The Cube

Pre-travel
Here's some Yugoslavia history in small bite to get you into the mood.
And breakdown of travel days and links to accommodation.


Qatar: Doha
Day 0 - transit on the way to Zagreb and back from Warsaw, because I travelled with Qatar Airways.


Croatia: Zagreb
Day 1 - Half day in Zagreb before taking another flight to Sarajevo at night


BiH: Sarajevo
Day 2 - Walk around Sarajevo city
Day 3 - Historical Museum of BiH and Tunnel of Hope


BiH: Mostar
Day 4 - around Mostar


BiH: Blagaj, Pocitelj, Kravice, Hum Hill
Day 5 - Day trip from Mostar


Croatia: Split
Day 6 - A day in Split


Hungary: Budapest
Day 7 - Travel / Rest day
Day 8, 9 and 10 - Things to do in Budapest


Czech Republic: Prague
Day 11 - Travel / Rest day
Day 12, 14 and 15 - Things to do in Prague
Day 13- Day trip to Kutna Hora


Poland: Krakow and Warsaw
Day 16 - Wieliczka Salt Mine
Day 17 - Around Krakow including Kazimierz (Jewish Quarter)
Day 18 - Auschwitz-Birkenau
Day 19 - Wawel Hill


Day 20 and 22 - Around Warsaw
Day 21 - Warsaw Uprising Museum and Centrum Nauki Kopernik


Till then Europe, I shall return!


Side note: Do you feel ticklish when had a massage?

This gets it's own post because great effort was taken to snap the photos. K's camera battery went flat on the first day, plus it was getting late and we have not had dinner yet. Second night I was as sick as a dog and slept early. I dragged myself out on the third night because I was stubborn. I was feeling better comparatively to second night but boy, it was cold. I had 4 layers of clothes (t-shirt, cardigan, down feather jacket and a wind-breaker), complete with scarf and a cap in a summer night!

Gresham Palace (Four Seasons Hotel) was lit up before the bridge

On third night...





Side note: Craving for all sorts of bad food >.<"

One of the most notable spices in Budapest in my observation is... paprika. So, number one in part 3's list is paprika.

1. Paprika
There are two types on sale - sweet paprika and hot paprika. Édes Anna ("Sweet Anna") is more sweet while the hot paprika is called Erős Pista ("Spicy Steve"). I bought Erős Pista, it wasn't hot for me. As for Édes Anna, I asked a stall owner in Central Market and was told that it wasn't sweet, just not hot. I didn't try this so I can't comment.



2. Goulash
As we mentioned paprika, there's paprika in goulash! The Hungarian goulash is the soupy type instead of stew and I love it.

Appetizer size

Main meal size

3. Langos
This is a type of street food, it's like ham chim peng in giant size, topped with garlic, cheese and sour cream. Our tour guide from free walking tour said usually one would grab a langos on their way before having some drinks. I can't even finish that one we bought!

We asked recommendation from one of the staffs in the hostel and he pointed us to Retro Bufe.



4. Palinka
Palinka is a powerful schnapps made from various fruits, most often from plum (szilvás) or apricots (barack)
I bought the apricot flavour one home and passed it to my colleague. He sculled it down and told me it tasted like pure ethanol... but it is ethanol though... = ="
I had a very small sip, and boy, it was strong... (though don't trust me, my alcohol tolerance is fairly negligible.


5. Unicum
This is Hungarian's bitter liquor made of 40 different herbs. Our walking guide referred to this as medication. According to this, after all, there's a cross on the bottle...
P/S - I didn't try this....


6. Blue Rose
We asked for recommendation of place to eat for good Hungarian food and were directed to this place. We had dinner here twice and very much enjoyed ourselves. The tables were decorated with blue rose in line with the restaurant name.

I had a cup of goulash soup as appetizer (photo number 4), and main of chicken breast with paprika sauce, side of dumplings. Don't ask me why Hungarian dumplings look like that... I was already disappointed.


Next visit for dinner I had grilled perch fillet with green sauce (leek, dill, basil and cuckoo herb sauce) finished with somlo (sponge cake with vanilla cream, rum, walnut, sugar and whipped cream)



7. Szimpla Kert (Szimpla Ruin Bar)
Szimpla bar was the first and one of the best of Budapest's ruin pubs. It was so-called ruin bars because it was set up in some ruin building, with mismatched furnitures. Stalls were set up offering drinks. Unfortunately we were there on a rainy night and some parts in the building were open air, so we were not able to sit under the sky.




