I Fell in Love.... with Budapest

At Gellert Hill

So when I think of a vacation I'm not going to lie Budapest definitely wouldn't have made it to the top 15 of places I wanted to go if I was living in the U.S.A.  But I had heard so many good things about it I figured heck why not give it a try.  Glad I did... truly underrated and one of my favorite places so far... with spectacular views I might add.  Also surprisingly not as sketch as I was expecting. 

View from Gellert Hill

In Budapest I had my best couchsurfing experience.  She was Hungarian and absolutely amazing.  Coincidentally her room mate just happened to be my flight attendant from Brussels South to Budapest.  As soon as I arrived she had a bottle of wine waiting on me and took me for a short walk on the Buda side.  I guess I should explain that Budapest is split in two the Buda side (which is hilly) and the Pest side (which is flat).  It is separated by the Danube River.  She lived on the Buda side so it was a short walk to Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, Gellert Hill where we stopped and watched the sunset and drank the wine.  What a perfect way to start my time in Budapest.  Being as passionate about wine as I am I must say that Hungary has the best wine I have drank so far.  Sorry Spain and Italy but there is a new favorite.  She cooked me a traditional Hungarian dinner which consisted of sausage, potatoes, cheese and sour cream (they LOVE sour cream in Hungary... apparently they didn't think that we had it in the U.S.A. either).  It was delicious.  She also bought me these traditional candies.  It's like a chocolate bar filled with flavored cream and it has to be refrigerated.  You can see the wrapper on the photostream She bought me two and they have a chance on the wrapper to win more.  I won an additional 3 to the 2 that she bought.  My favorite flavor I think was Black Cherry but I can't read Hungarian so I'm not really sure if that was the flavor.  I'm just guessing from the picture on the wrapper.  Surprisingly almost everything in Hungary is bi-lingual between English and Spanish, especially public transportation which was very helpful. 

The Danube/ Hungarian Parliament from the Margaret Bridge

The next morning I explored some on my own and started with a walk to Margaret Island.  This is an island located in the Danube between Buda and Pest.  It has a large park and great running trails.  Very peaceful and reminded me a lot of Retiro but less crowded.  Then I went to the City Park to see the Vajdahunyad Castle, Hero's Square, and Szechenyi Bath.  I also went to the Budapest Central Synagogue, the Great Market Hall (which had the largest package of salami I had ever seen in my life... it literally went from the floor to the ceiling) that is filled with souvenirs and food and then walked down to the Hungarian Parliament and St. Stephen's Basilica.  I went back where I was greeted with Chicken Paprika (they also LOVE to use Paprika in pretty much everything) which was even better than the first night.  Afterwards she took me to some touristy bars.  They are called the ruin pubs. In a travel magazine one of these pubs is supposed to be ranked the 3rd best bar in the world.  That's a lot to live up to.  It was actually pretty cool.  The story behind the ruin pubs are they were abandoned tenement buildings that were transformed into bars.  They decorated the bars with the left over furniture and knick-knacks that were left behind.  It's very dark and quite eccentric.  The whole building is used for the bar.  They have an open courtyard and they use the different apartments which they turned into bar rooms.  So if you ever find yourself in Budapest you have to check these out.

Outside of the Szecenyi bath

Inside of the bath

My last day in Budapest I was going to meet up with some friends of a friend.  I woke up to a full spread of a Hungarian breakfast and pastries.  Girl after my own heart.  Then I met up with these new friends and we decided we were going to go to the Szechenyi bath.  I don't think we planned on staying there the whole day but we did.  It was extremely relaxing and warm enough for me to sit outside in the outdoor pool all day!  We also spent some time in the mineral baths and saunas.  I'm pretty sure I almost feel asleep at one point.  Afterwards we met at a square and had dinner.  Mine consisted of Hungarian Sausage with Rosemary Potatoes.  Delicious!  When I got back they had an airplane bottle of palinka waiting for me.  This is specific to Hungary and is very strong.  Not the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.  Since it was my last night they decided to take me out again and we went to a different ruin bar.


The next morning I had to leave by 5:30 to make it to my 6:30 bus.  Hopped on the bus and 6 1/2 hours later....