Today we are to drive virtually across Hungary. We have breakfast in the Castle Hotel and I am disappointed that there are no eggs. I ask the hotel guy and he says what would I like, so I order an omelot.
Ham and Cheese Omelot, not bad
There is a lot of driving today, probably over 5 hours so maybe not so many photos. We stop at a roadhouse for gas.
Some of the food at the roadhouse looked alright but we are to do lunchArriving at the Bock Obor Restaurant
The Somelier explaining the wines
Bock winery is one of the Villany area’s most distinguished wines. One of it best is a straight Cabernet Franc, unusual.
Boris and a new friendOur group
At the near right is Tibor our driver and at the far right Julia our guide. Sadly, we are going to lose them tonight they are going to drive back to Budapest from Villany. Lunch is served.
Part of the menuSecond wine, straight Cab FrancLarge saladCold meat platter for JanSoup
The Third WineCarp for JuliePig Knuckle for me – DaintyDessert
We then get back on the bus and drive the rest of the way to where we are staying in Villany which is the Crocus Gere Wine Hotel. There is spa, sauna and pool but we tried too late to get a massage – only one was available so Boris took it. Julie and I decided to do a couples “wine spa”.
Wine Spa
A bit of a misconception as it is a hot bath with a jug of wine poured in. Never mind the hot bath was good.
A glass of the wine was also provided
Dinner was at the Wine Hotel restaurant. We are joined there by Andrew, proprietor of Savor Tours who will be our guide for the rest of the tour.
Impressive light arrangement
Salmon for JulieAnother dainty serveOur wineDessertDessert
At one stage during the dinner, Julia and Tibor depart for the drive back to Budapest. It is sad goodbyes. Eventually after the big day, we all drift off to bed.
No, there is no bad luck on this day. In fact, it is a very good day. Julie decides to walk into town where we are to meet at Jan & Hugh’s Hotel, so off she goes. Edith shows up at the spa hotel and shortly thereafter our driver shows up. We drive into the city and to the Hotel and there are Julie and Hugh waiting out the front.
Our first stop is at the Citadel, a site on the Buda side of the river. From there you can get a panoramic view of the river and the Buda and Pest sides.
Walking to the viewOverlooking Budapest and the Danube
At this stage it is time to discuss the bridges of Budapest which link the Buda and the Pest sides. During World War 2, the Hungarians were originally on the Nazi side but toward the end of the war, one Hungarian politician declared they were no longer supporting the Germans. In retaliation, the Germans destroyed all nine of the birdges over the Danube which had to be rebuilt after the war ended.
The Green Bridge
After the Citadel, we went to a Brewery/Restaurant for a tour, tasting and lunch.
The Brewery RestaurantIt is quite a large placeThe girls settled inPretzels
We were promised a tour of the brewery and soon enough the third generation owner comes by to lead or tour. We are all given a glass of beer to assist the touring.
The Owner and Hugh
We complete the tour and go back to our table. We order some Hungarian wine while Hugh sticks to beer, getting one of the other of three beers they make. He does not like it as much as the first one and it is eventually replaced by the first one by the owner. We order our food.
Goulash SoupMeatball soupThe wine
Goose Leg
Our Guide, Edith
After lunch is finished, we go to the Budapest market. It is modern and clean and has a large variety of stalls. Jan buys her faourite Paprika to take home.
In the market
Jan and Paprika
We go upstairs in a corner for a bar area which is known as “The Library” as this is where the men typically go when they are tired of walking around the market with their wives. Julie continues on the prowl around the market.
Goulash in Bread looks like a great idea
A little crowdedOne thing I missed on this tour was Spicy FoodHad to have Salmon in a photoMore Salmon
Wooly PigEvery Town needs a steak shopWow!
How red is that fruitSmall chunks of PorkPork crackling?
Burgers anyone?
Very impressive market and great photos Julie. Any way, it is time to depart. We drive past some scenic sites although I fall asleep and miss most of them. When I wake up, we are back at the Spa hotel, they decided to go there first. So I hop out of the bus and say goodbye to our wonderful guide for the last two days, Edith. Julie, of course, goes back to the city so that she can walk back. The following are some of the photos she took while on the prance.
The Yellow Bridge for walking on/off the Island
The bus in the river. It operates on dry land too.
When Julie finally returns, I had been snoozing, we do not need a big dinner as the lunch had been huge. Edith had kindly done some baking and provided that and other snacks which was perfect for what we needed to eat. Thanks, Edith.
