Oh the adventures we will have...: Buda & Pest

View over the Chain Bridge to the Buda Castle

Second stop on our trip... Budapest. And the first lesson I learned while researching our trip, Budapest used to actually be two separate cities, Buda and Pest (there was actually a third city that was incorporated into the city as well but for some reason it's name didn't make the cut). I'm sure I must have learned about this back in my European history classes right? But then again as Steve and I have discovered sadly enough we sure don't remember much from our history classes. However, I'm also quite sure that most of my European history included very little information on eastern Europe. Maybe I'll take an interest to learn more when Emma gets to high school and starts learning these things,...

Having fun on the one rainy day of our trip

A four hour train ride down the Danube from the Wachau Valley and we found ourselves arriving late in the evening in Hungary. Although the train ride went pretty well, let's just say our arrival promptly at Emma's bedtime was less than ideal. Arrivals in new cities are always bound to be stressful - finding your way, exchanging money as needed, buying tickets for public transit, etc., all while typically being in one of the shadier areas of the city (train stations and airports tend to be hubs for petty crime in Europe), but add a crying 3 month old to your list of things and it makes for a stressful arrival to say the least. Always trying to be savvy travelers we very rarely ever take a taxi, and as inviting as it looked upon exiting the train station in Budapest we knew that now it likely wasn't even an option as we didn't have a car seat for Emma (although I don't think that would stop a lot of taxi drivers from taking our money).

Anyways we got ourselves straightened out and headed to the very old subway, which we quickly discovered lacked elevators and in some places didn't even have escalators. Although Steve had to do a lot of heavy lifting, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the Hungarians were much friendlier than we anticipated and offered to help in several occasions when they saw us with a stroller and big suitcase. We had not anticipated this after visits to other eastern European cities (Prague and Istanbul) had led us to expect a quieter more reserved culture. Emma's first subway ride was a success as it lulled her to sleep and we made our way to our hotel, which was in the center of the city in a trendy neighborhood of restaurants and shopping.

Looking over the city from St. Stephen's Basilica

With a good night's sleep we headed out to explore the city and the first stop was St. Stephen's Basilica. Although beautiful inside, one of the reasons it is a popular tourist attraction is that it is one of the tallest buildings in Budapest. The other reason, is that it houses the right hand of Stephen, who was the first king of Hungary. I'm still trying to figure out why it has only his right hand...

The rest of the morning and afternoon were spent meandering to the opera house, Heroes Square (the name says it all), the city park which is home to a small castle, and then walking along the riverfront for views of some of the more famous sites which we would visit the second day. With rain setting in we decided to finish off the day indoors at the Great Market Hall, which is a huge indoor market that sells everything from fresh produce and meat to tourist souvenirs and everything in between. Although busy for a Tuesday afternoon, it was nothing close to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and was much more laid back with only limited amounts of haggling to be done over prices.

Heroes Square

Cool gate and fortress walls of the castle in the city park

The second day we were excited to be spending the morning touring the Hungarian Parliament Building as Steve had done a great job securing what can be difficult to obtain tour tickets. The Parliament is an exquisitely designed Gothic building. We knew we would have limited access due to some sessions still being in order and another large event going on in the building but we were happy just to get a quick glimpse of the lavish inside. The central hall's domed ceiling was one of my favorite areas.

View of the Parliament Building from the "Buda" side of the Danube

Ceiling of the dome

Guarding the crown jewels, do you think these guys ever get bored?

From there we headed out to finally cross over the Danube to what was formerly the "Buda" side of the two cities. Up until then we had been only on the east bank, which was formerly "Pest." Crossing over the beautiful Chain Bridge by foot we then headed up to the Buda Castle, also known as the royal palace to take in some amazing views of the city. A short walk further led us to Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion, which also offered up some fascinating architecture, design, and views. After seeing so much intriguing architecture and enjoying the gorgeous weather, we felt content to call it a day as far as sight-seeing goes and just spend the rest of the afternoon and evening soaking in the atmosphere of a city much more vibrant and full of rich history than we had expected.

Crossing the Chain Bridge

Matthias Church

Fisherman's Bastion

We wanted to make sure we had ample time that last afternoon and evening to enjoy and sample a little more of the Hungarian cuisine. To say the least for the two and a half days we were in Budapest we were all over the board with the food we ate. We caved and ate some American food, Subway, as a good sub sandwich may be one of the most simple but most missed foods from back home for both of us. We also ate Indian food once out of convenience. But once we ate authentic Hungarian food I think we both wished we would have made an attempt to eat more of it. From goulash, to Hungarian BBQ, and stuffed peppers it was all very good. However, what I perhaps enjoyed the most was finding out that they serve real lemonade in Hungary (or at least one restaurant does) and real cheesecake. Both of these favorites of mine have been hard to come by since moving here... oh, the little things. So with full stomachs and memories of a fascinating city we got ready to head onto Vienna the next day.