After our onerous day of chores, you’ll no doubt be thrilled to hear that we are recuperating in the Mystery Hotel in Budapest. It’s a relatively recent conversion of a historic Freemason’s Hall and it is fab-u-lous. High ceilings, big rooms, quirky but cool decor, an exceptional breakfast buffet, and a roof terrace overlooking the city. There’s also a spa, but I may well have accidentally spent my exceptional-below-the-line spa budget last week.

Budapest is as beautiful as I remembered. Our waiter rather dismissively said that all the big central European cities like Prague, Vienna and Budapest were all pretty similar. It’s true that they’re all elegant, historic and great to visit- but I think they all have rather different flavours. With its wide boulevards and riverside embankments, Budapest feels much more open and spacious than Prague. The van definitely appreciated the extra road width, it was way less stress negotiating the junctions, I only squealed twice – a record low, and we found a parking place directly outside the hotel. Result.

We spent the first evening doing the usual quick wander to get our bearings, then had supper on the hotel’s glorious roof terrace. Glorious, but chilly. Very, very chilly- but it was worth it for the sunset.

Buda biking

We booked a bike tour to get an overview of the city. Laslo our guide was a historian, philosopher, psychologist and frustrated comedian. He took us on a leisurely exploration of the Pest side of the Budapest. There was more chat than pedalling, but it was a great insight into the history of Hungary, the language and the culture. Tomorrow we explore Buda, on the other side of the river.