Leaving Mum and Dad after 6 weeks travelling with them was hard, and they definitely triggered strong feelings of wanting to come home, but I persevered and got on that train to the Milan airport. Again, I was waving goodbye to them, heading out on my next adventure.  My next destination was to be Budapest, Hungary. I had organised a volunteering position in a program called Angloville. This was a language immersion program in which hungarians go away for a week to a lovely hotel/villa and speak only english for sometimes more than 12 hours each day. It was an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again. It was surprisingly draining though! No human is meant to talk that much each day. It’s not natural! I cannot imagine how hard it was for the hungarians, as english is not their first language. I was so impressed that these Hungarian people threw themselves into that experience. It was very inspiring! Getting to know these people and learn about their lives was really rewarding. They also seemed very grateful to us for taking the time to do the program, which was insane because it was awesome.

For a long term traveller like myself, it was great to stay in one place for a week, relax and also save some cash, which was running critically low! Haha. In return for volunteering, you get free accommodation and food. The program also organised a free walking tour for the native english speakers to see the beautiful city and to meet each other and get familiar. It was a fantastic day, where we had a very in-depth tour and saw a lot in a such a short time. It was on this tour that we visited some of the top highlights of the city. These included Castle Hill, with amazing views of the city, The famous baths where we saw many people soaking their weary bones, The opera house which had amazingly detailed mosaic tiles and the cities main square with historic statues and the cities most popular museums surrounding it. All the while, we walked around the city, talking in the sights and we all got to know each other really well and it was great to spend time with them.

I was originally going to leave Budapest right after the program, without seeing more of the city. I am so glad that I changed my plans. I ended up having the best time exploring the city for an extra three days. The day we arrived back in Budapest from the program, I met up with one of the girls from the program, my roommate, and then we went on a night party cruise on the Danube. The view of the  Parliament Building lit up at night was very beautiful and we got to see all the cities bridges from below. It was a lot of fun and the views of the city at night were absolutely stunning.

The next day, one of the Hungarian program participants offered to take us kayaking! It was so nice of her and so much fun. I loved it and it was nice to be able to spend a bit more time with some of the people from the program. We kayaked up part of the Danube and stopped for some delicious BBQ and then kayaked back. We got back just in time too, as it began to piss down rain when we arrived back. It was nice to do something a bit different to sightseeing. It was sad to say goodbye to the group as it was time for most to move onto their next destinations.

I had a couple more days there which I spent catching up with another guy that worked for the program and lives in Budapest, we walked around Margret Island, which sits in the middle of the danube river.  After exploring the island we stopped for a quick drink and it was there that I bumped into some people I had met on the night cruise. I then spent an afternoon and night with them as well. We walked up to the liberty statue where there are amazing lookout points of the city and saw the view of the whole city at sunset. That night we went out for drinks and had an amazing time. We visited one of the many famous ruin pubs, which are lots of very old multi story buildings that have been converted into amazing pubs and bars.

On my last day in Budapest, I spent the day seeing the last sights I wanted to see. I began by heading to the Parliament building in  which I had yet to see in daylight, which was incredible. I then went to the Market Hall, with so much amazing local produce to see and taste. I then made sure to get a bowl of hearty goulash soup for lunch which I hadn’t eaten yet and then ended my day with a visit to the art installation, Shoes on the Danube. This was a heartfelt contribution to those in WW2, the shoes being iron replicas of some of the shoes found from the affected Jewish community in Hungary. I sat there for a while taking in the views of the city one last time.

This brought my visit to a close. I loved Budapest so much and I could see how much the people that lived there loved it too and were so proud to call it home.  In my time there, I came to the conclusion that Budapest was one of the most beautiful cities I had seen. I loved it so much. The buildings and architecture were incredible. It had such a magical feel to it and I often felt like the city was always buzzing. Its funny how things happen, as Budapest was a last minute addition to my plans and its now one of my overall trip highlights.

My last few blog posts are now quite delayed but I will persevere. Next Post: Prague!