In need of a medical aid while in Budapest as a tourist?

No worries. Turned out that medical care is pretty accessible and all you need was an appointment. Everything else was a breeze. Just be prepared to pay up front. I’m speaking from experience here because of course,  the days prior leaving Budapest were not all without glitches.

You see,  on the 3rd day in Budapest itself, I somehow contracted UTI. The OTC meds did not help much. I needed something stronger and did not want to risk a more severe UTI infection for the rest of our vacation whilst on the road.

Now if you know UTI, it can be one of the most irritating infections to have whilst on the road. Especially annoying when you are travelling AND in a foreign country where you have no knowledge of their medical aids AND having to have the urge to pee every other minute only to let out a small, but stinging trickles of urine. 

Thankfully we managed to secure a doctor’s appointment one day before we continued on our trip to the next leg. The experience had been a pleasant one. I was thoroughly checked, interrogated, tested and all done within the hour.

In no time at all, we were sent on our way to pick up enough meds to last me for the rest of the trip. The doctor and the staff were all very friendly too. There was something about the doctor and I really liked how warm she was throughout the entire time. (Which reminds me, we have yet to send an insurance claim for this!)

All that sorted, we were ready for our drive to the next destination to Eger. It took us about 1 hour 45 minutes from Budapest with Egar about 140 km away.

Despite the every-2-minutes-urge-to-have-to-pee, the drive was once again a pleasant one.

We had booked ourselves into a rather nice little B&B where we squeezed all the four of us into one room for yet another 2 nights.  This was one place belonging to a very amiable hostess who converted a large part of her house into students’ accommodation that made us feel at home. Her garden was super lush.

The best part of it was she loved entertaining our kids in both English and Hungarian; very much like the doting-grandma type.

Eger is a small, sleepy but picturesque town located on the southern slopes of the Bukk Mountains. Why Silver Bullet chose this place I really haven’t got a clue but I recall, the Castle of Eger and the picturesque town itself were the main draw for the kids.

Did we end up visiting the Medieval Castle of Eger? No, we didn’t!

By then the kids (and us) were castled-out. Instead, we probably took the road less traveled and went to the Astronomical Dome Museum where we had to climb up scores and scores of staircases to get to the first viewing gallery on the 5th floor.

Mind you, the first floor is not like your regular 5th floor. It was like going up to the 10th floor – the stairs were steep, long and a rather winding one. 

OK. I hated the climb. We were already walking in the blazing hot 34 degree Celsius sun from our B&B for at least an hour prior to finding the darn Museum. Then we had to climb UP! WTF?! Not my idea of a vacation.

Was it worth it? Hmmmm….I’m on the fence here. I mean, the museum was great (I was too exhausted to take any pictures of the exhibition).  By far, this is the oldest and the only permanent exhibition housing the 18th century astronomical measuring devices in their original environment since 1966. 

Then, there was the Camera Obscura – a pinhole camera consisting of a lens, a screen and a very dark room. Using an external light that passes though the hole, the scene is reproduced and the image can be projected onto a paper. This is what it does:

In the dark room, we were shown how that beast of a camera projected an image of the surrounding area onto a surface using only the movements of 2 levers. It’s like Google Street View, but without all the tech behind it; just simple application of science! The view can be changed anytime by the operator.

Apparently, it is one of only 3 in the world with the other 2 in Edinburgh and Adelaide. We were told that the person behind this did it just for his own amusement and fun.

 

Impressed? Probably. The climb killed all good things I had to say about the museum. I was not prepared for the physical assault. Though I have to admit the view from the top of the dome and the (old) technology of the Obscura were pretty amazing!

We spent the rest of the time in Eger sight-seeing and chilling. We watched the kids play when we discovered there were playgrounds for them.  They needed to release their excess energy and we used the time to hide underneath the shady trees and be lazy.

We then stuff our faces at the one and only Medieval-themed restaurant called the Excalibur. We seem to be eating a lot.

With the unbearable weather condition, we stayed away from the heat by conserving energy and hydrating ourselves often. We took refuge in the underground cellars and learnt about the fungus that had been growing for centuries which regulated the temperatures of the scene down under during the war.

Eger was quite a sleepy town. Apart from the sights, there were not much else for us. The kids were happy to move on to another adventure. For us, it was well-timed. 

We left Eger after 2 nights ready to explore more of Hungary. 

Next up: Villány.

Summer Road-Tripping Day 16 to 19: Eger to Villány, Hungary