A long weekend in Budiful Budapest

A couple of weeks ago I headed to Budapest for a few days with some friends. With extremely lacking knowledge and no expectations, I was very pleasantly surprised! As cities go, I'm not sure I've ever seen anywhere that looks so pretty in such dull weather!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, pretty shattered after an early start and had a wander round the neighbourhood. We stayed on the Pest side of the river, about a 10 minute walk from the Chain Bridge over the Danube - a perfect location for what we needed! We decided to go for a hostel to keep costs down, and I can't recommend Wombats Hostels enough. Having stayed in their Berlin hostel last September (a trip you can read about here and here) and now Budapest, they are so reasonably priced, clean, friendly and do very good, cheap breakfasts to set you up for a day of sightseeing!

On Friday morning we headed over the bridge to Buda, which is historically the wealthier, more fancy side of the river. We headed up to the Castle on the Funicular

Originally built in the 13th century, the castle has been destructed and rebuilt after seiges and attacks. It's now a maze of ruins, the Baroque palace and underground tunnels built into the hill. It's also home to the Budapest Historical Museum.

After a look round and a quick bite to eat we headed along Castle Hill to Matthias Church (which the coolest tiled roof I've ever seen on a church!)

And the Fishermans Bastion... the closest I've ever come to a Disney Fairytale Castle!

From the Bastion there are amazing views of the Parliament Building across the Danube and Pest.

We had a wander around the Castle Hill area in search of coffee & cake and some very wise words.

As the sun set, we headed back to Pest just as all the lights came up on the historical buildings on both sides of the river.

In what was possibly the most cultural day of my life, we then decided to go to a string orchestra concert in St Stephen's Basilica. 

A very impressive concert... and I even recognised some of the music (even more impressive!)

 A very busy but interesting first day in Budapest!

Feeling 22

I recently celebrated my 22nd birthday. I'm a firm believer that birthday celebrations should be spread out over as long a time as you can manage, and I think I did pretty well this year. I also got 3 birthday cakes so that has to count for something.

I kicked off celebrations a week early when I was treated to a beeeauutiful steak at Cafe Rouge before a night out in Exeter with all of my friends still around down here. 

 Obviously a new outfit was needed and after a verrrry big shopping spree on payday I settled on this dress from Topshop which I love!

I had a great night, feeling pretty horrific the next morning but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a morning snuggled up on the sofa watching Friends and a trip to my new favourite cafe in Exeter, Cakeadoodledoo. It's tiny, but the slices of cake are not, so I don't mind the occasional wait for a table.

On my actual birthday I was surprised at work with the first delicious chocolate cake of the day (I'm talking a lot about cake aren't I?!) 

Aaand that evening I had a bunch of friends over for curry, games and more chocolate cake thanks to the fabulous Cat - just LOOK at it! 

The next day I had a day off work and headed northwards to my parents' new house in a small village in Nottinghamshire for a weekend with friends and family which was lovely! 

Having not seen anyone since Christmas it was great to catch up, eat even more, and explore the new area...

...which, by the way, is pretty beautiful.

A fantastic few days with some of my favourite people! I'm looking forward to a lot of changes this year... who knows where I'll be at 23!