Two Days in BudaBEST
In our short time celebrating our American holiday in Budapest, we shortly realized Budapest really means BudaBEST! To see how we planned this trip or our first two days of our European Thanksgiving, check out our other posts!
[divider class="" ]Budapest (Saturday):
We decided to slightly sleep in and take the 8:45 train to Budapest, meaning we would arrive at 11am. However, we did not anticipate the throngs of other tourists with the same idea! The train was packed! Unfortunately, we did not get the posh Austria train as this train was Hungarian and I could tell it was many years old.. And yes, Austrian trains look very posh when sitting next to this train!Once we arrived, we took the tram into the city. To be fair, I was not expecting much from the metro. However, it was really nice and really easy to get to our hotel! The station and metro cars were relatively clean compared to some of the buildings!After arriving at our hotel, we again wandered the streets of Old Town while waiting for our free walking tour. Again, we found the Christmas markets and it was so cool! Although there are similarities between all of them, with the (American) Christmas music, my mood instantly becomes festive.
Walking Tour:
We joined the Free Walking Tours for the afternoon session and I have to say, it is a must if one is there in the winter where it gets dark at 4pm. The lights of the city slowly turn on and it instantly brightens the city from the cold, grey look to some amazing views. To help this view, our tour guide, Agnes (her English name), is one of the best free guides I have had in an city. She knew her facts, stories, and jokes and even brought along a microphone!Our guide took us to various awesome spots throughout the city. We toured St Stephens Basicilia (how we discovered that market!), stopped at the Ritz, and saw the famous square and ferris wheel. She told us about the awesome food and ruin pubs in the Jewish district that we noted for later![gallery size="large" columns="2" ids="898,897"]To end our time on the Pest side of town, we crossed the famous Chain bridge to Buda. Buda is far more residential and hilly, but also has three of the most famous landmarks - Fishermen's Bastion, Mattias Church, and the Royal Palace. Since we were on the afternoon tour and it was nighttime at 4pm, the city lights came to life and we had the best views!! We could also see the Hungarian Parliament that is designed after the British Parliament.[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="900,906"]Overall, the walking tour brighten our day. From the gorgeous night views from Fisherman Bastion to the unique history of Buda and Pest (pronounced pesht), we were instantly amazed by this city.
Christmas Market:
At night, the Christmas markets really come to light. We had two favorite ones - the St Stephen's market and the Vorosmarty Square. They were filled with unique homemade crafts and good food. The market at St Stephens has a custom light and movie show that projects onto the basilica and is a festive Santa filled movie! Mary Frances has this unique technique of shopping where she has to look at every stall and then she will decide what to buy. However, just give me mulled wine and tasty food and I can shop anywhere!
[divider class="" ]Budapest (Sunday):
We had a lazy morning at the hotel and didn’t have a lot planned for the day. In addition to the great location, our hotel served a good breakfast! We took my new favorite metro to the infamous House of Terror museum. However, this time, we saw the “true” metro line - straight out of the '60s!The House of Terror derived its name for being exactly that from 1940-90s. The names of the parties who used the house may have changed, but not the intentions. The House functioned as the internal police and spy headquarters for both the Nazis and Communist regimes. Truly awful crimes were committed and later buried. Probably the best reminder of these times was at the very end. They listed all names and birth and death dates associated with this House of Terror and many of those people are still alive.
To boost our spirits, we decided to dive into Christmas market shopping. By we, I really mean Mary Frances! I basically stood there and carried the loot! When we ran out of money, Mary Frances of course decided she wanted more presents. We decided to run back to the hotel, grab our suitcases, get some more money, then head back into the markets until the last possible moment. Safe to say, we boarded the airport bus with three minutes left.
[divider class="" ]Food:
In Budapest, since we arrived at brunch, we went to a close highly rated brunch place called Cafe Central. Sadly, I did not review the menu prices so I just got venison stew. It was filling and tasty, but also just soup… Mary Frances got the Budapest schnitzel, which was good but not as good as Vienna.Since we ate early and went on a walking tour into the late afternoon, it meant a long wait until dinner so we were hungry (also because I ate soup at lunch). To clarify the next story, I told Mary Frances I was done planning dinners so she could take the lead here. Following our guide’s advice, we went into the Jewish Quarter and landed at a wine bar called DeVino. While we had excellent wine, I was not satisfied with the quantity of food. Mary Frances just saw wine bar and instantly loved it. It is really fun, but I was hoping for more substantial… In the end, it was fine. I was too hungry to settle for just the meat and cheese plate so I also ordered the pork chop!One really cool point about Budapest are the so-called ruin bars. After WW2, no one had enough money or motivation to redevelop abandoned or ruined factories, houses, warehouses, etc. Moving into these ruins came the bartenders. Thus, with the same ruined structure, a huge party bar scene emerged. The ruin bar scene is really cool. We went to Szimpla Kert, recommended by online reviews, and it was fascinating. Essentially, there was a building, with some added lights and hip memorbiliba, combined with a bar. It was super cool!
[divider class="" ]The UnChartered 13:
[gallery size="large" columns="2" ids="905,904,902,903,899,909,937,938,939,940,941,900,907" orderby="rand"]