Budapest.
Christmas markets, pumpkin strudel, embroidery, cafe's, street musicians, embroidery, the Opera House, purchase of a handmade journal (dark green case, images of people sledding painted in gold. It's so eastern, so perfect.)
Another solo trip, but I managed well. Hungarians are seriously some of the friendliest people I've met. As a modern day Lewis and Clark, I highly recommend Hungary for this purpose.
Sunset around 16:00 but that definitely didn't stop me from my explorations. I found a very chic cafe near my hostel. It definitely had a trukish feeling to it. Chalk drawings on the walls, cushions on the floor and mini tables, low lighting...I ordered a Melange. Latte Machiato with condensed foam to die for and a thick layer of honey on the bottom. For 500 Forints, or 3 euros, I'd say I should have gotten two.
Szeged
Ana Furdo baths and saunas, gold domes, cherry and cottage cheese strudel, night in Communist-era building for 7 usd...omg. Christmas market in front of a Basilica where I bought two teacups with two matching saucers. Preciosas.
Hodmezovesarhely
embroidery shop, pottery shop (with demonstration just for me!), private tour of the Communist museum on a day when the museum was closed (just for me!), tour of typical Hungarian village in Hungarian (we made it work...), cabbage strudel. I mistook a block of chees for a croissant. Yeah. The cheese was in the shape of a croissant and was being sold at a specialty cheese stand, so I figured it was a croissant filled with specialty Hungarian cows-milk cheese. nope. It reminded me of sharp tasting string cheese. Also went to a blues performance at the Serbian Orthodox church. My favorite stop in Hungary, hands down. Found travel buddies who didn't really speak English, but they wanted to help me out! Oh, Hungarian hospitality. And a free train ticket because the lady at the counter was feeling . =)
First snow since I left cheyenne! I was not happy...
Debrecen
Free entrance into the rehearsal of Madam Butterfly, Langos (basically hungarian pizza), Hungarian surrealism and history, those beautiful gold domes, antique shops, hot bowl of cabbage with paprika and chicken on a chilly december day....
Eger
Performance of the Wizard of Oz (hungarian style, no ruby slippers, toto talked, the wicked witch of the west wasn't green...), spicy goulash, chestnut puree (my new favorite desert), purchase of embroidery and handmade shirt, walk through the castle, creepiest wax museum of my life, Minaret, beautiful Hungarian musical with zombies on tv (wish I found the name!!)
Back to Budapest
I missed my flight. Long story, don't want to remember. But there wasn't anything to Madrid until the next night. So, for a ridiculous price, I took a one way plane to Barcelona instead with Lufthansa. I felt so out of place. All those people in suits, stylish glasses, expensive haircuts and then there was me. Backpack, hair in a bun. And I did not smell nice after all that traveling. Lufthansa offered food and drinks and believe me, I feasted.
Arrived in Barcelona at midnight, went into the city to try to catch a night bus or train to Madrid, went back to the airport because the train/bus attempt failed, hung out with a Bulgarian for a few hours, couldn't buy a ticket for a flight because I had ran out of money on the card, couldn't eat for hours, cried a lot, talked to my bank for an hour when the money wouldn't work (gahh), flew to Valladolid at 18:00, tried hitch-hiking into town, lacked one euro for the bus into town and almost had a breakdown (but a man on the bus paid for me , haleluja), caught the last bus into Salamanca. Arrival time: 12:15. That, my friends, is over 40 hours of unnecessary travel.
Besides this little mess, it was a stellar solo trip.
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