Bars of Budapest

Obviously having admitted to a couple of late nights over the weekend, it might be worth puiblicising the establishments that were responsible for the fuzzy head syndrome and that have dirty glasses that can be associated with it

Captain Cooks - on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Utca 19/a on the Pest side of the river - English pub with Aussie, Hungarian and UK beers on tap and Guinness. Didn't stay there very long as we were running late for the Effies at the National Theatre but seemed an alright sort of establishment

Iguana bar - on Zóltán u. 16, which is just round the back of the Parliament and near the US Embassy - apparently been voted the Best Mexican restaurant in Budapest 5 years in a row but I am not sure, having only been here a couple of days what that category is like in terms of choice but certainly seems to be a good expat hangout and where I met most of the rugby team at various stages over the evening as well as the entire teaching staff from the British School in Budapest - complete with face paints due to the fact it was Hallowe'en. Very good Cuba Libre as I seem to recall too

The Caledonia or the Cally to those in the know (allegedly_ - where else could it be inspired by but Scotland and this is further increased by the saltaires on all the walls and Claymores that hang above the stairs!! Home to the Budapest Celtic football club and also several screens showing football and rugby and serves proper ale which is a novelty in this country where all the beers I have found so far are lagers!! Attached to the bar is a Scottish shop where you can stock up on whisky, short bread and celtic inspired jewellery!

http://www.kaledonia.hu/index.php?lang=en

Bar Instant - Negymezo - take an old house built around a courtyard that has been abandoned and is derelict, put in a bar, give it a lick of paint and make it into a cool, edgy venue with DJs, cheap drinks (someone made me try Palinka - in a word, dont!!) and then allow people to design the rooms and see what happens - the best one is the Upside down room where all the furniture is stuck to the ceiling - also hang weird penguin and fish mobiles from the roof and all in all, it creates one pretty cool place to be. There were also a number of pinball machines and did meet Zoli, the original Hungarian pinball wizard (although not sure what the translation for that is) - what he didn't know about Spiderman pinball machine does not seem worth knowing and to be far, after he posted 13,500,000 on the machine as a score, it didn't seem worth asking any further questions - he certainly knows his flippers from his floppers!!

After that, I recommend a Gyros (Kebab but nicer than the mix of Alsatian and Rat that you get in London) and then a wander down the side of the Danube, past the Parliament back to the hotel taking in the sights and sounds of the city - believe me, if New York is the city that never sleeps, then Budapest must be its slightly younger, less sophisticated brother - can't wait for the first snow to fall and see where people go when they can't stand outside - should make for an new voyage of hedonistic discovery