Category Archives: Hungary

To start off our last day in Budapest we meet up with John and Paul for a coffee. Now these lads adore and know their expresso! I tired to follow along with then coffee talk but I don’t think its the same if you don’t drink it for pleasure and necessity. Once we went our separate ways Andrea and planned to make the most of the cheap pricing and of our substantial amount of Hungarian Forints. By going over to the spa before our train! We headed over to, but sadly everything’s booked up for the rest if the day. Determined we went into every other spa we could spot walking done the streets but no where had any vacancies for us even though there was no one inside! So instead we decided to do some shopping, to try to find Andrea a shirt. We went down the major centre and up the main streets as well to come out empty handed. As we were walking to grab a bite Andrea realized that she dint have her money belt on! Instant panic, as we she literally had all her cards, money, eurorail and passport inside. Thankfully we went back into a store where she tried clothes on and security had it there with everything still inside. Lets just say that thankfully she didn’t have to learn her lesson the hard way and not to keep all her eggs in one basket ;)
Crisis averted, and we got a well deserved ice cream and made out way to pick up our backpacks and catch the train over to Bratislava. A quick three hours train and we were in Slovakia! After walking to our hostel we rested up from our shopping and spa day fail with a bit of excitement in the middle for a fresh start tomorrow.

We started off our morning with going to doing a general walking tour! Lucky for us it was the same tour guide that we adored from the communist tour we did a few days before. Yet this time it was even better since there was no rain just lovely sunshine. We mainly toured the main sites that Andrea and I have seen the last few days, but it was fantastic to get some more insight on what we’ve seen! We passed through both side of the whole city. Lets just say that we were a little tired afterwards so we went back to the hostel to freshen up and have some lunch before heading out again.

Today there is a parade for the ?!?!? Festival. We hit the streets with John and Paul in search of the parade. It was easy to spot by the marching band lining up along the river. As the parade began we all began to march along side then. We had Canadian flags on tote on our belongings to it was as if we were proudly presenting Canada in the festivities :) Each costume from every country was so elaborate, detailed and looke way too warm for this heat! Most of the counter that partook in the festival were from Central and Eastern Europe and you can’t forget China either! The parade snaked through the streets all to meet at the city square.

Within a few minutes cultural dancing began. Each of the rare step countries performed a traditional dance routine and some countries even had live music and singing accompany the dances. Even for these countries being is such close proximity to one another their dancing was so diverse. All the routines were so well polished it was really impressive for just a recreational level of performance. After a long wait for the little Chinese girls to perform their acrobatic routine we went to go and grab a bite for dinner

The four of us then decided to go out to a ruin bar. Instead of not using the underground cellars bars and clubs had renovated then for their use. We went to szimpla kert. It was the first ruin bar in Budapest and it had super interesting furnishings. There were lamp chandeliers, driftwood table tops, old cars renovated to be seats and other insane creations. We went to watch a band playing in one of the back rooms and when they invited the audience to join them Paul went up and killed it with them! By the time he finished that the the room was packed. Afterwards we headed out to go to the middle of Elizabeth park where the everyone goes to drink for heading in. When I say everyone I literally mean it all the benches and grass in filled with people, so much so that people were sitting on the pavement. In the middle of the square there is a pool, but actually it is the roof for the club. Sadly when we went to check it out there was no one in the park unlike other evenings and the club was closed. So we settled on all walking back to our hostel along the river and having and resting up, but not before singing along the streets! We were a rocking quartet!

Today we decided that we would spend it on the other side of the bridge, in Buda. We crossed over the Chain Bridge as we were walking up then hilltop I turns around and was taken away by the view. I just can’t get over how beautiful the Parliament building is! When looking down I could see the changing of the guards or at least that is what I thought it was. They were six guards and the all performed sequences while playing then trumpet entering and circling the fountain outside the building. The both us gave up trying to guess what they were actually doing and kept going up to the top. Once we finally got the the top we saw lots of stags and bachelorette parties going around the palace. We circled the palace, we weren’t able to go into the gardens since they were hosting a private beer garden. We walked out to the back and saw the ruins from bombing in WW2 and also we got the view of Buda. Now apparently Buda is the more expensive side of Budapest to live in, but to me the only good thing about living in Buda would be the view of Pest, other than that it seemed rather run down and out of the city centre.

After viewing the what we could of the place exterior we headed over to see the ?!? Church. It is certainly wedding season as since we have been walking around we saw at least four different wedding parties and three different couples getting photos taken. I am sure that both Andrea and myself have photo bombed them, not on purpose though it was just enviable to get in the shot! The building are so prestigious all white with columns and detailed tiled roofs. I can definitely see the Turkish influence. We saw Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion at the heart of Buda’s Castle District.

After sightseeing we wandered our way to the Mall in hope to find Andrea a skirt! The mall had a mammoth/ caveman theme. It was so strange! There was one part where there where mammoths on the ceiling! We weren’t able to find a skirt but that malm visit was quite a unique experience!

