Tag 189 - Budapest, Hungary (18.07.2020)

Our trip to Budapest was very challenging and a bit more complicated than expected.

We had organized a carpool ride from Novi Sad, Serbia to Budapest through BlaBlaCar, as all bus connections to other countries were canceled.

So we waited for a whopping 4 hours at the bus station in Novi Sad for our driver. However, he did not show up and did not respond to our messages either.

Feeling annoyed and somewhat lost, we decided to take a hotel room for the night and make a plan from there to somehow get to the Hungarian border.

We hadn't even been in the hotel for 20 minutes when we received a message from Bojan.

He had seen that we were looking for a carpool ride.

His car had broken down, but he offered to take us in a small, rattling Peugeot 107, which he had borrowed from a friend. We didn't hesitate for long, checked out of the hotel after a 30-minute stay, and stood by the roadside with our luggage. It only took a few minutes and Bojan stopped. After maneuvering ourselves and our backpacks onto the back seat with a little skill, the journey could begin.

Bojan lives with his family near Novi Sad, but he drives 530 km to Vienna every Sunday evening and back on Fridays, as he works there during the week in his small haulage company.

He has been living in Austria for 2 years and speaks good German.

He told us that there are currently very strict border controls at the main Serbia - Hungary border crossing and we should expect long waiting times.

Therefore, we left the highway and followed a bumpy country road until we reached a small border crossing near the town of Tompa. Although there was little going on, we still had to wait for about 25 minutes. Bojan was able to convince the border officers that he would drive us through Austria to Germany, so we were allowed to enter Hungary as transit travelers.

After a quick search of our fully packed car, we actually made it back into the EU.

Bojan insisted on driving us to our apartment in downtown Budapest, even though it meant a detour of 1 hour for him.

We are incredibly grateful to Bojan and happy to have met such a great and kind person on our journey once again!

In the past few days, we have been enjoying Budapest almost without tourists.

We were already here in winter 2018 and fell in love with the city and its charm back then.

This summer, the city has even more to offer. Restaurants, cafes, and bars are open without restrictions and you quickly forget that the world is in a state of emergency.

On every corner of the city, you can find buildings that impress with their architecture.

We were particularly fascinated once again by the Fishermen's Bastion and the Parliament building.

The steep climb to the old citadel rewarded us with a great view of the Danube and the city, and we experienced a unique sunset.

Since we had to give up our plan to travel the Balkans, we find ourselves once again at an almost empty airport.

We are drawn to the sea again, and after a few mixed days here, we miss the warmth above all.

Therefore, we have decided to spend the rest of the summer in Portugal.

We will explore the country intensively, but for now, we will stop our travels through Europe.

After two big road trips through Sweden and Serbia, it's time for us to stay in one place for a while and let everything sink in.

Despite everything, there will certainly be many great experiences waiting for us in Portugal that we will share with you.

So, all the best and see you soon!

Bianca & Michael