Spring getaway to Belgium and Hungary

[isaac]

This trip was done during easter break from university.

A friend of mine from Singapore was doing a whole year exchange at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) in Belgium.

I decided to visit as he was proposing a short trip to Budapest, Hungary as well and I was interested in visiting one of the "non traditional" locations in Central Europe.

My routing on hindsight was pretty poor. It was: Leeds-London-Brussels-Budapest-Brussels-London-Leeds. (Leuven is a short 0h30 train ride away from Brussels). I should've done something like Leeds-Brussels-Budapest-Leeds, saving me the cost of three trips. But I did get to bring a backpack and a cabin luggage up the Eurostar which I would not have had on easyjet or ryanair.

The Eurostar to Brussels from London (232 miles) at 1h45 was quicker than the east coast main line (200 miles) from Leeds to London at 2h15.

Left Leeds at 10am or so, and arrived in London at midday.

Opposite the King's Cross St. Pancras rail station (where all east coast main line trains stop), I stopped for lunch at a small chinese restaurant, Chop Chop Noodle Bar.

For only Ł5, I got a huge bowl of Tom Yum beehoon with generous ingredients. Cheaper and better than C&R restaurant in Chinatown IMO.






A shot of the famous St. Pancras station where Platform 9 3/4 brings Harry Potter to Hogwarts!

Both the UK and Schengen Area immigration was done at St Pancras.

After a short 1h45, I reached Brussels- Zuid/Midi station!

Belgium is a trilingual nation (French, Dutch and German) with Dutch and French being the two predominantly spoken languages. All Belgians can speak both up to a certain level, proficiency depends on their heritage and region, and English as well. All official business is conducted in both languages, and street signs are bilingual as well.

Bought a single ticket to Leuven and met my friend at the Leuven train station. I noticed the Belgian trains1.) They don't announce, for the most part, which station is coming up. 2.) Apart from the three main Brussels stations, there is inadequate signage in train stations.

Leuven

Leuven is probably best known for being the home of Stella Artois. The factory is just on the outskirts of Leuven and during working hours one can smell the distinctive hops being roasted.


Leuven is an even smaller town than Canberra. Students get around mainly by walking and riding a bicycle, and there are no traffic lights in the main Leuven thoroughfare.



Some cathedral in Leuven



The longest bar in Europe. It's a stretch of road full of pubs and clubs. A big student haunt, Stella can be had here for a little more than 0,90€ on student nights. This being Easter Break, most Belgian students are home (the country is just about three times the size of Yorkshire county) and what few students left are the international students and the local Leuvenites.



The very elaborate Town Hall. Most Belgian tow-oops, cities have one of these. Very beautiful architecture though.



A 1775 map of Leuven. Arranged in a circular manner. Most Belgian cities are arranged in this way; Brugge and Brussels as well. Think it was to keep out foreign invaders in ancient times.



The Stella Artois factory. Tours can be arranged but are hard to come by, bookings have to be made weeks, if not months in advance.



KU Leuven's main library.



The Groot Begijnhof/Béguinage. In ancient times, Roman Catholic Sisters stayed here. Today, it is a residential area mainly for the University staff and postgraduate students.



Very peaceful surroundings to stay in, isn't it?

[isaac]

Brugge

We decided to go to Brugge/Bruges the next day. Belgian trains are very student friendly, students under 26 can buy ten trips from any two train stations except Brussels International for 50,00€. Train conductors for the SNCB-NMBS wear a cute uniform that kinda looks like Willy Wonka.



Bruges is the famous setting of the Colin Farrell movie In Bruges. It is as pretty as it looks like in the movie!

Bruges being in the Flemish region and the West Vlaanderen province, is also a Dutch speaking city. (The French region being Wallonia)



One of the gardens close to the Bruges train station.

Bruges is very touristy though. Not a big issue for us.





The river which runs through Bruges.



The famous Bruges Belfry



This is Tripel Garre Beer. Very very strong (11.5% ABV) and intense beer, one of the best I've tasted. They serve the beer with homemade cheese which is absolutely delicious.

This is in the pub "Staminee de Garre". It's kinda hard to find and we only knew about it as my friend has been here before. It's down a small alley that is very easy to miss... which we did. Spent about 15 minutes in the rain hunting for it. Totally worth it though.

Tip for budget travelers: Bruges being extremely touristy, it is almost impossible to find cheap food (<10€) here. If you're on a budget, bring your own food for lunch.

[isaac]

Budapest

We spent the next day exploring Brussels: it really is quite small for a capital city ; not to mention the European capital!

The following day, we packed our bags and left for Bruxelles Sud-Charleroi airport, the budget airport. My friend's Hungarian friend would be following us out on the flight as he returned for Easter.



Charleroi airport is really quite inaccessible. One has to go to Brussels and then take a train to Charleroi station. The airport then is still about a 25 minute bus ride away.

