After a three hour train ride from Vienna we arrive to Budapest. It was late when we arrived but we were able to navigate our way through the subway system and arrive at our destination in Octagon Square near the city center on the Pest side of Budapest. (note: Budapest is literally a combination of two city names. One side is called Buda while the other is called Pest. The Danube divides the two cities.) We were able to check into our apartment with ease. To our surprise, the owner of the apartment agreed to give us a tour of Budapest the next day. Once plans were made my Mom and I walked over to Jokai park near the Octagon to find a place to eat.
We searched through the various restaurants and decided to go to a place called "Karma". It is a progressive restaurant based on a variety of different western and eastern themes. Their food is based off a mixture of European, Hungarian, and the far east. I decided to get a Hungarian dish which was grilled catfish with bacon, potatoes, greens, and spice. It was sensational tasting and spicy. My Mom decided to get a green soup with jalapeno peppers with a special Hungarian bread. She liked her dish as well due to the spice in the food. After dinner we walked back to our place and hit the sack since we had a busy day planned for Saturday!
On Saturday morning we woke up and met our apartment owner Monica for our tour of Budapest. First we started our tour going to a famous cafe in a large modern book store. The cafe itself was dated back to the 1800's and was painted in neoclassical style. It was one of the coolest cafe's I've been in Europe so far due to the masterful artwork on the ceiling. Once we finished our drinks we went over to St. Stephans Basilica to visit one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in. It was built in the late 1800's and was not completed until just before the first World War. It's architecture style was neoclassical with a large dome over the center nave of the church. It felt like I was in church completely based off ancient Roman architecture. Another striking image was the main altar of the church. It stood out due to its size and large gold plating. Just above it were gold painted fresco's which made it completely awe-striking.
Once we left the church Monica took us to the biggest indoor market in Eastern Europe. It was a large building with three floors of street shops encompassing a variety of street vendors ranging from cloths, jewelry, food, and street food. We did a little gift shopping for friends and family back home. After shopping for about an hour Monica tells us there is a great restaurant right besides the Gellert Baths. (our next destination and activity for the day) We thanked Monica for the short morning tour of Budapest and headed over the Danube to the Buda side of the city to get to baths.
While I cannot remember the place we ate at for lunch, it was adjacent to the Gellert Baths. It was a traditional Hungarian restaurant, and of course, my Mom and I both had Hungarian food once again. I first started out with meat pancakes. It is a light pancake filled with beef and sauce. It was amazing, it definitely is a MUST GET while in Hungary. For lunch I had pork chops smothered with spices, greens, potatoes, and seasonings. This lunch was quite exceptional, but the best is yet to come!
Before coming to Budapest my Mom and I both agreed we must go to a famous Roman styled bath house there. We ended up going to the oldest and most famous Gellert Baths. When we arrived we had to go through a maze of changing rooms and other rooms to find the baths. It took us a good hour and a half to finally figure out how to navigate the place. The first bath we entered was a warm 36*C pool. It was very crowded and was not near a sauna so we decided to go to the outdoor pool since a sauna was adjacent to the outside pool. After about 2 hours in the pool we went into the sauna before we had to brave the cold to get back into the changing rooms. (Let me remind you, it was probably 45*F outside and raining.) Overall, I wish Gellert Baths were warmer. My Mom and I should have done more prior research to figure out that the other numerous bath houses across Budapest all had varying temperatures for their pools. Depending on who you are, if you like hotter pools try and check out the other bath houses in Budapest before making a decision on which on you want to go to.
After the bath house my Mom and I had to walk on the side of the Danube quite a ways before we made it to a subway station to get back across the river. However, on the walk we were able to see the famous Budapest Castle on our side as well as look across the river and see Budapest's Parliament building. Once we made it back to the subway we rode back to Octagon. Once we had a few hours to rest in the apartment we went back over to Jokai square to another great restaurant. (this restaurant was next to Karma, but I cannot recall its name)
This time my Mom and I had to have Hungary's famous Chicken Paparikas meal. Basically, it is a chicken dipped and surrounded by paparikas sauce and accompanied by a large dumpling on the side. It was one of the best meals I've had in Europe. Everyone who goes to Hungary needs to get this meal, it is completely worth it! Once dinner was over we retired back to the apartment and went to bed after a long day touring Budapest.
The next day we slept in very late and packed our stuff up. We left around noon walking in a rain storm back to the train station. It was quite a walk since we made a few wrong turns here and there and had to back track a few times to get back on track. For lunch we stopped on the way to the rain station at another traditional Hungarian restaurant. This time around I had goose leg, greens, sourcrout, and potatoes. Once again it was a great meal, especially the goose leg. Once we finished lunch we were able to find the right street down to the train station. After walking for nearly two and a half hours for the day we caught our train back to Vienna with plenty of time spare.
Overall Hungary was a great experience! Even though we had problems converting their currency and dealing with crummy weather it was definitely a successful trip. The food was amazing as well as the city. Everyone I encountered knew English and was very nice. Throughout the entire trip I felt like I was put in the mid 1990's due to the backwardness of the current city. However, you can see everywhere the city is making strides to modernize. I definitely want to go back to Hungary someday. Everyone who is in central Europe needs to make the trip over there. You won't be disappointed!
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