Happy in Hungary!

Parliament Building

Budapest is a city rising in the ranks of top tourist destinations and for me, Budapest has been one of my favorite cities I’ve visited on this trip! I had a fantastic time here and would happily come back. :) I can’t pinpoint exactly what made me so happy, but it was a combination of beautiful architecture, tons of things to do, good food, company, and weather, and a huge city expanse to navigate. Maps of Budapest were deceptive and tricked users like me into thinking the city was small. Rather, it’s perfectly large! I could (and did) walk for days through the city, continually discovering new delights. I’ve also come to realize that my opinion of a place is significantly impacted by the hostel I stay at and the food I eat. The people at Bebop Hostel were fantastic, and the food, when not delicious, was at least interesting :)

I arrived around 5am on a bus from Romania. I met a girl, Andrea, on the bus ride and together we tried to get in to the hostel (unsuccessfully – no answer), then sat outside McDonald’s for an hour until it opened. I’ve never heard of a Mcdonald’s opening at 7am! So late! The workers were there around 6am but felt no sympathy for us sitting outside in the cold. So it goes. I was able to check in to the hostel later, take a nap, and then meet Andrea for lunch in the Jewish quarter. She is awesome, and lucky me, I get to visit her in Vienna!

Me + St. Stephens Basilica Panorama

St. Matthias Church

Fisherman's Bastion

That first day in Budapest, I got to see a view of the city from St. Stephens Basilica and cross the famous Key Bridge to the Buda section of the city. I saw the Royal Palace, the magnificent St. Stephens Basilica, and the castle-like Fisherman’s Bastion before having an awesome Mozart gelato. I had seen Mozart Kugeln chocolates in some European cities already, but not only did Hungary have a Mozart gelato (chocolate with marzipan), they had a Mozart-dedicated store! 

I made sure to see the highlights of Pest (House of Terror, Heroes Square, Andrassy Avenue, Parliament, Opera House, etc…) but I devoted most of the next day to the Great Market Hall and the Szechenyi Baths. The baths were fancy! They had three outdoor pools and more sauna rooms and indoor baths than I could count. I spent three hours experimenting with hot baths, icy baths, stinky baths (sulfur) and saunas at different temperatures (they were all very hot). Good times :)

 

The Great Market Hall was a lot of fun too! … brightly colored produce sold everywhere, souvenirs (of course), and restaurants selling traditional Hungarian dishes. I bought the most amazing strawberries and blood oranges (?) from the fruit stands:

Then, I got to try the famous Hungarian goulash (but goulash as we know it is called pörkölt in Hungary):

It was exciting to try, but so-so from a taste standpoint and in terms of a beef stew, I might prefer Dinty Moore :) I had dinner of halaszle (paprika fish soup) from the market also and found a not-so-nice lump of fish sperm in my soup! They are not discriminating with their use of fish parts! (In case anyone is interested, fish sperm tastes like cow brains, which tastes like a cholesterol-filled version of medium-hard tofu... Not so good….) I didn’t get around to trying langos (deep fried funnel-cake-like bread with savory or sweet toppings) or taking any shots of absinthe… next time!

Two days was much too short for such a fantastic city, but I’ll be back :)

Next Up: "Czechoslovakia" (Currently the Czech Republic and Slovakia)!