Budapest

We just returned from a long weekend in Budapest. It's a fun little city. It was actually a really nice city to just walk around in. Big, wide, tree-lined streets, not too crowded, and gorgeous sunny weather. Finally, a city that wasn't too crowded for me! And interestingly, I think I saw more Americans in this city than in any other foreign city I've traveled to. I really never thought so many Americans would be traveling to Budapest, but there they all were. I guess it was just unexpected as Budapest doesn't seem like as big of an attraction as Paris or Munich or London.

Like most tourists, we started our visit with a climb up to the Buda Palace. We didn't go inside the palace, and only took the one picture below of it. Below are also a few pictures of the view from the Buda palace hill looking across the river at Pest. These include several pictures of Parliament.

Buda Palace:



Parliament:



Instead of visiting the palace we went into the labyrinth underneath the palace. There are caves underground all over the hills of Buda and they were used as prisons and hiding places for criminals and probably for ordinary things like storage too. They were pretty spooky. There are all these wax figures down in the caves, dressed up from different operas. There is opera music playing to go with the figures and it's just really creepy. I didn't take any pictures of any of that. The caves are also where Dracula was imprisoned for a few years, which is their big claim to fame. They create fog in the caves so you can barely see your hand in front of your face and you wander around in the dark fog for quite awhile. All in all it was a fun way to spend some time out of the hot sun.



After touring the labyrinth we wandered over to the Matthias Church, which had a really unique interior.



Next up we hung out on and around the Fisherman's Bastion, which is just a really nice lookout terrace that was built around 1900. It was protected by the fishermen's guild at some point, hence its name. It had neat towers.



Looking back up at the church (on the right in the photo below) and bastion (on the left):



There were some old trams in the city. Also some really old subway cars but we didn't take any pictures of those.



Here's a picture of Parliament from ground level, though still from across the river. It's such a beautiful building, it was hard not to take a picture of it every time we saw it.



One of the lions that stands guard on the end of the chain bridge:



We hung out on a little street packed with bars a few nights, and discovered that we really liked Borsodi beer. It was really good, and the best Hungarian beer we tried by far. The bars on this street were always packed, and thankfully had big screen TVs for world cup viewing.



On our second day in Budapest, we went to the Holocaust museum in the morning. We didn't take any pictures but highly recommend spending a few hours there. We both learned a lot about the treatment of Hungarian Jews during WWII.

After the museum we headed to the Faust wine cellar, where we did a wine tasting. The cellar is in the underground caves which makes for a really great atmosphere for wine tasting. All candlelit and cozy. The owner there was extremely knowledgeable about not only Hungarian wine, but wines from all over Europe and the world. We learned a lot from him and had a great time chatting with him. And we even liked some of the wines!

This is just the street leading up to the Faust cellar. It has Matthias church at the end of it.



Some pictures from the wine tasting. The list of wines we were tasting were printed onto a scroll with burned edges which was fun.



You could also do a palinka, or schnapps, tasting at the cellar. We opted to not do that but here's a picture of the row of schnapps bottles you'd get to make your way through.



Look it's Parliament again! This time in late-day sunshine on our way home from wine tasting.



On our third day, we headed to the Szechenyi baths, which consisted of 18 pools all at different temperatures. There are hot springs underneath most of Budapest which has led to many bath houses across the city. I think Szechenyi is the most famous, at least among tourists, but could be wrong there. Anyway, there are some outdoor pools but most are indoors. They range from 18 degrees Celsius to 40, plus there are saunas, steam baths, and you can get all types of massages. It was easy to spend the better part of a day there. And while it looks crowded, since the water is quite hot in some pools, including the outdoor one below, it's really not so bad because you're not moving around at all - just sitting and being warm.



Near the baths is Heroes' square, which contains the Millennium Monument, which is dedicated "To the memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our people and our national independence". The monument contains statues representing many important Hungarian leaders, including the seven chieftains of the Magyars, along with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.



That's Martin, standing way too close and trying to take a picture:



Starting on this square were these funny vehicles that you could rent for awhile. You sat on them as a big group and everybody had to pedal in order to make it move down the street. These were filled, every single day, with bachelor parties of guys drinking beer and singing and shouting happily as they pedaled down the street. It was endless entertainment.



I think this is a Trabant in this picture. Whatever it is, it's old and probably from behind the iron curtain. This gives you a view of the nice streets we were walking along most days. Clean, lots of trees, two sidewalks on each side.



For our final dinner in Hungary, my favorite dish ever, chicken paprikash! This actually wasn't the first time I ate it in Hungary but it was the last. And a nice Kekfrankos wine to go with it. And spätzle. Perfect. Martin has catfish stew with noodles with cottage cheese in them which were also delicious.



On our final day in Hungary, we visited St. Stephen's Basilica. It's supposedly one of the top 10 most photographed sites in the world but I don't believe that. It is, however, quite large and impressive on the outside. Nothing too fancy on the inside, but still nice.



A picture of the inside. Mass had just finished so it was a little smoky from the incense.



Looking down the big square away from the basilica:



And, last but not least, the opera house. We didn't take in an opera because we were busy watching the world cup every evening ... maybe next time. We did stay in an apartment just one block away from this beautiful building though so we walked by it at least a few times a day.