Budapest was incredible.
We arrived late in the day and checked into our hostel (City Westend Hostel). We were given a large private room on the third floor with a large window overlooking the street below. Normally, having a large window overlooking the street below is a huge benefit, however, on one particular night, as we sat by the window watching people trying to seek refuge from a torrential downpour – highly entertaining I must say – our neighbour from across the way began waving at us to get our attention. We thought ‘how nice, the locals are so friendly’. Then he tried to entice us to come over by showing us his extra chairs and bottles of wine. We politely indicated a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to him. Well, he didn’t give up that easily and continue to try and convince us to come over. Again, we declined. We continue to watch the people below as we sipped wine and snacked on the cheeses and sausage we picked up at the local market. When we happened to glance back at the window across the way where our neighbour sat, we couldn’t help but notice that he was staring directly at us – super creepy – AND THAT HE HAD REMOVED HIS CLOTHES. Sadly, that kinda put an end to our people watching as we turned down our lights, drew the curtains and began playing cards, leaving Creepy McCreeperson across the street to play by himself. Thanks for ruining our fun pervert!
The room itself was clean and the bathroom and showers were located directly across the hall from us. No A/C and it was hot, but it was just a crash pad so who cares.
We were only in Budapest for 4 days and there was a tremendous amount of things to see and an unbelievable amount of foods to try. So, let’s get started shall we.
Upon arrival at the airport we purchased the Budapest Card. For 9,900 forints we were given all access to the metro system – which is extremely reliable. Just keep in mind that the escalators in the metro are ridiculous – and countless museums for 72 hours. The card also included 2 free walking tours (one for the Buda and one for the Pest side) as well as free admission to the St. Lukas Thermal Baths, which in itself was worth the entire cost of the card.
On our first night in the city, we set off in search for, what else, traditional Hungarian food! We had done a bit of research and had a list of traditional Hungarian restaurants that also had the added bonus of being inexpensive. We made our way to Lef Etteram near the basilica. The menus had a long list of options, all traditional and all sounding delicious. We both settled on schnitzel. Emma had the pork and I had the chicken. The plates arrived at our table loaded with a very large schnitzel and some potato salad. I wish I could say that we ate like the ladies we are, but hell no! We wolfed down those plates of food in no time, polishing it all off with a local Hungarian beer – as you do.
The city:
This thousand year old city is comprised of two sides, one being Buda (meaning brother – so named after the brother of Ghenghis Khan) and the other Pest (meaning oven – so named due to the fact that ovens were used to keep the homes warm during the cold winters). The Buda side is comprised of hills, while Pest is a great deal larger and completely flat, which made it easier for it to be settled and as such is more densely populated. Whereas Buda was settled much later due to its hilly terrain. Both cities were separate until their unification in 1873 after which the city became known as Budapest.
Since we were staying on the Pest side, we did the Pest tour first. Now, I realize that the tour was free, but it was a bit of a joke. The places we visited were stunning, and I am certain rich with history, but our guide was absolute shit. I’m not sure if it was a language barrier (the tour was meant to be in English) or just a lack of knowledge, but the descriptions and history provided for the majority of the stops along the walking tour were very short, difficult to understand, and at times made no sense at all. Also, if you happened to have a question for our guide, the answer was usually, ‘I don’t know’.
That being said, we toured a large part of the city, including the Parliament buildings along the shore of the Danube, several squares and monuments of historical significance. There’s plenty of opportunity to take some amazing photos. We returned to the parliament buildings and the Danube later that evening to capture the same images at night, as our guide recommended that we do so. I didn’t think it was possible, but it was even more beautiful at night time!!
On our second day in Budapest, we did the walking tour on the Buda side and it was worlds better. At first we were a little worried since she started the tour by saying that this was her first ever guided tour. However, after the first 2 minutes we could easily tell that we were dealing with someone who actually had a passion for what she was doing. This tour would be different, and it was. She was fantastic. She regaled us with stories of Buda and Beethoven’s rumoured mistresses from the region. She read us Hungarian poems and even had one of the men in our tour read aloud the love letter that Beethoven wrote to his rumoured lover. During our break she spoke with us about Hungarian pop culture and other interesting things.
At the end of the walking tour we spotted the famed Ruszwurm Cafe made famous by its many wonderful pastries, notably the Ruszwurm Kremes, a delicious vanilla custard cream layers between two cookie crust like pastry layers. Needless to say, we made a beeline for this place the second the tour was over.
