December 1-4
The Chain Bridge in Budapest on a Foggy Day
We touched down in Budapest in the early evening hours of December 1st after our fun visit to Dublin. As always, we had done our research on how to get into the city from the Airport. The city guides mentioned that the Taxis in Budapest were known for ripping people off and the train was over an hour, so the Shuttle bus was clearly the way to go. I got in line for the shuttle while Shaun went to find an ATM. Luckily we had also done our research on the currency, because the Hungarian Forint (HUF) is one off those crazy currencies that takes thousands to reach the value of a dollar. We took out 50,000 forints, which translates roughly to 220 dollars. That kind of thing can be a huge shock if you don't know the exchange rate. One time we were in Prague years ago and I accidentally made an ATM withdrawal that amounted to about five dollars. We were charged more in fees than we had actually withdrawn!
With some HUFs in our wallet and a shuttle to the hotel, we were off. Here is the greatest thing about Budapest. It is still cheap. Very cheap. We could have gotten a two or three star hotel for around 30 bucks, but we had other plans! I had saved up my Starwood points from all my business travel and we were able to get a room at Le Meridien in downtown Budapest for only $60 a night! Le Meridien is a 5 star hotel right in the heart of the city, close to all the things we wanted to see and do and it is beautiful! Our room was huge! The plan was to stay for three nights, but I think you know where this is going!
The Chain Bridge at night
That first night we were way too tired to do anything but get a little dinner, so we walked around the corner to a little Italian place, had a quick bite and headed back to the Hotel. I took a bubble bath (oh the luxury!) while Shaun worked on his blog. It was a quiet, lazy night and we were happy as clams.
The next day we got up early, showered and headed out. Budapest also had a free walking tour and it got really great reviews. We headed down to Vorosmarty Square and met up with the tour group. Our tour guide, Sarah, was wonderful. She grew up in Budapest under communist rule, but under the more relaxed form that preceded the end of the Cold War. She did a great job of bringing us through the history of this city. The big joke was that Hungary has a long history of siding with the wrong people and being conquered and occupied over and over again! (The Turks, The Hapsburgs, The Nazi's and the Soviets were some of the occupiers of Hungary over the years)
The tour took us all over the city. In case you don't know, Budapest was once two separate cities, Buda and Pest before becoming one united city in 1873. It is easy to tell the two parts of the city apart, Buda is all hills and Pest is flat as a pancake and the Danube separates the two. We started on the Pest side of the city looking at the gorgeous old architecture interspersed with communist era buildings. We stopped at the beautiful St Stephen's Cathedral and walked along the Danube so we could see the Little Princess Statue. It is just a statue of a little girl (although it looks like a boy) but it is beloved in Budapest because it was the first Post-communist statue erected in Budapest and therefore the first non-communist propaganda statue the city had seen in 40 plus years.
St Stephen's Cathedral with the Christmas Market out front
The Little Princess, beloved for being just a nice statue, which was more than enough after 40 years of Communist Rule. And Sarah, our tour guide
After exploring Pest we walked over the lovely Chain Bridge to the Buda side of the city; the Buda Hills. We walked up the 200 plus stairs to the old Palace, which is now a museum. From there we went to St Matthias church and the Fisherman's Bastion, a beautiful Neo-Gothic arcade overlooking the Danube. Both which were just beautiful, even in the fog. The weather was also bitterly cold, only about 25 degrees, so all the walking we did was a good thing. When at the end of the tour Sarah invited folks to join her and the other guides at a cafeteria style place right around the corner, we were all over it!
Saint Matthias Church with the beautiful tilework
The view of the city below through the Fisherman's Bastion
The lunch spot was a place we never would have found. You go through an unmarked door and up a flight of stairs until you come to a big open cafeteria. There were lots of locals eating there and then us! Sarah helped everyone order their lunches, which was great since all the signs were in Hungarian. Shaun got a big bowl of Veal Paprikash with dumplings and and I got a roast stuffed chicken leg with rice and vegetables. On the side we got a cabbage salad and bread. The whole lunch came to less than 12 dollars and it was excellent.
The next few days in Budapest were great, but were mainly filled with wandering the city streets. Even in the cold and fog this city is lovely. The Parliament building, which was modeled after London's Parliament building in Westminster is the most beautiful of all. When you are up in the Buda hills looking down on Parliament across the river, it's not hard to see why so many people love this city.
