of the city we had a brief introduction to Hungary's pre and post Communist past. From Pest we crossed over the 'Chain bridge' into Buda and up the hill to visit the Var (castle) area. As an added bonus after the tour, which lasted for 2½hrs, we were taken to a local canteen restaurant where we had a lovely and cheap traditional Hungarian meal. We have been on poorer paid tours than this one and would recommend it to anyone. Bare in mind that a tip is expected if you enjoyed the tour.

After the tour and lunch we returned to Pest and visited St István's Basilica. We were however too tight to pay to illuminate the mummified hand on display and no one else seemed willing to pay either. We had to content ourselves with the sights of the very ornate interior instead.

The afternoon became a bit of a marathon shopping trip as I wanted to buy some new swimming shorts to wear at the spa. I feel fit and healthy but the weight loss is paying havoc with my wardrobe! Needless to say we failed miserably at the purchase of shorts and had no success at the purchase of some Bikeline books that would cover the rest of our route through Europe. We have maps so it is not a disaster, but the moral is buy them when you see them!

By the time we got back we were both thoroughly worn out, so it was dinner and a few beers and then bed.