The green fairy

For Halloween I dressed up as a fairy. In honor of fairies, today's travel blog (which is becoming more of a weekend blog than a Friday blog) is on the green fairy - aka: absinthe, and one country in which it was easily procured by a traveling companion - Budapest, Hungary. While this capital is called Budapest, it's really two cities joined together. On one side of the river is the city Buda and on the other side is Pest. Connecting the two cities are a couple of lovely bridges, my favorite being the chain bridge, which does, in fact, look like a huge bicycle chain! On the day we were there, it was a special celebrations with balloons strung up along the length of the bridge, street performers, puppets, music and all around festivities. Once crossed the river from Buda into Pest (or was it Pest into Buda) then we climbed some big hills and visited ornate palaces and castles. I highly recommend cruising the streets here, blending into the townspeople and escaping the general backpacker's circuit of Europe. I did find some amazing travelers here and ended up staying in Budapest longer than planned, but overall, I saw fewer tourist here than in other parts of Europe.

Once we had cruised around Budapest for a bit, my friends and I set off for Revfulop and Lake Balaton, in search of a lively place for a party. Somehow we ended up in a cute small town that had only three restaurants. All pizzerias. We had a lovely relaxing time, but if you're looking for a wild night, I'd recommend you go elsewhere. If you're looking for absinthe, anywhere in Hungary will do. But now, a few years after I was there, it appears that absinthe is available in many more locations - though word on the streets is that its composition is not the same as it was in past years and won't make you go crazy. But don't take my word for it, take a bottle, add some sugar, light it up and decide for yourself!