Budapest, Hungary

2 months ago (or perhaps 3) alhamdulillah Allah bagi kesempatan menjejakkan kaki ke bumi Magyar yakni Hungary, specifically Budapest, its capital city.

Budapest ialah lokasi kunjungan wajib among us yang berada kat eastern Europe sebab Budapest saangaatlah cantik. The best spot I've ever been after Prague. Well, to define one place as cantik is subjective sebab tak semua orang suka classical European architecture dan green scenic view. Compared to western Europe, aku lebih prefer untuk travel ke belah timur disebabkan their architecture is untouched by modernization. 

They are the best travelmates. Meera and Syer.

Mula-mula dapat tahu Czech cuti pada this one particular Friday (the day we departed to Budapest), aku, Syer and Meera terus bising nak pergi mana time cuti tu. (Just so people know how kedekut Czech is in term of giving us holidays). And ramai batchmates pada mulanya nak ikut bila dapat tahu plan kitorang. Taaaapi bila masing-masing tanya parents, mostly withdraw sebab their parents risau keselamatan. Time tu tengah panas berita students Malaysia di Rusia meninggal sebab accident. My mother wasn't excluded ! Tapi tapi anak beliau ni agak degil orangnya. Insist nak pergi jugak ended up Mama kena jugak bagi permission. *grin*

Omaigod teringat masa Mama tak bagi pergi Poland masa summer break sebab Warsaw tengah ramai orang because of EURO'12. Time tu patuh je. =="

Alkisah perjalanan bermula dari Olomouc ke Prerov pada jam 2 pagi. Because the interval time between the train from Olomouc-Prerov and Prerov-Breclav is 4 minutes, kitorang taknak ambik risiko terlepas train so we took a taxi from Olomouc to Prerov, consuming about half an hour. Padahal Kak Akiey volunteer nak drive hantar pergi Prerov tapi aku call Kak Akiey pukul 1.30 pagi, beliau tidak mengangkat talipon bembetnya hadui nya pun, maka kitorang lantas menalipon Alpha Taxi. 

Kisah bersambung apabila train ke Breclav delay hampir 4 jam wa cakap luuuu. Dengan berbekalkan sweater biru baru beli kat Pantaloon dengan muffler pink colour kontra dalam suhu negatif berapa entah, kitorang dalam keadaan mengantuk dan kesabaran yang senipis kulit bawang, menanti train di cekarna. Masa menunggu haruslah diisi dengan sesi tidur. Mata aku dah macam mata Syer, mata Syer apatah lagi. 

Alhamdulillah sampai di Budapest around 12 noon the next day. A long journey I can say. Train will  take longer time compared to bus, that's why kitorang balik by bus, faster and cheaper which only costs 16 euro one way per person compared to train, Kc 1150 one way untuk 3 orang. Haa convert sendiri. 

Alhamdulillah weather di Budapest sangat best. Tak sesejuk Czech. We don't even need sweaters. 

Lokasi pertama haruslah ke apartment dulu. Apartment pun sangat affordable, 25 euro untuk 3 orang per night. Apartment ni kategori yang cikai-cikai sebab nak jimat. 

Transports di Budapest tak jauh beza dengan those in Prague. Costs approximately HUF 1500 (Hungarian Forinth, which 1 Euro = 280 Forinth) for metros, trams and buses within 24 hours. Applicable for all metro lines; red, yellow and green lines. Of course we have to read maps well. 

Heroes Square. Must-visit spot. Historical site. Tapi sejarah apa aku pun tak ingat. Padahal dah study sebelum pergi. ==" Kat sini memang ramai orang. Time ni seharian tak makan sebab tak jumpa restoran halal. Bila jalan kat centrum (city centre), baru found out it's not that hard to find one here in Budapest. And mostly those people yang berniaga are from Syria, Iran and of course kebab is the best option. 

Beforehand, we walked around the centrum dan time itu terperasanlah kami seperti 3 orang celebrity sebab we are the only three wearing tudung. Hungarians will stare at us as we passed by. Maybe my tudung is just too striking.  Or maybe Meera ambik gambar pakai i-pad gedabak beliau menimbulkan rasa ingin tahu para Hungarian. Or maybe kasut Syer terlampau attractive.

Disebabkan ke'celebrity'an tu, we were approached by a group of Hungarian students and they interviewed us for their university project. Basically diorang tanya pasal general opinion about future. Goreng goreng.

Ohh ya, Hungarians are friendly, I can say. Jauh beza dengan Czech yang kurang mesra.

This is City Park. Located just near to Heroes Square. Ada walking path and parks for parents bawak anak-anak riadah pada waktu petang. Flowers are all blossoming since it's still in early autumn.

Heroes Square terletak di penghujung Andrassay Avenue. Time jalan along Andrassay Avenue, kitorang terserempak dengan seorang Hungarian perempuan bertudung. Then kitorang tegur dia sebab nak tanya arah takut tersesat. Subhanallah time tu rasa macam, 'wahh Islam is everywhere' sebab that's the first time jumpa orang bertudung selain kitorang di bumi Magyar ni. 

Budapest is actually divided by 2 parts, by its name 'Buda' and 'Pest' itself, separated by Danube Bank. So pada malamnya, kitorang walked dari centrum pergi Parliament of Budapest then walked along Danube Bank before reaching Chain Bridge. Also, we can see Buda Castle along the river at Buda part. Those are superbbbly breathtaking during night, sumpah cantik gila, subhanallah.

Tak sah kalau pergi memana tak beli souvenirs especially fridge magnet. Central market offers you great choice of souvenirs from various kinds and prices. Kat sini memang ramai sangat orang, berhimpit-himpit, in addition it's only opened half day on Saturday. Terbahagi kepada 2 tingkat, the lower floor offers food, and you'll see peppers hung on the kiosks. Hungary's peppers are claimed the best in Europe. Aku rasa mana-mana cili kat Europe ni sama je, tasteless. Satu lagi symbolic of Hungary is the magic box. Ada tricks and steps untuk bukak kotak tu. Agak menarik. The 2 girls beli for their family, aku tak beli pun sebab mahal. Baik beli cili kering buat nasi lemak.

This climax is Buda Castle. Buda Castle ni kitorang dah tengok dari Pest pada waktu malam. Dari puncak bukit tempat letaknya Buda Castle, we can see the whole Budapest, Danube Bank is seen clearly separating Buda and Pest. Surprisingly jumpa 3 Malaysians di pintu gerbang castle. That's the point when we met Kak Suraya, pergh dia memang kaki travel.

Dan kebetulan, ada pesta jualan beverages di Buda Castle. We could find beverages from Poland, Czech, Austria, Hungary itself and those neighbouring countries especially Slavic countries. Trdelnik and Marlenka which are popular in Czech are also available.

Perjalanan 2 hari 1 malam di Budapest berakhir pada malam Ahad as soon as we took a bus home to Prague at 10 pm. Sebenarnya masa 2 hari tu tak cukup sebab we didn't manage to cycle around an island as rumoured exciting by seniors.

Alhamdulillah everything went well. Credit to Syer for the related sources.

Budapest, I miss you !