With some sadness, but also with some pursuit, tracing the streets and alleys of the heroine riding through in "Gloomy Sunday", tracing the land where Princess Sissi once set foot, our first stop came to Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
Before we left the airport building, we were "pitted" at the exchange rate window. Thinking that there must be change on the subway or bus, it should be possible to exchange for 10 US dollars, but we only have 100 yuan of banknotes, and the exchange rate window cannot find our US dollars, so we have to exchange for 100 US dollars (Hulin). When we got to the city, we learned that we had lost $25 for $100. It seems that exchanging foreign exchange at the airport is really the ultimate performance of "pit daddy". Although it is not the first time that we have exchanged foreign currency at the airport, it is the first time that we have lost so much, why can't we always "eat a long and wise"?
As soon as we stepped out of the airport, we felt the "enthusiasm" of Budapest, and the 34-degree heat made the heat wave constantly sweep through us. From the airport to the city to take the car 200E, the air conditioning on the car is minimal, along the way we can take a free sauna, along the way can not feel the beauty of the city at all. Buildings without planning are placed on the side of the road, and the road is not smooth, let alone have no scenery. Although there is nothing to see along the way, the city is extremely clean.
It was hard to get off the train and transfer to the subway M3, which really made us feel that Hungary is indeed a developing country. Subway stations and carriages are so broken that they are about to fall into slag, not to mention the air conditioning. It is no wonder that the M3 metro, built in 1970, will have modern facilities? In 1970, what was that era? It was when Hungary followed the Soviet big brother to dry socialism. So, another function of the subway station is the bomb shelter, and every time we get on and off the subway, we have a feeling of traveling through time and space.
Budapest Metro ticket gate
In Budapest, there are a total of 4 metro lines. In addition to the M3, the M2 and M4 subways are similar to China's subways and are very modern. The M1 metro, the first metro on the European continent, was built in 1896 and is a World Heritage Site. The carriages are yellow, and each carriage can only sit 14 people, like a toy. The ticket check-in system of the Budapest Metro is chic and there are no railings to block it. After marking the ticket on a small machine, show it to the ticket inspector and drive straight in. During the two days in Budapest, whether we took the subway or the bus, apart from the three people in our family, we didn't see a single person of color, all white. It seems that Hungary, although it can use the euro, has not really integrated into the EU and is only a "cousin" of the EU.
It is said that if you want to understand a city, you must first understand its traffic. In Budapest, there are many types of public transport tickets. A subway ticket for 350 HUF is almost $1.20, but a 10 subway ticket for HUF is equivalent to US$1 for a metro ticket. There is also a transfer ticket 530 HUF. We mainly buy these three types of tickets. Unexpectedly, the subway ticket office at the Budapest railway station was open at 9:30 p.m., which made us grateful and fully appreciate the benefits of a "second-class" country.
Our hotel is right next to Budapest's Keleti train station, and the location is too good to say. Stepping out of the train station, we felt the quaintness of the city. The magnificent architecture of the Orient Railway Station and the wide and neat square in front of the main entrance gave us a refreshing feeling. What we didn't expect was that the hotel we booked for less than $40 a day was a big surprise to us. Hotel apartment style, one living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, five beds. The most amazing thing was the kitchen, large and elegantly decorated, which was very much to our tastes and was unanimously rated by us as our favorite hotel on this trip, this hotel is Baross City Apartments, Budapest.