The amazing adventures of travelling Kat: Left our hearts in Hungary

Well, I'm on the plane back to sunny old Manchester! We've only been away for a week but it feels much longer. And for once, I don't feel like I need another holiday to recover! Although we've been busy and had multiple stops, I've found Hungary strangely relaxing. It could be all of the thermal pools and saunas I've been lazing around in but I think there is something much deeper. Hungary always seems quiet, the streets are bright and peaceful, the air feels clean and fresh, the people are friendly and helpful. People seem to have a lot more time here than we do at home, their pace is slower, calmer.

We spent our last two days in the beautiful historical town of Pécs. We had pushed the boat out a bit and stayed in a spa hotel. The rooms were spacious and comfortable, the restaurant food was excellent, we had full reign of the spa and best of all, there was complete silence. Just the occasional comforting chirp of crickets singing to each other at night.

We arrived mid afternoon on Sunday so we didn't bother to venture out, instead, we took full advantage of the hotel's facilities in the last of the afternoon's golden light. We had a swim, used the hot tub and tried out the sauna, which, I'm happy to report, on this occasion, did not contain any Hungarian sausage. It was lovely having the whole place to ourselves. We tried to behave, but it was hard to resist canon balling into the pool with no one to tell us off!

Yesterday we took a pleasant stroll into the town, about 30 minutes from our hotel. It was hot, 38 degrees, and we ended up taking refuge in an air conditioned mall to avoid spontaneous combustion, vampire style.

We arrived in the centre just as the light started to dip - my favourite time for exploring a city, I call it the golden hour.

It was stunning, all of the buildings were painted in lovely warm shades of yellow and rose which reflected the light beautifully, each had its own design and personality.

We spent a couple of hours wandering the streets taking in the impressive architecture.

Just when the heat was getting too much again, we happened across a little park just within the city wall; shaded by ancient chestnut trees, their leaves just starting to turn crisp and auburn were blowing around our feet.

In the centre of the park was a fountain with refreshingly cold water - just right for soothing tired feet. We spent a good deal of time there, chatting and reading our guide book.

Fully rejuvenated, we continued our walk and found ourselves on Lovers Lane. Over the years, all along this street, people have declared their love for each other by attaching padlocks to the railings with their names, important dates or a love message inscribed on them.

There were thousands and all were different; some just your standard padlocks but others were delicately engraved, some decorated with stickers and glitter, some looked oriental, some were big and some were tiny.

We took our time, reading all of the lovers' notes and absorbing the happy aura of the place.

I decided I wanted us to have a lock of our own. We found a tiny shop (more like a large cupboard) down the road where we managed to find a lock and marker pen.

I scribbled our names and our anniversary date (the reason we're in Hungary in the first place) and locked our hearts together, forever, above a lovely quote on the wall which made me happy.