Edith’s snacks
I will add Edith’s contact details as soon as I can find them. Highly recommended.
The main reason that we are at this Hotel is because of its famous Spas and its treatments / massages. So we start early by going down to the spa when we wake up which is around opening time of 6:30. There are lots of different pools with our primary selected one is the sulfur hotsprings where the temperature is around 38 C. It is quite stunning and relaxing. At one point there is an outlet where the hot water is sprinkled onto your head and body, again quite good.
Julie then goes to the whirlpool spa while I return to the room for a shower. When she returns she also has a shower and we go down for breakfast. It is a large room with lots of people, there is a large convention going on. No bacon today, which was my staple breakfast diet in Romania but there is enough to eat. One can also order eggs, bacon, omelot but I do not do that today.
Julie has something like 3 treatments today so heads off to her first one. I go back to the room for a bit more snooze.
The entrance to the Spa hotel
Julie comes back from her first session but then quickly heads off to her next. I am continuing updating the Blog but the response time of the wireless in the room is non existant. So I head back down to the lobby again where the response times are great – makes all the difference.
I work away for quite a while, going back up to the room a couple of times to see if the cleaners had come, no. Eventually I am joined by Julie who finished the treatments but could not do a full clothing change because the cleaners were now in the room. I had just ordered a coke from the nearby bar so Julie looks at the menu and finds that they make one of her favourites which she orders from the bar and it is eventually delivered to our table.
Irish Coffee
I bumble around for the rest of the afternoon. Julie has booked me into a massage, the Deluxe massage at 4:00. Julie gets changed when the cleaners are done and leads me down to the masssage area. It is a little different kind of massage with more rubbing than usual but very good.
Awaiting my masssage
While I am on the table, she takes a walk around the Island on which the Spa Hotel is located. It is apparently about 5km. The following are photos taken along the way.
The Yellow BridgeTurtle
She returns to the room a bit after I come back from the massage and we have a glass of another wine, not as nice as the Bikaver.
Neither of us had anything to eat since breakfast so are looking for an early dinner. So after we finish our glass of wine, on the balcony, we go down to dinner once again in the Grand Hotel. We order the same wine, Bikaver, as last night.
Julie with our wineThe Violin band is again playing
We order our meals, some challenges since it is not a comprehensive menu but we do OK.
Smoked Salmon salad starter for Julie again, better tonightGoulash soup for me
My soup was very chunky with lots of vegies and Romanian Grey Beef in it. Nice paprika flavours too.
Catfish stew for Julie for a main. She quite liked it.
I ordered saddle of hare and the waiter said, oh, the rabbit.
Underground mutton
The hare is overcooked and a bit tough but quite tasty. It seems it is customary here to overcook foods.
That is about it for the day. Note that the point of the stay at this part of the trip is to relax and not go, go, go. I will see if Julie has any other photos to add for this day.
BTW: it has rained for the 8th straight day, ever since we landed in Romania.
The good news is that we get an email from our tour friends Jan and Hugh, from California, that they have safely arrived in Budapest. They are crashing for the night, which is pretty much what we did.
Well, it is a sad day as we must leave Romania and our fantastic tour guide Alexandra. She picks us up from our Hotel and drives us to the airport.
Our chariot the last 6 days
When we get into the airport, our flight is not yet open for check in. Aftter a while it finally opens and we say final goodbyes to Alexandra, who we would highly recommend.
Check in goes smoothly enough albeit no one was serving the priority check in initially. We are flying Tarom, a new first. There is a business class lounge which is OK but has no hot food, not much other than potato chips.
When we board the plane, we discover we are on a bus out to the Tarmac. Further, we discover that we are flying a prop plane. Finally, we board the plane from the rear and climb the length of the plane to arrive in Business Class. Let’s just say it was less extravagant than any we have ever been on. The meal similar. There is an interesting aspect to the plane, there is a cabinet near the pilots door out from which slides a seat for the Stewardess for takeoff and landing.
Finally, we arrive in Budapest. It has been a smooth flight and a smooth landing. We are last off of the plane, of course, but it does not really matter as there is another bus trip and it is a short ride to the terminal. Although we are in the back of the crush, there is no problem at immigration as we find an All Passports area which is virtually empty so straight through. At baggage, our two suitcases are the first off as we are the only business class passengers and our priority baggage tags work this time, unlike at Bucharest.
We find our driver who seems to be a very nice guy – thanks Andrew and Julia. It is about a 40 minute drive from the airport, through Budapest, to the Spa Island and our Hotel Danubius Health Spa. This is to be our home for the next 4 days.
