Győr-ing? No, but it was Relaxing

October 18^th, 2026 

Researching online about places to visit in Hungary apart from Budapest, the small city of Győr came up.  It’s located halfway between Budapest and Vienna, and it was only a 1½ hour train ride. 

The Keleti Train Station in Budapest.

I booked my ticket online on a site called “Rail Ninja”, but then I found the proper, yet more confusing, Hungarian Rail website and subsequently booked a bunch of other train tickets for future travel.  I had a tough time deciphering my ticket and didn’t see anywhere that told me that I had a designated ticket in a specific car, so I just hopped onto a second-class car.

 

About ten minutes before the train was to depart, a school group came down the aisle and the German speaking teacher pointed at my seat and it was obvious that it was one of theirs.  I moved to another part of the car and re-examined my ticket.  Oh yeah, I forgot that I had actually booked a first-class ticket as it didn’t cost that much more.  I knew that I was at least 4-5 cars away from the closest first-class car and walking through that many cars would be slow and cumbersome with people still getting settled in, but I didn’t want to risk alighting the train and walking that far down the platform as we were about to leave.

 

I decided to stay put, but at the next stop, I hopped off and made my way to the appropriate numbered car, which I had been able to figure out from my ticket.  I was still uncertain about my seat.  I randomly sat down on one seat, re-examined my ticket and thought I’d figured out my seat number.  I relocated once again, but then just before the ticket inspector arrived, I finally clued in and moved to seat 91…which amazingly happened to be the seat that I had randomly sat in earlier!  The trials and tribulations of travelling…

Arriving in Győr in glorious mid-October sunshine, I couldn’t help but feel very relaxed.  It was only a 15-minute walk from the train station to my accommodation along pedestrian-only streets.  The old town was lovely.

Right near the train station was the Győr Town Hall Clock Tower.

Heading into the old town

It was not hard to feel relaxed here.

There was some exhibit at this museum that these two guys belonged to.

I was a few hours early for check-in, but luckily my room was ready.  I dropped my backpack off and went for a walk to check out Győr.

 

About 15 minutes into my walk about, I realized that it wasn’t going to take me long to check out the old town.  I reached the main square, stopped for photos, then made my way down to the Danube.

A big church formed one of the perimeters of the square.

A nice looking restaurant in the square...not surprisingly, I returned here later for lunch.

A 360 panorama of the square.

A couple of dudes who must have done something special in the past for Győr.

An interesting convex mirror by the Danube.

The Kossuth Bridge...many things are named after him or Széchenyi in Hungary.

Looking down the Danube.

It just happened to be noon as I neared the Basilica of Győr...so the bells started to kick off.

The Basilica of Győr.

It might be hard to see...but Jesus' right arm is free.  Not sure what that is about.  It reminded me of a British 80s TV show called the Young Ones where one of the characters steals a crucifix from another guy who responds "Rick, that's a really negative way to kill yourself...besides, you'll never get the last nail in!"

My biggest activity in Győr was climbing up to the top of the 40-meter-tall Bishop’s-Castle Tower to get a panoramic view of the city and the surrounding area.  The spot where the tower is located has had strategic military importance for many years in the past as it is where the Rába River joins the Danube.

That the Rába in the foreground and on the right is the Danube behind those trees.

Looking to the east along the Danube.

The basilica.

It looks like a ski ramp, but in fact it is the National Theatre of Győr.

Checking out the view from the tower.

The obligatory selfie.

Afterwards, I crossed a bridge over the Rába to a small island, called Radó Island, for a short walk then I returned to the main square to sit down for long lunch, followed by a relaxing evening in my room. 

I love the windows protruding from the roof.

It's a lovely old town centre.

Hallowe'een is coming!

What a great spot for lunch.

As I returned to my room, it was inundated with women and girls.  Seemed like some kind of clothing swap.

My room...quite spacious.  And only $40 for the night!

Okay, Győr…check.

Wandering Around Budapest

October 17^th, 2026

I lucked out with another gorgeous, sunny mid-October day so I decided to take advantage of it.  To start the day, I decided to walk to the Heroe’s Square, one of the major squares in Budapest.  It is located on the border of a large city park, and its main feature is the Millenium Monument, with statues featuring the Seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian monarchs and national leaders.  The horse mounted chieftains were some menacing looking dudes, that’s for sure.

Walking through the streets of Budapest.

It’s a semi-circular feature with a column in the middle that normally has a 4.8 meter tall statue of the Archangel Gabriel, holding the Holy Crown of Hungary and the Apostolic Double Cross.  However, Gabe is currently missing.  It was recently deemed that he was a little precarious up there so there are working on fixing that problem, so for now, it’s just a column.

What it's supposed to look like with the Archangel.

The Seven Chieftains.

The other important guys...