One has to go to the bus station outside the train station and wait for the bus. Despite certain services having "Aeroport" printed on the screen, the bus driver said it did not go to the airport, which confused even a few locals. Notwithstanding the sudden drop in temperature to about 8 degrees celsius, and it was a chilly wait outside, especially as we had dressed for the 20-ish degree Budapest weather.

Nonetheless, we managed to get to the airport in good time and really, the airport is functional and clean.



The Wizzair that would take us to Budapest. Having booked late, my friend and I paid 144,00€ each for the return journey, quite steep considering that it was barely a two hour journey.



Standard budget airline legroom

We reached Budapest at about 7PM and it was already almost sunset there. Belgium and Hungary share the same time zone (UTC +1 when there is no daylight savings), but as Belgium is at the extreme left of the UTC +1 timezone and Budapest at the extreme right, the daylight hours differed by about an hour or so.

I was very excited to be visiting an ex-Soviet occupied country. Hungary is definitely not as well developed as Belgium or UK, but it is oh-so-beautiful!



The Airport Train that would take us to Budapest Nyugati station.

We were thankful for our Hungarian friend as most of the older Hungarian folk didn't speak English.



Budapest Nyugati (West) Station

My Hungarian friend would be staying with his local friend's flat, but as the flat was pretty small he recommended that we book our own accomodation.

We got a small studio through AirBnB, and it was really awesome. Big and spacious, it was only 18€ pppn.

It was located in an old apartment building that resembled one of the Matrix scenes... Apparently it's been around since the early 1900's...



Staircase of the apartment building (No lift)



Exterior of our accomodation for the next four nights.

We then went for beers at a local pub. Hungary is better known for its wines, and with good reason. Beers are cheap, very cheap! The slightly watered down "Arany Ászok" Beer was just over 50 pence per half litre and the better quality "Dreher" was at about 90 pence per half litre. Belgian Beers are much better though.

[kapitan]

Don't tell the Belgians that they speak Dutch.......... their language is Flemish!...

[isaac]

Budapest

Hungary has had a very varied history. From the heights of the Austro Hungarian Empire to the depths of the Nazi and then the Soviet occupation, this is a country that really has seen its highs and its lows.

Currently, it is a full member of the European Union. Apparently, it was supposed to join the single currency in 2010 but due to various reasons it did not. Now, it seems like the minimum date to join the euro would be somewhere in 2015. Hence, it might be cheaper to go whilst Hungary still uses its own currency, the Forint.

They also changed their coinage to mirror that of the Euro. (to sidetrack a little, doesn't Malaysia's new coinage also look like the euro coins too?!?)

Most youngsters learn English in school and hence language is not a barrier for the most part... you will encounter older Hungarians who can't speak a word of English though but not a problem... finger pointing will get one a long way.

Forints should not be changed overseas if one is concerned about the spread. there are multiple bureau de exchange especially along the oktagon and deac ferenc ter metro stations who have small spreads.

First stop was the long walk parallel to the Metro Line 1, all the way to Heroes square, past all the consulates. As expected, this is a very beautiful area.





One of the many consulates here.



and finally after about an hour's walk... Heroes Square!

The many statues on the square were the rulers of Hungary, like Szent Istvan (Saint Stephen I of Hungary), the first king of Hungary.

Behind Heroes square is a famous and (very) touristy public bath, Széchenyi Medicinal Bath.


the Bath

It is a huge bath. However, we did not go that day as our Hungarian friend was only free on that day and he had to go back to his parents' place the next day. So we decided to leave the bath for another day.



The Historic Metro Line 1. This was the second underground train system in the whole of Europe, behind the London Underground. It was built in 1896. This was back before the technology to bore deep tunnels existed, and the train platform to the surface is just one flight of stairs. The way they built it was to dig a huge hole from the surface, build the train system, and then cover the top back up. Hence, the low depth of the metro system.

Metro line one covers barely 3-4 km of Budapest. Lines two and three cover much longer distances. Heavy Goods Vehicles are banned from driving on roads over the metro line one to protect the structural integrity.



Saint Istvan's Church. A huge church that looks like a courthouse as there's a depiction of someone holding the scales of justice.



Hungarian Parliament. We again did not go in. However, as we went over the easter holidays, there were no tours on Easter Sunday and the following Monday, hence we did not get the chance to go in. EU citizens get in for free.



One can still see these Soviet era cars around.

Lunch was at a cafe- very reasonably priced for European standards and very delicious. We had goulash.



I had beef tripe goulash



My friend had normal beef goulash

[isaac]

Budapest continued

After that lunch, we went up to the hill where Budapest castle is. Decided to walk up as the only public bus was so full, it looked like Singapore rush hour. Quite a tiring walk, but with pleasant weather it was alright.

Unfortunately due to the Easter break St. Matthias Church was closed. Only took pictures outside it.



Then walked over to the other side of the hill where Buda Castle was. The view from this hill is not good.



Buda Castle

We then walked downhill, a considerably easier task.




