Budapest(Hungary)

August 2016

 

 

I always had a vague notion that Budapest had some Asian connection, and the “Buda” part of the name came from Buddha. Turned out, the Mongols got there in 1241 and destroyed the city, but Buddhism never got to Mongolia till 16th century. And how much influence Mongols actually had in the culture and language of Hungary is debatable, it seems. So my vague notion had rather weak ground.

Celts and Romans were in this region before the Hungarian Kingdom was founded in the 10th century, and the Turks invaded and stayed there for 140 years in the 16th and the 17th centuries. All these foreign influences are shown through out the present day urban center of  1.7 million people in this capital city of Hungary.

 

We arrived in Budapest on our river cruise to witness the coveted night time view of the city. With all the pretty buildings and bridges on either side of  River Danube lit up just right, the true star was the river itself, I thought.

We also learned that pretty much the entire city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Our first night in Budapest was spent on the boat, and, the next morning, we said good-bye to the cruise boat and the crew & began our own adventure. Our Airbnb studio ($60/night) was right across from Hungarian National Museum, which was a nice location to be for visiting various parts of the city. We could walk to many of the major attractions, and we were close to Metro stations and bus stops.

We each bought a Budapest Card good for 48 hours(about 33 Euros) so that we would be able to hop on and off their public transportation system and visit the attractions without worrying about getting tickets.

 

We had 3 full days in Budapest. We decided to do Pest(east side) one day, and Buda(west side) one day, then visit a nearby town one day.

We started at the museum across the street from our apartment to get some background information on the city and the country, and we were glad we did it. From there, we slowly walked over to the main street, Andrassy Avenue, and kept walking east admiring beautiful buildings, museums, and shops. It was raining on and off, but the rain was light enough that we did not mind it.

After two miles of walking, the street ended at Heroes’ Square, shown in the pictures above. The Fine Arts Museum is on the square as well, but we did not go in. Behind the Square is the City Park, Városliget. This is their Central Park, and there is a huge thermal bath right in this park along with a lakeside castle.

 

We were exhausted by this time. We hopped on the bus and got off at a stop near the main Catholic church, Saint Stephen’s Basilica. Before exploring further in this area, we had to have an ice creme break.

 

The basilica was as impressive as any other major churches in Europe, and the area around it was full of shops, cafes, and restaurants. Our feet protested, though, and we found combination of public transportation to get back to the apartment.

One more stop for the day was a thermal bath. Budapest is known as the City of Thermal Baths, and we had to try at least one. We picked a more utilitarian local bath, Lukacs, on Buda side, and this was included in the Budapest Card. Getting there using the public transportation was quite doable even though several transfers were involved. Thinking back, we might have had more memorable experience at a more luxurious place, but we still enjoyed soaking in the thermal water.

That night, we got on the Tram #2 that runs along the eastern shore of the river & took in the nighttime view of the River Danube one more time.

 

We started the next morning at the Parliament Building. No matter how many times you see this building, you can’t stop being impressed. From any and every angle, it looks beautiful.

We decided to see more of the city without walking, thus, we used the buses and the trams to eventually get to the Castle Hill area. The most visible church in the city is the Neo-Gothic style Matthias Church. The lookout terrace Fishermen’s Bastion is next to the church. The pictures above show the view from there.

We had our lunch at a restaurant on a street west of the church. It was called “Miro Cafe” and the place was quirky and fun. It seems it no longer exists, though. Too bad.

A 10-15 minutes of walking down the hill from there gets you to the Palace area which now houses the National Gallery and the Budapest Historical Museum. We had just enough energy to quickly check out the National Gallery. One odd thing in Budapest was that even with the Budapest Card, you had to stay in line with everyone else and get your free admission ticket. This wasted a lot of time.

We crawled down a few minutes to the funicular (about $4) station and got on it for a quick ride down the hill.

 

After taking a break back at the apartment, we were ready to hit the hipster’s Budapest. Not too far from us was the historic Jewish quarter, and the surrounding area was full of what they called, “ruin bars,” bars and cafes converted from abandoned buildings. Pictures above and below show this area. An article in UK’s Telegraph picked it as one of the world’s hipster neighborhoods. More about the cool bars here.

 

We took a break at this bar & decided to eat dinner here. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of this place. We had to climb up a narrow staircase to reach upstairs, and the view from there was just wonderful. We just sat there and did not want to move.

 

The next morning we headed out to a little town upstream called Szentendre. This is how its described in Wikivoyage article: “Pest county (Danube Bend west side. From M2: Batthyany Square, take a suburban train ‘HÉV’ (supported byBKV) to Szentendre – 19 km north). A picturesque town, the Mediterranean atmosphere of its thanks to Greeks Dalmatians and Serbs who are settled since the 14th century. At city limit can find the biggest open-air ethno-museum of Hungary. The most visited small town of Hungary. Also known for exquisite marzipan products.”

Touristy? Yes!! Was it worth it? It was good to see some place other than the big city. Next time we’ll try to go to a more authentic local town, perhaps.

Our dinner was at Ruben Restaurant, which was right around the corner from our apartment. Wow, what a nice find! High quality food, atmosphere, service at a reasonable enough price.

 

We wanted to visit the propaganda sculpture park, but we did not have time for that. Instead, we checked out some art nouveou buildings before heading out to the airport.