Budapest Day 6 - Margaret Island + Pizza & Beer

Another day, another walk? Yep!

I thought yesterday we had agreed to take a day off walking and use the metro to get to Margaret Island.  That's the island in the middle of the Danube. But Sarah had other ideas! "Let’s walk there while it’s cooler and take the train back."

Okay, I’m good with that plan.

It was already warm when we set off at 9 a.m. Our strategy was to stick to the shady sides of the streets and seek out any breeze when possible. That worked well for most of the way. The last part—onto the bridge that connects to the island—was pretty warm.

Not far into our island entry point is a very neat fountain that, on the hour, plays music synchronized with the tempo of the water jets. We missed the music part but still saw the fountain in full flight. Very cool. The whole island is a public park with a central road for buses only, and lots of shady walking paths. There was another fountain at the far end of the island, so we started to head for that. But after walking for a bit and realizing we hadn't even made it halfway, we killed that idea. 🥵

Instead, we sat and enjoyed the shade for a while. The park was full of hundreds of school kids of various ages today. Probably more fun for the teachers to bring them here than actually teach them in a classroom? 😉 Or maybe the teachers just needed a break.

No way I could be a teacher these days.

Sarah later told me that the island until 1908 was a Royal hunting reserve. At that time it was turned into a public park. So much history here that we are not really across. 😮

After enjoying a sit-down, Sarah then decides we’ll also walk back and not take the train! What!?

Okay, if she’s up for it, then who am I to argue. I’ll be sitting on a train for six hours tomorrow anyway.

I tried to get us back without using any maps for navigation. We stopped once for ice cream and water along the way. When it felt like we were close but I had no idea where we were, I had to give in and check Google Maps.

Hmm... we’d overshot the apartment by at least three blocks and were too far to the left. Don’t ask me if “left” means north, east, south, or west—I have no idea. But with a small Google correction, we were soon back at home base.

Just over 10 km walked.

Our afternoon activity involved taking our recyclable cans and bottles to the supermarket to redeem them for money back. Each time you buy something you pay about 25 cents and you get that back if you return the empties. You feed them into a machine at the supermarket that crushes them and counts up your credit. One slight problem the instructions were only on Hungarian. Instead of getting a credit we think we donated $2.5 to a charity. Oh well add that to the feel good vibes for today! 😂 

Dinner tonight is our pizza which we intended to have last night. But only after a visit to our local pub for a beer, recap, and planning session. I'm still impressed with the price of beer here compared to home. A 500ml and a 300ml glass for only $10.25!

On our way back from the pub there was very light rain starting to fall. The forecast is for rain overnight so it will be interesting to see the place in a different light. The temperature had dropped significantly. Only 23 degrees now which is nice.