Lisbon to Budapest, September 2, 2015

We vacated our apartment in the morning and easily caught a cab to the airport.  We got there in plenty of time and had an early lunch before boarding our plane for a scheduled 2:05 pm departure, although we ended up departing an hour and a half later due to a mechanical issue.

 Reading a Led Zeppelin bio, When Giants Walked the Earth

 Minutes from landing

TAP had a great Portuguese wine selection, better than what we were buying while in Lisbon.  Although we did find a Vinho Verde (green wine) on our last day for .89 Euros ($1.40 CDN) that was a pleasant surprise for a refreshing light wine.

Arrival in Budapest was very smooth as we were travelling within the EU and within the Schengen Area. The Schengen Area is the area made up of 26 European countries that have agreed to have no type of border control at their common borders. Although Budapest is part of the EU, it maintains its own currency, the Forint.

The taxi from the airport was $33 CDN, compared to $17 CDN in Lisbon for approximately the same distance. Our taxi driver was a bit of a maniac and at one point Jill looked over at me and said, “we have Mario Andretti driving”, which definitely dates us. We were met by our hosts at the apartment, which is located in Pest, fairly close to the Chain Bridge. The Szechenyi Chain Bridge is one of several bridges that connect Pest to Buda and the most famous. It is seen in most pictures of Budapest.

We settled in quickly to our very reasonably priced studio apartment, which cost us $60 CDN a night, a bargain when you consider Lisbon cost twice as much (although it was a one bedder with a better location and still a bargain for Europe). Lisbon was booked through Flipkey, while Budapest was booked through Aribnb.

We made a two minute walk to the corner store to gather our usual  essentials;  beer, wine ,flat water, sparkling water and yogurt. We found the wine prices slightly higher than Lisbon, but still 80% less than Canada. We have a little restaurant below us with Goulash priced at $8.00 CDN while other entrees seemed comparable to Lisbon.