Leaving Turkey for Budapest

After breakfast, we were provided a transfer to the airport. At the airport, we had the unusual experience of going through the security at the very entrance to the building. Our travel documents were not checked so we assumed those accompanying you could enter as well but were subject to the same level of security as someone headed out on a flight.

At the airport, we met a young man who did give us a very different picture of Turkey than we experienced on our tour. There is a very significant gap between the rich and the poor with 30% of the folks living below the poverty line which is about 700 Turkish Lira per week or approx $470 to live in a very expensive city. The retirement age we had been told was 57 years for men but this is not possible for most and is actually closer to 64. He was of the opinion that Turkey would not be given access to the EU until they got their house in order but, if they were given access, felt that most would wish to join. This directly contradicts information provided on the bus where we were told that 80% of the population were not interested in joining but would rather focus their efforts to the East with Iran and Syria. This is a truly complicated country. We certainly did see signs of prosperity with nice vehicles, great farmlands and nice home. However, there is also significant visible homelessness in Istanbul and we did not see the rural, remote parts.

Truly loved this visit and have so much more to learn about the Turks and their current and ancient history.

We flew Malev Hungarian Air to Budapest without event. The passing through customs was back to John breezing through in the EU line and I get to wait with the great unwashed. While waiting for our luggage, I went to the ATM to get local currency and took 140,000 Hungarian Forints out of my account making only a smallish dint in my balance with the exchange rate of approx 220 HUF for $1.

Had opportunity to try my Hungarian out on the cab driver and found that,after a bit of a rusty start I did not too badly. We checked into the Gold Hotel Buda which is quaint with very helpful staff. We quickly realized that we made a mistake in the booking as we are in Budapest only today and tomorrow and then head off to Lake Balaton for a week. This does not give us nearly enough time to visit the sites and experience the city.

We had a meal of veal paprikas in the hotel's restaurant and then went for a long walk down the hill to the Danube River. It does not have the manicured lawns and hedges that we are used to at home but it is really beautiful. In the walk down the hill, I had quite forgotten that about the hot, muggy walk back up the hill. Aw well, it helped wear off the dinner.

On our walk we found a real estate office with pictures of homes on offer for sale and were surprised to see homes prices to 1 M HUF which is really a great deal when you do the conversion.

Tomorrow, we book our train to Lake Balaton and then are going to get our ticket on the local 'hop on, hop off' bus and visit as many sites as reasonable.