budapest is actually made up of buda and pest, which are seperated by the danube river. i spend most of my time in buda pest actually, as the transportation system at this side of the river was much better and the city well planned (thanks to the autrian occupation, i learnt on one of the freewalks).
building wise, i think if you have been to a european country, buildings would be similar, well at least to my untrained eye lah kan. mungkin uols can see the differences. but what is interesting is that, hungary was once occupied by the communist so u can see a lot of building build by the communist side by side dgn building2 ala-ala lama tu (tapi tak berapa nak lama pon sebenarnya). and, if you look closely, u can still see some bullet holes kat buildings becos kerajaan theyols tak berapa nak cukup duit to renovate bagai. imagine uols, gaji secara purata theyols 600euro ajer. minimum wage adalah 250euros. inilah akibat dari penjajahan komunis ittew uols (walaupon tetap theols maintain theols mengamalkan pemerintahan ala ala liberal komunis gittew sebab dibenarkan minum coke and pepsi cola dan pakai jeans walhal negara komunis lain tak tahu menahu pon apa ittew coke pada masa itu.
a nuclear bunker which can fit 2500 people. besar uols!!! and, if u ols naik ubahn dia, memang sangat la dalam because some of it used to be bunkers as well! if naik escalator dia, its like a loonnngggg way. gayat pon boleh.
some of the peninggalan and gambar2 dari era komunis tu. all this, i learnt on my free communist tour. memang la free, tapi berhati perut la sket uols bagi tips. very nice tour indeed and not so memenatkan.
next, i also followed the budapest free walking tour. ok..tour yg ni tidak disarankan bagi mereka yang kekurangan stamina, lemah lutut, lelah dan etc. alasannya adalah kerana, tour ini melibatkan perjalanan dari pest ke buda, across the danube river, pastu panjat pulak ke castle district kat buda tu (which in my opinion ala ala castle district kat prague jer uols). i have to admit, i felt super penat uols!!! *matila tak cukup stamina
pemandangan yang dapat dinikmati after what seemed like and endless climb.
pasal makan, i didn't have a problem unlike the person i went with!!!!. as i have been to budapest once before to teman someone beli kristal, i knew that there was a halal shop. so all i did was googled it and found the address on zabiha and went there to enjoy delcious food. :)
this was only 6 euros!!! murah gila ok if nak comparekan to wien. this is beriani kambing with a side dish of eggplant in yoghurt sauce and olive oil. yumss!!!
transportation wise, they hv trams, busses and ubahn. tapi i must say that its not that stroller friendly as u would have to climb a lot of stairs and then naik escalator yg tinggi nak mampus. dahla escalator lama so, if i were you, i would just carry my baby.
ubahn dia pon agak classic and i even saw one which was build in 1973 dan masih lagi digunakan. funny thing is, the design is very similar to our lrts which made me think, adakah kita telah meng-kopi design orang zaman dolu2 instead of being more creative and innovative?
anyway, for my travels, i purchased a 72hour ticket for about 12 euros (they still use their own currency becos tak layak lagi katanya utk guna euros). u can go anywhere and everywhere with that ticket. hasslenya adalah, everytime nak turun escalator ke ubahn tu, mesti nak kena tunjuk tiket. which again, reminds me of our system in mesia. lain giller dgn vienna ni (matila ai lupa daratan kejap).
selain itu, untuk shopper2 yang tegar, adalah wajib untuk mengunjungi the central market.
dekat central market ni, you can find lots of stuff, dari barang dapur, to kedai asia, to daging and ikan, to arts and crafts, baju, handbag and etc. senang je nak pergi. can naik tram 2 or 4 or naik metro line blue colour but i forgot stop kat mana.
orang kata, if dtg sini, should buy their table cloths with hand made stitches but i guess i wasnt that into table cloths. hehe. but, i did buy 2 paintings and thats only because i collect them from almost everywhere i go. :)
and...hungary is also famous for its paprika so u can see all sorts of souviners related to this.
tapi, again, i was not a huge fan.
but, since i have been looking for this one thing for the longest time, and dr sunshine kata i should treat myself i bought these instead.
have always wanted a structured doctors bag. this was all leather. walaupun tidak ada jenama, ai sangat berpuas hati dgn purchase ini. :)
