BUDAPEST

Parliament building in Budapest.:)

24+ hours and five forms of transportation later and we had finally arrived at our place of stay in the beautiful city of Budapest, Hungary. Seeing as Budapest is a big city, it was culture shock at first sight when it became quickly evident that the English language is not nearly as common in this fascinating area of Eastern Europe as it is in other European cultures and major cities.

Our humble abode on the ‘Pest’ side is where we met our hostel owner whose lackadaisical demeanor accompanied by her dreadlocks, bare feet, and genie pants gave us a small taste of the laid-back, bohemian style exuded by many young people in Budapest (although, we found that many hostel owners had a similar laid-back demeanor regardless of the city or country we were in:)).

At a breezy 60 degrees Fahrenheit (gasp!) with scattered showers throughout the day, we felt extremely lucky that we had a pair of pants each and an equally limited selection (but a selection, nonetheless) of sweaters and scarves in our suitcases. Had we made our connecting flight to Madrid, our plan was to rid our bags of any ‘extra weight’ and seeing how we made this decision while sweating in Croatia, no amount of convincing would have made us believe that we would ever have a need for pants, sweaters, or scarves again. We couldn’t help but think we had missed our flight for a reason…and a very good reason at that!:)

After getting settled we headed out into the bustling streets of Budapest in search of food and some quality photo opps before sunset. We stumbled across the first hole-in-the-wall diner we saw near our place and enjoyed a quick meal at a restaurant very comparable to a Doner Kebab but we didn’t seem to care that our first ‘Hungarian’ meal took place at a chain-style restaurant.  From there we walked to the Margaret Bridge where we witnessed our first breathtaking view of all of Budapest and it was love at first sight. “Yep, I think we’re going to like it here!”:)

We're here!:)

As it started to cool down we headed back to our hostel to put on more layers (a concept we were not used to on this trip) and within the next hour we were back at a new restaurant drinking beers and enjoying a more traditional Hungarian meal (in my case, delicious stewed pork with mushroom sauce…YUM!:). After dinner we walked around and couldn’t pass up ordering gelato at a stand right by our hostel. We were still getting accustomed to the currency—the Hungarian Forint is abbreviated as ft, and throughout our time in Budapest we referred to the currency as ‘feet’—and 215 ‘feet’ (=less than $1)sounded like a prettttty good deal. It seems, however, that the equivalent of $1USD at this particular gelato stand does not get you very far judging by the dollup-sized scoops we received that were so tiny they immediately disappeared into the depths of our mini-cones and Kathryn’s facial expression did not hide her disappointment, making it difficult to hide our laughter.;) 

Sisters + Chain Bridge:)

We began the following day with a big, hearty breakfast at the recommended café below our place and immediately set out for our first full day of adventure. The rain showers throughout the day didn’t stop us from exploring, but it did however give us multiples excuses to make various pit stops at cafes and bars. Our first stop was at a covered, outdoor café where we decided to wait out the rain while sipping on coffee and taking in beautiful views of St. Stephen’s Basilica. We watched in amusement as tour groups full of people who were equally as unprepared for this weather as we were stomp through puddles in their flip flops and hood-less sweatshirts.

On top of Buda Hill!

Once the rain slowed up we set out for more exploring and walked across one of Budapest’s most famous city landmarks, the Chain Bridge. We took a short lift to the top of Buda Hill and enjoyed a glass of wine and spectacular views of Budapest and all of it’s famous bridges, straddling the Danube River and connecting the two cities of Buda and Pest and all of the combined gothic architecture and ancient history. LIFE. IS. GOOD.:) 

We wandered back down Buda Hill and did some serious speed walking in an effort to ‘out run’ the dark clouds looming in the distance. We made one last stop at the Liberty Bridge and Liberty Statue before heading back to the Pest side. Lucky for us, we found ourselves right outside of an adorable wine bar when the rain started to pick up again. Adorable, no doubt, (and great wine, too) but we later learned why we were the only two in the bar when our check arrived and we realized how poorly we had originally calculated the exchange rate…oops! Not the cheapest wine and apps we had indulged in on this trip, but did I mention how cute the place was?!;)

Super cute wine bar/restaurant ;)

After a quick regroup back at our hostel we were back on our feet again and off to find some dinner before making a much-anticipated visit to some of the city’s famous ruin bars. We stumbled across a Thai place and couldn’t help but stop for a bite of some of our favorite food and give ourselves another excuse to get off of our feet—exploring a city as big and spread out as Budapest can be hard work!;) Although I’m sure our flip-flops didn’t help our case…

After dinner we walked for what seemed like an hour—venturing into a more industrial part of Budapest and then winding through small, unparalleled side streets. The ruin pubs exist all over downtown Pest and the recipe for a ruin pub is simple: find an old building, rent the cellar and main floor, do not renovate other than to recreate an older 70’s-style atmosphere, attract customers, provide beer.:) We ordered a couple of beers and were very pleased that our ruin bar expectations did not disappoint—just another end to a perfect day in Eastern Europe! We. Love. Budapest!!

The REAL Heroes Square:)

The next day we made the long trek to Heroes’ Square and the Budapest Baths. On the way to Heroes’ s Square, Kathryn had a near heart attack when a bum snuck up behind her and yelled (literally, he yelled) ‘TWO TICKETS” in an effort to get her to give him money for a metro ticket. We finally stopped laughing about the incident just as we came to an intersection containing four tall posts on each corner with names of what I’m sure were very important people on them. Consequently, we thought without a doubt that, “this must be Heroes’ Sqaure!” We took pictures in excitement and it wasn’t until about 200 meters of walking later that we received a big reality check when we arrived at the REAL Heroes Square.

Szechenyi Outdoor Pools

As if this day hadn’t already been exciting enough, once we finally navigated through the indoor spas by following signs in Hungarian it was a much appreciated three-hour period of time when the sun came out while were swimming in the outdoor pools at the Szechenyi Baths. The outdoor area was amazing, but aside from the random bubble jets sprouting up from different areas of the pool, it was more or less a really exaggerated version of outdoor pools back home, but with really detailed architecture and lots of British people. We spent our time soaking up the sun and trying to beat old people to the bubble jets (to no avail) that came on intermittently throughout the day.

Beautiful Budapest!:)

After the baths we strolled around a park nearby before making our way back towards our hostel. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to indulge in delicious Italian food on the way back when we came across a very authentic-looking (and tasting—I couldn’t pass up the Ravioli with gorgonzola!) restaurant. Two delicious pasta meals later we were on our way again, obviously making another pit stop for gelato (this time we ordered TWO scoops) before taking a quick break at our hostel.

We were told more than once that we HAD to try ‘moist cake’ while in Budapest and before we had time to digest our last meal we were at the café below splitting a piece of chocolate-banana cake as a late-afternoon snack. After more wandering we decided to start looking for a place to eat (again!;)) and like all dining gems we had found thus far, we stumbled upon a perfect restaurant to meet our needs of a light meal and a beer before wrapping up another fabulous night in Budapest!:) We strolled along the river, taking in the city lights and the bridges at night until the chilly weather led us back to our hostel to rest up for the following day of travel.

We were sad to leave beautiful Budapest and as always the ONLY good thing about leaving was arriving at our next destination.:)

NEXT STOP: PRAGUE:)