The final free weekend landed me in Budapest, Hungary. First off I had no idea that Budapest was actually two cities, Buda and Pest, that are separated by the Danube river but are connected to make one big great city. Friday night in Budapest was kicked off with navigating yet another public transportation system to get to our hotel. As so as we stepped into the hotel lobby all of our jaws dropped. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the prettiest hotels I've ever been to. Here is a picture to prove it.
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| No this is not a church its the inside of our hotel |
The night was finished off with a quick bite and a much needed good nights sleep. With some of the best sleep I think I have ever had we headed downstairs for breakfast. While eating the couple next to us noticed we were American and asked where we were from. This turned into a long conversation with two doctors who gave us incredible advice on what it is like to have a full time demanding job while also having a family at the same time. I honestly could have talked to them for hours but we didn't want to waste our day and reluctantly said goodbye. Our first stop for the day was visiting the shoes on the Danube memorial which remembered a number of Jews that were told to take off their shoes and some clothes before being executed and falling into the Danube River. From there we walked to the Parliament building and basked in the grandeur of it all and of course took a ton of pictures as well. We then stumbled upon a memorial for a mass shooting that took place in the square in front of the Parliament building by the Soviets that once controlled Hungary. After this we crossed the Chain Bridge to Buda and hiked all the way up to Fisherman's Bastion. The numerous amounts of stairs were worth it though because the view was great and provided yet another picture opportunity. By this time we were starved and found a restaurant that just so happened to be a Michelin star restaurant and boy was it good. We then wandered around Buda some more and saw the Buda Castle before heading back to Pest. We were able to grab a quick nap before heading out for dinner which was much needed. Once reenergized we headed out for dinner but sadly the place we wanted to go to had an hour long wait and we couldn't wait that long so we stumbled upon another restaurant that served traditional Hungarian food which was so good. From dinner we headed to craft beer bar to try Budapest's finest beers. Then it was time to check out the local ruin pubs and I have never been in anything like it. Basically a ruin pub is housed in an abandoned building where within the building are tons of different bars within one big bar which was really cool. Most of the night was spent here until we decided to check out another ruin pub but along the way to the next one I ended up breaking my shoe and had to hobble by way there. Because of this I decided to call it a night.
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| Shoes on the Danube |
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| Hungarian Parliament Building aka our new home |
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| Fisherman's Bastion |
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| Traditional Hungarian Food |
The next day we slept in and headed to the Széchényi Thermal Bath for some relaxation. This was really cool because they had indoor and outdoor pools and each pool was a different temperature so you had a lot of variety. Sadly we couldn't stay forever and decided to check out St. Stephen's Basilica. From there we walked around and happened to stumble upon some street venders selling all kinds of things including one selling prints of the city so naturally I had to get one. To round off the trip we stopped to get something sweet.
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| St. Stephen's Basilica |
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| Széchényi Thermal Bath |
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| Chimney cake with soft serve ice cream! |
Budapest was one of those places where I didn't know much about and probably wouldn't have thought to visit but boy was I wrong. Of all of the places I have visited on this trip this has probably been my favorite and I will definitely be back!
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