Naturally, having now devoured a very large piece of cake, it was time to make our way to the St. Lukas Thermal Baths. Notice how we always follow any eating activities with an activity requiring us to don our bikinis?! Seriously, what is wrong with us! Amirite?!
The thermal baths were incredible and definitely worth a visit when in Hungary. Our visit was included with the purchase of our Budapest card, but I would happily pay to revisit these baths again. The St. Lukas baths have 2 very large swimming pools, of varying degrees, large thermal bath with shoulder massage stations and a whirpool, sauna and ice cold immersion pool. We spent over 2 hours there and could have spent the entire day. I wanted to go back the minute we walked out the door, that’s how awesome it was!
We visited so many places in Budapest but there are two final places that I must recommend if you’re ever there. The first being the Central Market not only because I’m a foodie and love markets, but rather because this place is beautiful. The building itself is massive with 2 levels. Lower level houses the fruit and vegetable vendors along with a number of butcheries, delis, bakeries and speciality food shops whereas the upper level houses the trinket and souvenir shops along with the hot food concessions (or self serve restaurants) where you can buy a very large meal at a ridiculously low cost. Oh, and they also sell beer.
The second place you must visit is the New York Cafe. The cafe was first built in 1894, and it’s Italian Renaissance inspired design is indeed something to behold. Please note that it’s not inexpensive, however, we stopped by for a glass of wine and lingered, snapping a ton of photos in the process. Stepping into this cafe is like traveling back in time.
The food:
We ate so much food in Budapest, way too many dishes to list out here, so I’ll just give you the highlights:
Kolbacz sausage
The nightlife:
Budapest’s nightlife offers something for every taste, whether it’s an Irish Pub, a Hungarian Tavern, a massive dance club, or one of their famous ruin pubs. There is something for everyone. If, however, you would prefer to be one with nature while you sip on your beer or wine, you can always make your way to one of the cities parks and join the locals. We couldn’t believe the amount of people who gathered in the parks at night to drink. Who knew city parks could be so much fun.
On our last night in Budapest, following our nightly Hungarian wine opening ceremony (ie. pushing the cork downwards into the bottle), and probably after consuming a couple of bottles of wine, Emma suggested we visit a ruin pub. Now, it was already late and our flight was leaving at 6am, which meant being in a taxi on the way to airport by 4am. However, we’d been told, or possibly read somewhere that one could not possibly visit Budapest and NOT VISIT A RUIN PUB. Conveniently enough, there happened to be one located just around the corner from our place. What could possibly go wrong? Or rather, what could go right?
We did our very best to limit our consumption to no more than 2 drinks at the pub and not stay beyond that, and we managed to do just that. The problem however was the two bottles of wine we drank earlier and the fact that we had to be up at 3:30am and ready for our 4am airport pickup. What can I say, we made a mistake!
When the alarm sounded at 3:30 we got up out of bed, still drunk, got dressed and then waited for our car. Luckily we had been smart enough to pack our bags before heading to the pub. Small mercies.
All week long we had been diligent about not drinking the tap water and had only been drinking bottled water. Until that morning, when I, dehydrated and badly in need of water, filled my water bottle from the tap – a decision I would soon regret. What can I say, the haze of alcohol still clouded my brain and impaired my judgment.
The drive to the airport was uneventful and I had the window open gulping at the fresh air.
Can I just add that as we drove through the city at 4am we couldn’t help but notice how fresh and put together every one looked. Whilst we sat in the back of our cab, barely resembling anything near human, these folks looked liked they were just stepping out instead of just now making their way home. What the what?
So, we arrived at the airport and just as we were about to go through security I decided to gulp down the bottle of tap water I had brought with me. Once through security we made our way to our gate and all was good.
I was so looking forward to catching up on some badly needed sleep. Sadly, that was not to be. Before take off even, I started to not feel so good. You know queasy, warm, clammy, sweaty, and the worse one of all nauseous. Before we even taxied to the runway, I was out of my seat barfing in the airplane lavatory. And that my friends is where I spent 70% of the 2 hour flight. There would be no sleep for me, just an airplane toilet and a cold metal sink on which to rest my head between the unending and merciless vomitus contractions of my stomach, praying that death would take me.
‘Let’s go to a ruin pub’ she said. ‘It’ll be fun’ she said.
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