Lively, gritty, diverse, unique, cool, eclectic and bohemian. All words I would use to describe the lovely city of Budapest.
Budapest as a city is split up into two different areas, with a river running between them. The Buda side is the hilly side, with government buildings, monuments, fancy houses, and a couple churches. The Pest side is the flat area and is where all the action is - nightlife, restaurants, bars, and people galore.
Our friend Janine from Colorado joined us for this stretch of the trip. We stayed at an airbnb in the Jewish Quarter which was perfect for us! There were shops and restaurants in walking distance and our neighborhood had a great lived in feel.
We stuck to Rick Steves advice during this part of the trip as well (because he knows all). Our time in this wonderful city included:
- Walking Tours - we did two walking tours here (clearly our favorite) - one general tour our first day in the city and then a specific one of the Jewish Quarter. We learned that Hungary was occupied by foreign forces from 1541 until 1991. We ended up running into some of the athletes that Janine works with at the Training Center during this tour, which was so crazy! Small world.
- Parliament Tour - although the tour was pretty short, the tour of the Parliament building was jammed packed with a whole lot of glam. This building was the most expensive building ever built in Hungary. It's dome is 96 meters high, the exact same height as St Stephen Basilica, symbolizing the equality of church and state. The building has over 690 rooms and a good part of the inside is decorated with gold! It was built to celebrate Hungary's independence from Austria.
- Gellert Baths - as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Or, when in Budapest, do as the Hungarians do. And they bathe. Budapest sits on a thin layer of earth above hot springs and has over 100 natural springs. We opted to go to a bathing suit required more "spa-like" bath experience (much to my delight). There were about 8-10 different pool options, all varying degrees. It was quite an experience and fun to people watch. Luckily Rick had warned us about the countless speedos we would see, so we were well prepared for the banana hammocks (and there were a lot).
- Citadel Hike and View - after soaking in the baths we hiked to the top of the Citadel mountain to see a spectacular view over the river and the Pest side of the city. The statue of Lady Liberty at the top is the last remaining Soviet statue in the city. Our walking tour guide said the Hungarians just felt like it was too big and too much of a hassle to take it down. All the other Soviet statues were removed are in a section a little outside of town.
- Ruin Bars - Much of Budapest was destroyed during World War II, and the city is still recovering. In the old Jewish Quarter area many buildings were left to decay. These buildings have been taken over by bars, who leave much of the building in its decayed state. They fill it with eclectic pieces of furniture, lighting and artwork and create a cozy, unique and super cool atmosphere. Several of these bars are tucked away and hard to find - luckily I had a recommendation of a place from a girl I had met traveling earlier. This bar was so cool!
- Opera - thanks to Rick's advice, we decided to scope out the Opera. Our first day in the city we went to the Opera house to see if we could get tickets and ended up getting some to one of the rehearsal shows the next night. We didn't really know what the opera would be about, but figured it would be a fun experience. That night we were feeling quite fancy and sophisticated and were all picturing it to be the scene out of Pretty Woman. We even got dressed up, did our hair and put make up on (a big to do these days - and I'm not sure if you can call a dress with Birkenstocks dressed up?). Anyways, we were feeling hot to trot and upon arrival at the Opera had even landed our own little box (SO Pretty Woman). The Opera started out innocent enough - some good singing, interesting costumes, and they even had subtitles translating it to English. Perfect. Well it went downhill fast. All of a sudden we were all trying to stifle our giggles and were all in shock at what we were seeing. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen. Audience members kept getting up and walking out. At one point there were about 10 naked men on stage (other than a strategically placed leaf) - we just could not believe our eyes. It just kept getting weirder and weirder. After the opera we googled what it was supposed to be about. Apparently this was a well known opera and they tried to do some sort of new age twist on it. Well it sure was lost on these three Opera newbies. So much for our "sophisticated" night out.
Highlights:
- Meeting another travel buddy, Janine!
- Hike up to the Citadel Mountain - it was an amazing view of the city at the perfect time of night.
- Jewish Quarter and Ruin Bars - these bars and this area of town has such a great energy and cool vibe to it!
- Local Market - we happened upon a local artisan market in our neighborhood on our last night. We each got some jewelry from local artists - the perfect souvenir!
- Food! We found a great breakfast place, Sitka (we went there twice) and a great traditional Hungarian restaurant, Castro Bistro (we also went there twice). Just a couple of regulars.
Lessons Learned:
- Not all Operas are a Pretty Woman experience.
- The money here is like Monopoly money. They just keep adding zeros to everything.
- I can confidently say I will never learn Hungarian. I couldn't even learn the one phrase our tour guide was trying to teach us.
- I could definitely spend more time exploring Budapest - so many cool nooks and crannies to the city!
- Budapest was not as "polished" as the Polish cities, but we all agreed that was something we loved about it. It really felt lived in.
My travel buddies Stacia and Janine in our Airbnb courtyard.
View from our hike up Citadel Hill.
Inside of the Parliament Building. So much gold.