We headed back to our hostel to make dinner and rest up. We head from other travelers around that Liberty statute was awesome to go to for sunset. So away we went to cross the river once again and climb up an even bigger hill! A twenty minute workout later after walking at basically a 90 degree angle we walked all the way up. What is really interesting is that the Nazis use to use it as a watch tower when they occupied Hungary. We continued on to find a bench a wait to watch the sunset behind the city. The others were right it was beautiful. Before the sun completely set we went back down the hill and by this point the lights along the bridges, parliament and the castle went on. Budapest is just stunning!

Starting of the day we headed back to the Parliament Building for a tour. Our tour ended took us to see the grand plaza staircase, Crown Jewels and to see the Dom. The parliament building took over 19 years for it to build and trust me everyday was worth it! The inside is even more stunning yah the exterior. The ceilings are framed with gold and have depictions all throughout. The wallpaper is so intricate, I have a hard time believing that wasn’t stencilled and all hand painted. When we went to view the Dom the chandelier apparently 30 meters lower than the actual height of the building from the outside. All the jewels on the chandelier weigh four tones and directly below it are the Crown Jewels. Not the best place to have them displayed in my opinion and sadly photos were not permitted! The your was way too short for the price we paid in my opinion, but I suppose they need to charge so much to keep everyone working there employed. There was an obscene amount of guards around. There was four of them standing around the Crown Jewels and also one at with end of our tour group making sure that did not stray from the guide.

After the tour we started to make our way to opposite side of Budapest to the Széchenyi Baths but not before making two stops along the way! The first stop was too look through the 1956, a memorial site and exhibition. As we have been walking along the city we have noticed many different unique memorials around the city to tribute to this, so it was interesting to acquire more information about it.

We then walked across the city and left the tourist area and were able to see the Budapest to a resident. Overall Budapest is a rather relaxed city, it doesn’t have the hustle and overcrowding like Prague and yet this area was as if there was no one there. Just a few family owned stores and a cafe were it appeared the daily customers were socializing with one another. Our second stop of the way to the baths was to the Hero’s Square.

Finally just a few blocks away we decided that we should grab a bite to eat before we went inside the baths. So we grabbed a bite and ate it along the pond in the river. After we were fuelled up away we went. The Széchenyi Baths had over 26 different baths, both inside and outside. There were also saunas, but after already being in the mid 30 degree heat voluntarily stepping to 55 degree temperatures did not sound enticing to me. Each bath ranged in temperatures from 10-35 degree temperature water. The also differentiated by steam and thermal. I am sure that they had different minerals and additives to them as well but sadly nothing was labelled and if it was it was only in Hungarian Huff! Once the sun began to set and our whole bodies were pruned from the many hours we spent in water we headed off to grab some dinner. We went to a restaurant called Hummus, can your guess that we hummus? I also had the best homemade lemonade and falafels! What made it even better was how cheap it was. For both Andreas and i’s meals, drink and appetizer it came less to $12 cdn! After filling ourselves up we took our doggie back bag to our hostel and crashed instantaneously! I suppose we had too much fun in the sun!

Second time was not the charm for last nights train to Budapest. Unlike our last overnight train this time we had four other girls staying in our couchette, it was so darn warm in there. Overall it wasn’t that much sleep for me whatsoever… That’s what caffeine exists :) When we arrived in the early morning I could already feel the sun beaming down, finally all the sunshine I have been hoping for! Instead of the other girls in our couchette that were planning to take the metro to the same hostel we were staying at. Eventhough it was a bit of a walk we actually ended up beating them! After leaving our backpacks in the luggage room since it was too early to check in, we decided to kill some time before our walking tour by strolling along the streets. We ended up passing a high end shopping area, and when we went inside a shop the employee assumed I was Mexican and started to try to speak to me in Spanish.., I suppose that one day of sun in Kraków did me good :)

Continuing our way we ended up walking along the Danube river the same one that flows through Prague. We sat along the and took in the view of Buda side of Budapest. The river used to separate two cities, but after the construction of Chain Bridge they were united to form Budapest. We continued to follow the river and walked past The Shoes on the Danube Promenade. A memorial and a monument to the Hungarian Jews who, in the winter of 1944-1945, were shot on the banks of the Danube River. Walking again with the river current it led us past the stunning Parliament buildings we then continued to walk to Margaret Island. With the heat blazing down on us we took the opportunity to soak our feet in the fountain like the other locals. Just as about we were getting ready to leave the fountain started a water show with music and all! Even after a few songs it on going. By this time we had to he’d back to the city centre. We went in a tour focused around Communism in Budapest. Our tour guide was absolutely fantastic and it showed that she adored her city. Even when the sunshine mysteriously disappeared as turned to a downpour she held me to her stories not making me mind about the horrible rain.

After the tour was over we needed to warm up so we headed over to our hostel to finally check in! Continently on the way there was a grocery store so we grabbed what we needed for the next few days and took the rest of the night easy and I enjoyed some well deserved sleep!