Budapest

Budapest remained a wonderful visit throughout our three nights in the city. We arrived late afternoon on Monday, April 7. I am starting this post as we are on a train out of Budapest on April 10, on our way to Pécs, Hungary.

Our first night was low key and I already posted some of those details in my last entry.

We spent Tuesday primarily on the Buda side of the Danube up on Castle Hill (Varhegy). This area is location of the Buda Castle and the Old Town.

From Pest, looking up to Castle Hill.

I originally thought we would spend a few hours exploring this area, but we ended up spending most of the day. After wandering the castle grounds (inside now holds several different museums) we walked through the old town, which was narrow cobbled roads. We saw the Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion as well. Faust Wine Cellar was also on our list (its a top sight on TripAdvisor and a winery in a cave - definitely a winning combo) but they were closed. Many of the roads & sidewalks were being repaired, a process that included a team of workers hand laying new stones. We had an embarrassing moment after we walked into a restaurant to discover it was way out of our price range and got up from our table to leave, the waiter presented a "midrange" bottle of wine to us that was $50! We ate across the street at 21 Hungarian Kitchen where Ben enjoyed Hungarian goulash and I had a ravioli with celery and elderflower, of course paired with Hungarian wine. The food was very good, our waiter seemed annoyed by us, maybe we didn't order enough?

View of Pest from Castle Hill.

After descending from Castle Hill we remained on the Buda side. We wandered along the Danube Promenade before taking the tram, enjoying some gelato and hitting a local fruit stand. After this, we took another tram across the Margit Hud (Margaret Bridge) and back to our hotel. After dropping our things, we wandered the streets of downtown Budapest and eventually stopped for a couple Hungarian beers before going back to our hotel for the night.

The activity outside our hotel remained high until the early morning hours (like 4am) as I briefly mentioned earlier. There was one bar below us and another across the street. Equipped with my beloved eye mask and newly purchased ear plugs, I slept great. Ben did not seem to mind the noise.

We have yet to understand the exchange rate and currency in Hungary with any certainty. Ben says it is easy to have fun when you have no idea how much you are spending.

On the other hand, by Wednesday we had the public transportation pretty well figured out and I was proud of how quickly we navigated the city, hopping off trams and onto trains, transferring to get where needed. Up to this point the weather had been really quite perfect with sunshine and 70 degrees. Wednesday however was very windy, and despite the sunshine very cold as a result. As you all know, walking around in bad wind is challenging.

However, we still had a great day (I should note here that we didn't leave our hotel until about 11:30, apparently this trip has solved our inability to sleep in, or we are still adjusting. Is jet lag a thing and how long does it last?).

Our hump day started with some sightseeing on foot, the opera house was very near our hotel. Upon arrival we learned of a tour and mini concert at 4 pm and immediately decided to return. Following this we saw St. Stephen's Basilica and the Parliament which is probably the most identifiable Budapest landmark, it's insanely grand and sits along the Danube. By chance we were able to see the changing of the guard, such luck!

The parliament courtyard is also the location of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 which lasted several days and ended violently. That event is a key turning point in the communist history of this country. The area is huge and standing there it's hard to imagine how many stood there to fill that square and fight for the freedom and government they wanted.

We then wandered to Liberty Square and enjoyed the humor of the Ronald Reagan statue posted at its entry, placed strategically by Hungary years ago as a decoy to keep America happy and out of their business. The monument in this square also contains some communist style carvings,although it is not a communist monument, and is therefore gated to prevent vandalism by Hungarians who do not wish to see anything in their city resembling old communist propaganda in the form of art and sculpture.

Intending to board the water bus to experience life on the Danube, we decided against it due to the wind and no inside seating. Instead, we took the train to a river side picturesque town called Szentendre. This also provided the opportunity to see suburban and rural surroundings of the city. The train took longer than expected and we only had time for a 40 minute stroll through town before needing to return to the opera house.

The Hungarian Opera House tour was very interesting, and the mini concert, though very short, was powerful and the voice of the performer was the type that can dive into your gut and bring you to tears if you free yourself to the emotion of the performance. I'm pretty sure that freedom of emotion was experienced by only one member of this traveling duo.

After the opera house we walked Andrassy Utca (street) to Heroes' Square where we took time to read about each Hungarian honored there. Then we walked briefly through city park before taking the metro back to the center of town. Dinner was at an unforgettable restaurant on a small street near our hotel called Koleve's. Holy deliciousness on a plate! Plus, the restaurant focused on local ingredients and prepared everything fresh. Yes, there was more Hungarian wine and Ben tried a Hungarian fruit flavored vodka called Palinka.

On our way home we decided to investigate the lively bars outside our hotel and learned we had been staying across from a ruin pub! The noise made more sense than ever. These pubs are characteristic of Budapest and started with just a few but have grown in popularity. They are bars erected in the open "ruined" space between two buildings. They all have a different style and design.

Before catching the train we visited the Central Market (I also found referred to as Grand Market) to shop and eat with the locals and then walk across Liberty Bridge.

Ben's blog post on Budapest (1/200th the length of mine): The city is very clean, no one litters, drivers are courteous, the language is difficult but most young people speak English while older Hungarians do not.

More Budapest notes:

• Pretty sure they have the fastest escalators in existence
• Pedestrians have right of way when standing at a cross walk
• Public transportation is plentiful and easy to navigate
• Around the city you can see buildings not cleaned or repaired since the communist era, I heard one Hungarian talk of how this impacted his mood
• Langosz is a traditional Hungarian food that is hard to find and delicious
• Budapestians like pizza, it is everywhere
• Liberty is important, it has been won and lost many times in their history and now names many things in this city
• Regional trains have WiFi, making this post possible