I continued walking into the park which was quite busy as it was a Sunday.  I passed by a large, flat concrete area with a few buildings on the periphery, and I wondered what it was for.  I looked online, and in the winter it’s a big skating rink…cool.

The skating rink area.

Not sure what this Disney castle-like area was about, but I went for a short jaunt through it.

I just kept seeing the red and white balloon...like it was calling my name.

It was a pretty park.

Just like yesterday, I spotted another newlywed couple doing their photoshoot.

At first, I thought I’d just get a closer look at it for some photos and check out how it worked.  But then I thought, “Why not take a ride?”.  I walked up to the ticket booth, and the wait was about 40-50 minutes, but there was a spot by the entrance with a café and some tables outside.  I could enjoy a beer and do some blogging while I waited.  Perfect.

Called “Balloon Fly”, the massive sphere is filled with non-flammable, non-toxic helium gas that provides continuous, eco-friendly lifting power.  Rather than floating freely, it is securely anchored to the ground by a heavy-duty steel wire. It functions like an open-air lift, ascending straight up to a maximum altitude of 150 meters and returning along the same vertical line.  The basket below the balloon, well, it really isn’t a basket per se, but a circular, metal ring that could hold about 20 people.

Watching the balloon take off.

The balloon at its max altitude of 150 meters.

About to hop on.

Once we climbed onboard, the pilot made sure that we spaced out evenly so that the metallic donut would sit level below the balloon.  After a few minutes at altitude, the pilot told us to slowly walk around in the same direction, maintaining our distance to one another, so that everyone could soak in the views in all directions.

Houston, we have lift-off.

A happy passenger.

Check out the views!

Looking down at our takeoff spot.

Heroe's Square.

Scanning the horizon.

Budapest has many thermal pools, and this is one of the most famous ones called Széchenyi Baths.  Naomi suggested that I should visit it, but I knew I'd be bored after 10 minutes and it cost $45 CAD to enter so I decided to skip it.  She said it had a real 50s feel to it, which you can see by the building (maybe even an earlier era).  The pools range from 27°C–38°C.

Looking to the west.

That's the Biodome of the Budapest Zoo.

Yup, it was a good choice Dave!

It was definitely something different, and I knew that I didn’t need to go up the dome of the basilica as Balloon Fly took me more than twice as high.  Afterwards, I wandered through the park a bit but then found the metro station.  It was a tiny station with a tiny subway, but researching it later, this is the first subway line in Budapest.  It was actually constructed for the Millenium Celebration in 1896…no wonder it’s small.  The other three metro lines are more modern and the stations and trains are bigger.

Exiting at the St. Stephen’s Basilica stop, it was a two-minute walk to the cathedral, which was impressive, but I wasn’t bothered to pay to go inside. 

The square in front of the basilica.

Instead, a specific restaurant caught my eye, and it was already 2 pm and I hadn’t had lunch yet.  The place was called “Lángos”, which is actually a Hungarian specialty that Naomi told me I should try.  A lángos was historically made of the last bits of the bread dough and baked at the front of a brick or clay oven, to be served hot as the breakfast of the bread-baking day.  Now they are a common staple served up with a variety of toppings like sour cream and cheese, or in my case, I ordered one with Bolognese sauce and cheese.

My lángos...it was bigger than I expected.

This woman with her dog caught my eye as I was eating...

...I mean look at this poor canine.  Having to put up with a photo in front of the basilica while where his Gucci jacket and matching booties!

For the rest of the afternoon, I walked down to the Hungarian Parliament to get a closer look at its ornate exterior.

The Budapest Ferrari dealership I just happened to pass by.

That's a nice ride!

This was the Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation.

And across the park from the previous memorial is the Soviet War Memorial.

Looks like a good time to be had at the end of January!

Before I even got close to this statue, I guessed it was Ronald Reagan.  Even though he never visited Budapest, but the Hungarian people credit his administration's hardline stance against the Soviet Union, economic pressure, and Cold War diplomacy with helping end Soviet communist rule and the Iron Curtain in Central and Eastern Europe.

There's the goal, the Hungarian Parliament.

Not sure what the monument is, I just liked the look of the buildings behind it.

The backside of the parliament.

This is known as Kossuth Square, named after Lajos Kossuth who was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman, revolutionist and governor-president of the Hungarian State during the war of independence of 1848–1849.

Looking in the other direction from the parliament building.

It is an impressive building.

A 360 view of Kossuth Square.

The guy in the middle is Mr. Kossuth himself.

Some statue by the side of the parliament.

The front of the Hungarian Parliament.

There's no way to capture it all in one photo as the Danube is right beside it.

And another statue on the other end of the parliament.

Cute little car...looks like it would be fun to drive, but I'm guessing that it doesn't go very fast.

By the time I’d circumnavigated the biggest building in Hungary, it was time to head back to my place as it had been a long day.  Tomorrow morning, I hop on a train to Győr, a small city only an hour and a half northwest of Budapest.