Budapest

We arrived in Budapest after the cold and snowy Papa and we were expecting more snow and more cold weather, so we went with a plan to stay for around four nights-ish maybe and then move back down south.  We leave here on Wednesday after 8 nights. It's not the most modern of campsites, but it has been one of the best campsites for friendliness and generosity since we've been on the road. When we got here we were warmly welcomed and sat down with the owner of the campsite who spent quite some time highlighting points of interest on the city map and providing any information we might need. There was no pressure to tell him how long we were going to stay, as at that point we couldn't decide, so he just told us how much it was per night, and asked us to pay before we leave.


There have been many perks, free wi-fi, free washing machine (when you are living in the back of a van a free washing machine means the world), free/included in the price electricity etc And as nice as all of that is, it's all made even better when you get out of your tent in the morning and the owner spots you across the field and gives you a massive grin and waves like a mad-man.



Budapest is a very nice place.  The campsite we are at is Camping Arena (GPS N 47°30'15"  E 19°9'30") east of the city and very central.  The main reason we have stopped here for longer is becasue its so easy to get into the city with public transport.   Its not expensive either 7 day passes on all transport for both of us cost around 9200 HUF which works out at about £15 each.  We would usually spend that on transport for 1 day so it's been a bargain for us. But 1 bus and 1 metro and bam, you're in the centre.

Not only are we near to the centre, we are also just down the road from a big shopping centre, cinema, bowling complex and IKEA. Not that we are looking to buy any furniture, always handy for a cheap ice cream or hot dog though.
Budapest itself is lively day and night. Vick and I went in last night (Sunday) at about 7pm and were both surprised at how busy everything still was.

For the past few days we have done the usual, mooching around, getting a feel for the place, however this time it's felt a bit more relaxed as we have allowed ourselves more time here. We will both be sad to leave this place, however warmer climates are calling us.