Coat of arms of Hungary. Some of its neighbours (Slovakia) also has that double cross thingy, wonder what it could mean?

We were then done for the day and headed off to the main shopping district, the Vaci Utca. Something like Orchard Rd in Singapore or Oxford Street in London. Budapest isn't the shopping haven Paris or London is.

Day three

Went off to the Parliament again, but in vain as it was closed due to Easter.

Hence, we went to the House of Terror, a museum documenting the war atrocities from the beginning of the end of the Austro Hungarian Empire to the end of the Soviet rule.



The museum has a pretty cool "TERROR" metal thingy that shines the word terror on the street if the sun is sufficiently bright.



Student discount only if you have an ISIC card. Ended up paying full price as I didn't have one.

The museum was pretty interesting if one is a history buff. My friend was...me, not so.

We then headed off to the public baths. No pictures as I put my camera (phone) into the lockers. It's very cheap though, at something like 2800 HUF (10EUR) for whole day entry to the baths.

Quite a disappointment though, too many people for one, the water outside was not hot, just like a swimming pool, the indoor pools stank (really stank). However the saunas were pretty good.

One can give this a miss... it's cheap but you get what you pay for.

Day Four

This was Easter sunday. First stop was the Soviet Monument "Museum". It's in the outskirts of Budapest, technically outside of the Budapest City boundary. A long bus ride to it. Not worth it imo, it's just a hodgepodge of Soviet Monuments that used to be scattered around the city and all thrown here. Entry wasn't cheap too, I think it was 7EUR.



Lenin.




Lenin again

Our next stop proved to be far better, in fact probably the highlight of the trip. We took a bus and a tram to Gellert Hill and walked up. This time even steeper than Buda Castle but due to the good weather, didn't seem like a long walk.

The views of the city from here are breathtaking.







The "Statue of Liberty".

There's also a cool Catholic Church built in one of the crevices of the hill, halfway up. very cool.

[isaac]

Last hours in Budapest

Day Five

We had a noon flight back to Brussels and so went for a quick breakfast at a "Jégbüfé". Despite the name, "büfé" doesn't mean buffet. It means "bistro or cafe" according to google translate.

It's quite unique, it's a western style cafe but different items are bought from different "stalls" but payment is made at a central cashier.





It's also very cheap, my Cappuccino cost about a pound and my cake about a pound as well.

It was then time to leave this awesome city. I had good memories here, I think it's as pretty or even prettier than Paris. It also doesn't have the "unsafe" feeling e.g. like at Sacre Coeur- I'd highly recommend it. Prices are below Western European standards and the city is oh so beautiful.

Now, time to plan my winter trip to another Eastern European country

Thanks for reading

[Kyo]

Thanks for the TR, I really appreciated it!

Great photos!

Reminds me of a wayward plan to BRU I had last year for my bachelor's trip that changed into Italy

[CarbonMan]

Thanks, Isaac! Very nice pics!

Spent a weekend in BRU a couple of years ago, loved the area around Grand Place and of course the multitude of beer one can get there!

[isaac]

Don't tell the Belgians that they speak Dutch.......... their language is Flemish!...

ooh... i didn't know that ... hehe. thanks!

Thanks for the TR, I really appreciated it!

Great photos!

Reminds me of a wayward plan to BRU I had last year for my bachelor's trip that changed into Italy

thanks! Brussels is a awesome place!

Thanks, Isaac! Very nice pics!

Spent a weekend in BRU a couple of years ago, loved the area around Grand Place and of course the multitude of beer one can get there!

Belgian beers are the best I've had (the "trappist" ones... not stella...haha)

[CarbonMan]

Belgian beers are the best I've had (the "trappist" ones... not stella...haha)

My favourite is Delirium Tremens, comes in bellish glasses with pink elephants on it. 8.5%

[DinkumDave]

Hi Isaac. Thanks for the report. I really enjoyed it. I haven't been to BUD since the 70's, so it's interesting to see how it's changed, especially since the fall of communism.

Most youngsters learn English in school and hence language is not a barrier for the most part.

That's good to know. Last time I went it was very much a case of magyarországon magyarok vannak és magyarul beszélnek!

Ah, Dobos torte. It's good to see that's still there! Almost worth a visit just for that!

[isaac]

Hi Isaac. Thanks for the report. I really enjoyed it. I haven't been to BUD since the 70's, so it's interesting to see how it's changed, especially since the fall of communism.



That's good to know. Last time I went it was very much a case of magyarországon magyarok vannak és magyarul beszélnek!



Ah, Dobos torte. It's good to see that's still there! Almost worth a visit just for that!

thanks! It'll be interesting for you to go to BUD now and see the differences

It'll be interesting visiting the other ex-communist CIS nations...but the visa process is a pain in the arse!

apparently hungarian is unlike no language on earth, only sort of related to Finnish... really hard to master the language as so I've heard?

Dobos torte? haha, it was "finger pointing" cake for me.