Side note: And with that, I started googling for Hungarian food in Melbourne. I am surprise to find one here, looks pretty good but a bit steep. Though I can imagine I would be easily succumbed to it...

Since we have done the Buda side, here's some on Pest side or rather, the balance of it.

1. Chain Bridge (Széchenyi Chain Bridge)
This iconic bridge connects Buda and Pest, and in my humble opinion the most beautiful and mesmerizing bridge in all the ones I saw in Central Europe. It is guarded by lions which symbolises power.



2. Hungarian Parliament Building (Országház)
I wish I could say I have also visited the interior of this magnificent building but the English tour was sold out and my knowledge of the rest of language on offer was nil. We followed the walking trail in Rick Steve's Eastern Europe book but have missed out the entrance to the Hungarian Parliament.





Also in the complex are some monuments, including one on Lajos Kossuth, who led the 1848 Revolution against the Habsburgs.

Mr Kossuth looking down at me....

3. Holocaust Monument
Along the Pest riverbank to the left, from afar you would be able to see several dots lining the embankment. It is unlikely that one would miss it because likely there would be people taking shots of it. This monument consisted of 50 pairs of bronze shoes, commemorating the Jews who where killed when the Nazis' puppet government, the Arrow Cross came to power in Hungary in 1944. This was were some of the Jews were shot and their bodies were let to fall into the Danube.




4. Liberty Square (Szabadság tér)
This obelisk is a Soviet War memorial is to commemorate "Liberation Day". By this time, I was getting quite sick but it was a Sunday and it was rather difficult to find a pharmacy that was opened.


5. St. Istvan's Basillica (Szent Istvan Bazilika)
Entrance is free but one is expected to give a 'donation'. The church's main claim is the "holy right hand" of St. Istvan. Here's a link to the story, but I've also included a photo of the explanation taken from the church. This 1,000 year old right hand was kept inside a jeweled box in the chapel. This jeweled box is usually dark, so you can't see the hand. If you pop in a 200 HUF, it will be lighted up for two minutes. If you sit around long enough, you would probably be lucky to catch it in light. ;)

Ego Sum Via Veritas Et Vita

6. German Occupation Memorial
We stumbled upon this memorial, it is built in memory of victims during the German occupation. At this memorial, there's a fountain that respond to motion.




7. Hungarian State Opera House (Magyar Állami Operaház)
The hostel we stayed in was at the other end of this Andrassy Ut, we walked passed this opera house on the way back to Oktogon to have a rest. More so for me who is shivering despite layered myself in a down feather jacket as well as wind breaker.

This opera house dates from 1890s, not long after Budapest had become co-capital of the Habsburg Empire.



7. Central Market Hall (Nagy Vasarcsarnok)
I love this place, full of food goodness - from goose liver, Tokaji Aszu wine, smiley face pickled peppers, cakes, alcohol, and not forgetting paprika ;)
One can also find souvenirs in the form of magnets, t-shirts, matryoshka dolls (nesting dolls), embroidered tablecloths. We had our lunch here too - nothing like having a goulash in a market hall :D

The Langos stand here was said to be one of the best, we were not that hungry at that time, so we tried langos at another store, at the recommendation of a friendly staff from the hostel.






8. Szechenyi thermal bath
Of the few famous thermal bath, our pick was this Szechenyi bath. We took the full day bath ticket with locker usage. Ticket with cabin is more expensive because there is much more privacy. Please be warned that there is no changing room in Szechenyi bath. Even bathrooms for shower are doorless. :|
I was quite shock because I didn't expect that. Oh and please bring your own towel, toiletries and slippers. We bought our tickets at the hostel and they have provided us with towel to bring there.

This place is huge. It took me awhile to find K after she went inside to try the pools before me. No photos as we were not comfortable to leave our cameras lying around. I didn't ditch her, but was being polite as some sleazy (according to K) French vet was talking to me at that time. It was obvious he was just trying to find a quick date for the night as his friend ditched him.



Side note: If you are interested in the ending of the story, no - I didn't meet the French man that day.