There was a music festival in Budapest somewhere at the end of April last year and a great party at the beginning of May in Berlin. There were days and days of thinking which one to chose or how to get to both of them and after struggling to find a solution, after so many nights with no sleep, we finally did it: the Euro Tour in 10 days -> Budapest -> Bratislava -> Prague-> Dresden -> Berlin. The first trip for just the two of us.

Budapest – 27th – 30th April

First thing to mention is that we did not manage to get to the music festival that made us take the trip in the first place. But we did eat a lot of goulash and walk around the city for the whole period we were there. We saw all the major attractions: The Parliament Building, Saint Stephen’s Basilica, the Heroes’ square, the Jewish Quarter, Margaret Island, The Royal Palace, the bridges over the Danube. We had great weather, warm and sunny days, we were always looking to have a little rest at a terrace, drinking a cold beer. Going on the Gellert Hill was my favorite stop of the trip. You have a great view of the city and you are surrounded by trees and flowers, away from the crowd and the noise.

Budapest is most beautiful at night time when all the lights are on and taking a walk on the Danube river side on a warm evening is the best choice when coming to visit the Hungarian capital city.

Bratislava – 30th April – 2nd May

We woke up very early on the 30th of April and took a bus to Bratislava. In about two hours we already got there. We stayed at a couch surfer who was really nice and showed us all the great parts of the city and some of its surroundings, took us to traditional restaurants, recommended Slovakian beers and told us more about how Slovakians live their lives.

We saw the Bratislava Castle, The New Bridge and walked around the city center. On one of the days, Marian, our host took us by car to visit the ruins of the Devin Castel, about half an hour drive from Bratislava (you can get there by bus or bicycle also). Beautiful castle at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, from where you can see Austria.

On another day we went to The Slavin monument and enjoyed the great view of the city. It was a bit of an effort to go up to the monument, but getting there and resting on the grass in the shade of a tree made it all worth.

Marian is a person that enjoys nature, places where he is away from the city noise, this why on an afternoon he took us to a small park, where students normally come, where we just had a nice talk, sitting on a blanket, watching the sunny sky. For the rest of the time we just walked by the Danube river side, chatting about nothing in particular and observing people around us. The weather was incredibly hot for the 1st of May, we had about 30 degrees, just to make you feel that summer is just around the corner.

I really liked Bratislava, because of the warm weather, the Danube, the Castles and the nice people we met.

Prague – 2nd and 3rd of May

In Prague we arrived on the 2nd of May in the afternoon by bus from Bratislava (about 4 hours) and headed quickly to Joseph, our new host for one night. We left our luggage and started our tour of the city. We only had the afternoon for this and a couple of hours next morning (before departing for Dresden) so we didn’t have the chance to see too much of Prague. We went to the city center, crossed one of the Vltava river and found a small improvised terrace on the river side where we had a Staropramen (traditional Czech beer) and enjoyed a beautiful double rainbow (after a short rain). In the evening we went up to the Saint Vitus Cathedral and the Prague Castle and enjoyed a beautiful view of the city full of lights. The next morning we just had a quick walk in the city and took the train to Dresden, our next destination.

Dresden – 3rd and 4th of May

We didn’t know too much about Dresden but we decided to go there to visit a friend we haven’t seen for quite some time. Dresden is a city of contrast. There is the old town, with cathedrals and historical buildings and the new town, the students’ area, with an active night life, with bars, with noisy people having fun until the morning.

We didn’t visit too much of Dresden, we only went for a German wurst and some beers and therefore, not too many photos from here. Definitely we have to go back and explore the city more in depth.

Berlin – 4th – 6th of May

Regarding Berlin not too many things to say. It was the 4th time I was there, I had visited all the main attractions in 2010, so this time it was only party time. We went to parties on Friday and Saturday nights, so by day we had to rest. The weather was quite bad, a lot of rain and cold, so we didn’t feel like going out, after all the good weather we have had in Budapest, Bratislava and Dresden. I can only mention that Berlin is still my favorite city in Europe. I like the night life, I like the modern parts of the city, I like the people.

On the 6th of May we took a plane from Berlin to Budapest and from there I took a plane back to Bucharest and Ninu took the night bus to Sibiu. We had 10 full days, visiting very nice places, meeting new people, seeing old friends, walking a lot, having nice dinners, enjoying nice parties. A full option holiday, with everything included. 🙂

Budget for the accommodation and transportation:

• Budapest accommodation in the Mercure Budapest Buda Hotel 3 nights : 129 EUR / per 2
• Bus from Budapest to Bratislava: 4 EUR
• Bus from Bratislava to Prague: 9 EUR
• Train from Prague to Dresden: 8 EUR
• Hitch-hike from Dresden to Berlin: 10 EUR
• Accommodation in Berlin at Sunflower Hostel for 2 night : 155 EUR / per 2
• Plane from Berlin to Budapest :45 EUR
• Plane from Bucharest to Budapest and return : 50 EUR
• Accommodation in Bratislava, Prague and Dresden was free of charge as we used couch surfing and stayed at a friend.

Tips for the trip :

• use Couchsurfing.org – you can find free accommodation anywhere in the world, but most important you get to stay with someone who actually lives in that place and knows more than a turist could discover by himself
• OffMaps2 – a very useful application for smart phones, it has offline maps that you can download for each city you visit. It offers information about public transportation, bars and restaurants near by, directions and it locates you via GPS signal
• www.whichbudget.com – a website for low cost companies, where you can find cheap flights around Europe
• OrangeWays reliable, cheep and comfortable coaches for central Europe