This week saw the first Stanton family holiday abroad together in 7 years! We spent a long weekend in a quirky apartment near the centre of Budapest.
The first event of the journey was that Louis Alfonsi (the singer of Despacito) and his huge entourage were on my flight from Barcelona to Budapest. A little strange, as the flight was with budget airline WizzAir- maybe the cheque for his number 1 single hasn’t cleared yet! He apparently wanted to film something on the plane before we all boarded, delaying my flight by an hour. I was counting down the minutes to seeing my Mum and Dad, imagining a cheesy airport reunion scene, but it turned out they were waiting in the arrivals lounge of a different terminal. Confusion aside I was over the moon to see them again after 4 months. We spent our first evening relaxing in the apartment, waiting for Craig (and Mum and Dads bags) to arrive, and then eating takeaway kebabs.
The next day we set off exploring Budapest. We headed over the river and hiked up the hill to the Citadel, walked across the Chain bridge, then we got the metro out to Hero’s Square and walked around Vàrosligeti-tó Park. Along the way we found some nice spots for a drink: we chilled in some deck chairs along the Danube river in Raqpart Bar and later looked out over the city rooftops in 360 Bar. For dinner we went to the outdoor Street Food Karavan, where there were about 10 street food vendors selling everything from burgers to traditional Hungarian Goulash and Lángos. Take your pick, grab a beer from the bar, and find a bench! This was great for a nice relaxed, fun, and cheap dinner, we definitely recommend Street Food Karavan to anyone heading to Budapest.
After spending Tuesday hiking around the city, Wednesday was our relaxation day. We walked to Margaret Island (a small, pedestrianised island in the middle of the Danube river) and spent 3 hours at the Palatinus Strandfürdö spa. This suited everyone as Dad (the swimming fanatic) could swim some lengths and the rest of us got to relax in the outdoor thermal pools. There was even a wave pool and water slides! After the spa we walked through the Japanese Garden on Margaret Island and then headed home, via a beer in the city centre at a great place we found to dip your feet. For our last night we ate at a fish bar on Dob street. We found this street while walking back to the apartment and it is lined with great looking restaurants- we struggled to pick one. From Jewish street food to a “Makery” where you sit around a table and cook your meal together as a group.
On Thursday we said goodbye to my parents and set off to meet our next Workaway hosts. They own a small farm in southern Hungary near the town of Csólyospálos - a change from the bustle of Budapest. We were met from the train at about 17:00 by a host who speaks a lot less English than we had anticipated based on our messages back and forth! After arriving at his farm we discovered that there was no bathroom or shower, only a compost toilet outside. The bedroom on offer at their farm also had pork meat hanging up to dry and a broken sofa bed with no sheets or pillows. Thankfully we were offered a room at his parents farm down the road, where there would be a bathroom with both a shower and no toilet. No internet, but that was a sacrifice I was happy to make. Támas and Anita were also hosting a Swiss couple (Camilla and Matias) with a 2 year old son and a girl from Taiwan (Chomin), who were all nice and friendly. We helped them feed and water the pigs, goats, cows, chickens and emus and then went to bed, unsure what the next couple of weeks would hold!
We start work about 8am each morning, mainly tending to the animals and vegetables, building/repairing the odd bit of fencing and generally help out where we can. We finish work for the day at around 12.30pm for lunch. Lunch seems to be the main meal of the day here so Anita or Camilla usually prepare something hot with pasta or rice. Hungary is known for the paprikas (or peppers as we call them in the UK) and zucchini (courgettes) so they are almost always on the menu!
The local town of Csólyospálos is quite small and there isn’t much to do. We have a couple of bikes we can borrow to get into the town but they aren’t in good enough condition for a day out cycling and I think you would have to cycle quite far to get to the next town. It has proved a slight bit of a blessing though, as it has forced us to just enjoy sitting outside reading and relaxing. And even though our hosts don’t speak as much English as we thought, they are really nice people. At the weekend they took us to a traditional Hungarian horse fair and a tractor rally, which were actually quite cool experiences. In a strange way not a million miles away from the sort of events you get in rural Cumbria where we’re from. And I finally got my hands on a chimney cake- a long tube of dough cooked over a fire and then coated in sugar and flavour (chocolate in our case)!
Admittedly, we were a little shocked when we first arrived with Támas and Anita but our first few days have been fun and interesting! Workaway can be a little strange at first, trying to settle in to someone else’s house and suddenly spending so much time with people you’ve only just met. But we are yet to have a bad experience so we will just embrace this new and different place, which is surely the whole point of travelling!
Total joint spend: €2308
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