We check in and are shown to our room. It is a very old Hotel but the insides have been completely renovated recently – there is the smell of new carpet in the hallways.
Our premium roomJulie entering the room
Julie has booked a massage to which she goes. She also uses the Spa pools, what this place is famous for. Myself, Blog work and nap as per normal. As the afternoon goes on, I discover that the wireless response times in the room are poor or worse. I move down to the lobby where they are very good. I did take some photos from the balcony of our room.
Looking across the river
As we are a fair way from civilisation, we decide to eat in the Hotel. We are advised that the restaurant is in the Grand Hotel which is attached to our Hotel by a tunnel. We make our way over there with the usual collection of stairways, elevators, angled passageways until we finally reach the Grand and then the restaurant. Just what one would expect for a Hotel circa 1870.
The restaurant looks like it is just a smorgasboard, and that is what most of the customers choose, but there is menu food too and we select a table, a wine (Bikaver) and food courses.
Cream of Celery soup for me for a starter
Julie ordered a smoked salmon salad for a starter but the photo did not turn out (see tomorrow’s Post).
Julie had Veal stew for a main, thought it was quite goodI had Venison with a Brocoli mousse that found its way to Julie’s plate
There was a band playing – a guy and his son on Violins etc. They visited our table and tried to sell us their CD but we did not buy. Off to the room and then to bed after another Bikaver.
We check out of our Hotel and jump in the car to head to our next destination – Transylvania. The first stop is at Sinala to see Peles Castle.
Peles Castle
When we arrive at the Castle, there are tons of people waiting in large groups to get in. I would have given up at that stage but Alexandra is a professional guide and is able to get us near the front of the queue with an English speaking group. When we get in we have to put blue plastic bags on our shoes. We are also told that no flash photography is allowed. So I have no pictures inside the palace that is called a castle. I encourage you to Google “Peles Castle” – Wikipedia has a great story of it. It is very ornate with lots of valuable art, wood work, weapons etc. We have a coffee outside, inside the cafe is full and it is raining somewhat but we get a seat under an umbrella and then take the medium walk back to the car in the rain.
Rugged up for the rain
We drive onto Brasov which is our destination for the next two days. I think it is the second largest city in Romania but it has a lovely old town where we are staying in the Bella Muzica Hotel.
The entrance to the HotelThe girls checking in
It is quite an old Hotel but stuff inside is good. The following are photos from the Lobby.
Sofas and chairsA radio labelled 1944 – the year of my birth
There was a massive “attention bell” and they allowed me to ring it once. It was very loud.
Ring that bell!
We go to our room to drop off our cases while Alexandra, who is staying elsewhere, goes to check-in. There lots of passages going in all directions with layers of stairs going up and down.
Julie in the passageway to our room
We are having LLED (my new coining for Late Lunch, Early Dinner) in the Bella Muzica Restaurant in the Hotel. The menu describes it as Traditional Romanian, Hungarian and Mexican food???!!!
When Alexandra comes back, we go into the restaurant. It has a number of rooms / alcoves and we are lead into the bottom one which reminds us of a cave.
The Girls in the cave
Lots of discussion about what to order off of the comprehensive menu. Alexandra recommends the bean soup>
Bean soup in a loaf of breadThe soup with the Hat off
Although I did not order it and only had a couple of tastes, I am voting this as the best dish I experienced in Romania.
Julie had a mouse of salmon and smoked salmonand a common saladAlexandra, getting into the Mexican theme, after the Bean Soup ordered QuesadillaI only ordered the Pig Knuckle
The waiter had warned us that it was probably big enough for 2 and he was probably right. I made a good fist (pun) of it but had a fair bit left in a doggy bag.Our drinks
After the meal it was time for a tour of Brasov. I decided to rest up instead so the girls headed off. The following are photos taken by Julie on the tour.
The sign lights up at night
The girls then went into a bar.
They then went to the “smallest street in the world”. I will concede narrowest maybe.
The girls part company and Julie comes back and said we should go to the bar shown above. Assuming it was not very far away, I did not rug up enough to cater for the very long walk across to the big square and then a long, long mall.
A rock band playing in the squareFinally reaching the bar
It is quite crowded but we manage to get a table.
Julie orders a Chicago Coffee?Julie with her coffee
The bar is getting more and more crowded and I am not that comfortable there so we leave for the long walk back to the Hotel. It is very cold. I was glad to reach our room and hit the sack.
