In August 2023, we made a one-day trip to Győr, Hungary, to check out the city. It was only a 60-minute trip by train, so that was bearable.
For the trip to Györ/ Győr, Hungary, I had to get to Vienna early in the morning to meet up with a friend and get a train at around 9 a.m. So, we did exactly that. We met at Vienna’s main station to get to the train. First, I’d get some food, and we also agreed on a book on the go. The train we planned to take was on time and a pleasant journey. We were excited because none of us had ever been to Hungary before, or at least not to Györ since it’s a smaller town and not as well known as Budapest, the country’s capital.
Destination Györ/ Győr, Hungary
The train station is outside the city center but perfect for reaching on foot. Most of it still reminds us of the Iron Curtain (Eiserne Vorhang), which divided part of Europe after WW II in 1945 and the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The “modern” part of the 21st Century never hit the town.
They still use those old displays inside the train station, and the walls have this ancient feeling. It has its charm, of course.
This corner looked already way more “modern,” if you know what I mean. The building on the left and that one straight ahead doesn’t have these typical old walls anymore, but the latter reminds me partly of it.
Down To The Oldtown
We had a reason to go exactly to Györ and not Budapest. Well, we could have, but there’d be the World’s Championship for Karate on the weekend ahead. And even tho none of us could go on the weekend, because of my trip to Cologne, Germany, we wanted to spend a day in the city anyway.
As we arrived, we decided to go and walk around for whatever we might discover. On our way, we had to enter a bookstore. And even tho I don’t speak the language, I went for two books in Hungarian.
It was a small but cozy place, and as we shared a love for books, we went inside to look at what they had.
I found I’d go for a children’s book to get myself into Hungarian/translate it to English just for fun.
I had lots of fun translating the unicorn book on the way back, but more later.
There was also a folklore book; we both agreed on the cover, which looked pretty. I’m really curious about translating it just for fun and getting a look into their folklore and stories.
After we continued our walk and fascination with the town so far, we decided to check on some food for us. Since we both have to be picky about what we’d like to eat, it’s not always easy, but we made it anyway.
First of all, we had to get some cash. And I don’t know about you, but foreign cash is always exciting for me.
Hungary doesn’t have Euros, but Forint. Good thing for us, we found an ATM and got that off the list.
Good to go. We continued our food search and decided to go for some pizza. Sad part? They’d only have it from 3 pm, but we were there around noon, so we had to improvise and get something else.
Ultimately, I think I ended up pretty well ’cause they could mix something up for me.
The usual veggies to go.
After we both were satisfied and full, we went ahead for some more {checking shops out}. We discovered many stores, and the town was a very nice experience. Since it was a really hot day in August, we could not resist when we saw the opportunity for ice cream and some smoothies. Since it’s smoothies, we had some time to pass until our train back would arrive, so we could both get a dessert, which was reasonable enough to me.
We discovered a public swimming pool, but sadly, we didn’t think of taking our bathing stuff with us since we didn’t think of it! We were pretty sad about it because it was a super hot summer day, and we needed a bath to cool off. Public swimming pools – especially with slides – are just a thing we both like and love to go with.
Slides are best!
Since both of us love slides, this was sad but also exciting because we decided to get it a go sometime else with our bathing stuff!
Since it was already pretty late, we decided to return to the train station to have enough time to reach the train. And we surely didn’t expect our train to have over 1 1/2 hours of delay. Well, we surely did get enough time to reach the train.
Since the display they had for the trains was pretty old, I was considering asking someone if it was correct. But they didn’t even speak English. The woman translated everything in her answer to my question on the phone right before me. Guess it was good for her having a phone for that. But in the end, she sent me to someone who could understand and speak English properly. There, I could ask my questions about the train, and she could give me some helpful answers. If we only had our delayed train, we could go back.
So, we had some time to pass, and I started translating the books I bought from Hungarian to English, which was fun.
Were you ever in Gyór or Hungary? How was your trip? Do you want to go someday? Share your experience down below!
