Budapest; Thursday, 28 March, 2002

Budapest is not as an attractive city as Prague is. Thanks to it's history large swathes of it have been leveled every 40 years through war or revolution so there are not so many historic buildings.

However it's physical geography makes it a spectacular city. Running through the middle is the Danube to one side the flat levels of Pest to the other side the Buda hills rising dramatically up.

So of course when your in a new city on a hot day what better to do then climb up to the top of the hill with the castle on it and then when you have finished descend that hill and climb the other hill with the liberty monument on the top of it!

It's amazing how much of a city you can see without actually paying to go into anything. By the time we had finished a late dinner the last bus and metro had gone so it was a 4 mile walk back to the hotel.

Thankfully the hotel was in Pest so at least the walk was on the flat