The Parliament Building was hauntingly beautiful in the Fog
One afternoon we took a long walk over the Chain Bridge and up into the hills to see the Citadel, an old fortress that was built by the Hapsburg in 1851 after the 1848 rebellion when the people of Budapest tried to take back their city from the Austrians. There they have Lady Liberty who looks out over the city and at 14 meters tall can be seen from all over when the days are clear. She was actually put there in 1947 to commemorate the Soviet "Liberation" of Hungary from the Nazi's after World War II. After Hungary won their freedom back from the communists in 1989, the plaque was changed to read: "To the memory of all of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary".
You can still feel the Turkish influence in the city as evidenced by this statue we saw on our walk up to the Citadel. That's the chain bridge below
Lady Liberty looks out over the city of Budapest
The view from the Citadel
After spending some time at the Citadel enjoying the views of the city, we wandered back along the paths down the Buda Hills all the way over to the Castle and St Matthias again. We considered going to one of the many Turkish baths around the city, but when I looked in on one the line was huge. We probably should have thought to do that on a weekday!
The nightlife in Budapest is very cool, probably a little too cool for a couple of forty year old backpackers, but we didn't care. Sarah had told us that if you wanted to experience the real Budapest, you need to go to the "Ruin Pubs". The idea is simple; there were hundreds of old abandoned buildings after the fall of communism in the late 80's. As the buildings sat in decay, young people saw an opportunity and they turned them into makeshift bars. They often have no signs outside and a graffiti'd curtain may be the only thing you see to let you know there's something good back there. It sounds like it would be illegal, but it isn't. It's actually a big part of the city culture now. We only went to a few, mainly because they were hard to find, but they were really cool and fun! The furniture was stripped down, the walls had graffiti art all over them and the heat usually amounted to a bunch of heat lamps around the tables. The lighting was low and the people were friendly and everyone was having a great time. If we were 15 years younger we would have been up all night! As it was we had a few drinks and wandered back to our 5 star hotel. Not a bad compromise!
Grafitti art on the curtain that served as a door for one of the Ruin Pubs
Hanging out in one of the Ruin Pubs
The scene at one of the larger Ruin Pubs
Another fabulous thing to do in Budapest in December is the Christmas Markets. Budapest has hundreds of them, large and small, set up all over the city. Each of them has their own distinct feel and each of them has their own fabulous food. We very quickly found that we could have a delicious hot meal for cheap money if we didn't mind eating standing up at the Christmas Markets. With items like Roast Goose Leg, Goulash, Handmade Sausages and Braised Cabbages and Grilled Vegetables, we didn't mind at all! And these markets also had entertainment. We saw a few bands and a troupe of Hungarian Folk dancers along the way!
One of our delicious meals, Roasted Ham Shanks and Grilled Vegetables
Roast Goose Leg and Stuffed Cabbage! Yum.
And the requisite sausage with mustard
By our third day we were supposed to go get our train tickets to Vienna, but we decided to stay another day instead. Between the city itself and our fabulous hotel, it was very hard to leave. Plus it was my birthday, and traveling on your birthday is no fun! Our only disappointment in Budapest was our attempt to go to the Opera that last night. We had heard it was very easy to get last minute tickets to see an Opera in Budapest and that it was very inexpensive, so we attempted to get tickets for my birthday but they were sold out. No worries though, we were going to Vienna next; the home of the Opera! So, instead we found a nice place to have dinner and made it an early night so we would be fresh for our travel the next day.
Birthday dinner
I was feeling artistic
Even with the cold, Budapest was a wonderful surprise. It was like Croatia in that it was inexpensive and full of unbelievable beauty and the people were really friendly. And although we were in Hungary, most people seemed to know enough English that we never felt really hampered by our lack of Hungarian. As always, we tried to use the pleasantries like Koszonom (thank you) and that got us a long way.
We were sad to leave Budapest, but our next stop was Vienna, a city I love. I had only been there for 24 hours back in 2004 but it made an indelible impression on me. I was really excited to go there with Shaun and see if it still made the same impression. So after 4 days in Hungary we were off to Austria, for one of the last few stops on our European trip!
The beautiful St Matthias lit up at night over the Danube
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