Hungary Part 2

The ride to Budapest featured more fierce headwinds. Boo! But once we arrived we were thrilled to be there for 2 nights with an entire day to explore.

Budapest has two sides, Buda and Pest, and they are divided by the Danube River. Several large, beautiful bridges provide crossing points.

It was super easy finding our most awesome hostel as it was right in the heart of the city. The main streets form rings around the city center. After checking in, we took some time to collect ourselves after a week of really intense riding. We grabbed a beer at one of the coolest little hipster coffee houses that reminded me of a place I'd be if I were back home. It was filled with students, some studying, some drinking, and all smoking.

We cooked dinner that night and made a hostel friend - Janeen the Machine, a Canadian gal from Vancouver out doing the travel thing solo. The three of us went out to a bar that had been recommended to us by several people. It was somewhat reminiscent of a huge old bomb shelter, concrete floors and dimly lit.

Our full day of exploring was a little chilly but the sun was out. On bikes we did a loop around the whole city, across the river into Buda and then back to Pest. The city was easy to navigate and very bike friendly. The high point of the day was the visit to the Turkish baths, in which we floated effortlessly for a couple of hours. The main pool was outside, encircled by beautiful, white buildings with pastel roofs.