Hello! Here is another quick stop in a city as we make our way through Europe!
We arrived at around lunchtime on Wednesday and went to drop our bags at the hostel we were staying in. Jordan & Tristin were staying just around the corner which was convenient. We decided to grab some lunch so had a look through the central market to find something to eat. The prepared food there way very expensive and the place is obviously a tourist trap, so we opted for the supermarket!
We found a semi-shaded spot by the river to eat lunch but it was extremely warm. The heat wave is still very much over Europe!
Our first afternoon there we went for a walk up the river to check out what was around. We got as far as Buda castle and decided it was much hotter than we were prepared for so headed back to check in properly and get some food for dinner. We made dinner with Jordan & Tristin at their place and it was nice to just have a chill evening.
Thursday
Thursday was our main day in Budapest. We had lots on the list to get through!
We started at a cafe and had some coffee which was great! We then jumped on the metro and headed to Heroes’ Square for the start of our day of walking! It was probably about 28° already by this point.
We checked out the square and then started walking down the street towards the House of Terror. We decided a metro was a good way to get there due to the heat. We had passes for public transport so we might as well use them!
House of Terror is a museum about communism in Europe. We thought it sounded interesting, but we didn’t go inside. We had been to quite a few museums recently that involve a lot of walking around and reading signs, and we were not feeling like doing that.
We continued to walk down the road and passed the Opera House. This was a pretty amazing building! We had a bit of a look inside the foyer area and it looks incredible. Unfortunately it is not opera season at the moment so there are no shows on.
Next on the walk was St Stephen’s Basilica. This is a massive church in the middle of a square. It’s pretty impressive from the outside. We didn’t go into this one because there was a massive queue for tickets and we’ve seen the inside of many cathedrals! Can’t go into them all.
We were hot and hungry so we found a spot for lunch. We went to a street food style place that sells lángos. Lángos is Hungarian fried bread with various toppings (kind of like pizza). You can also get the bread filled with the toppings and then fried. We had one with toppings on top and one with them as a filling. It was amazing and we were so full we thought we would never need to eat again!
Sitting outside in the shade at the restaurant was potentially hotter than walking around so we continued on and walked towards the parliament buildings.
First stop along the way was Shoes on the Danube Bank. This is a monument to remember Jews who were taken to the bank and asked to remove their shoes before being shot. It’s once again a reminder of the very sad yet recent history that occurred in Europe.
We then walked over to the parliament building which is an incredible building! It has domes and spiky bits and just looks very cool!
By this point we were roasting so we made the call to go back to our hostel and get our togs before going to one of the many bathing complexes in Budapest. The one we went to was Gellért Thermal Bath. It may seem crazy going to a thermal bath on such a hot day (probably early to mid 30s), but once we were there and in the water, it was totally worth it. There are various pools there and they’re all different temperatures. The one that we went to first was apparently 26° and we were so hot that it felt like we were getting into a cold pool! It was so good to cool down and spend some time in water.
At about 6:30, Miriam and I headed to Fisherman’s Bastion where Jordan & Tristin joined us a little later. Fisherman’s Bastion is a 19th century fortress with an amazing view over the river to the rest of Budapest.
We first had to climb a million stairs but it was totally worth it. We got there during golden hour so the buildings in the view were all lit up golden and it was such a nice warm sunset! We spent ages taking photos and just watching all the Instagram influencers get their shots with their boyfriends taking their photos. We laughed that there are girls who walk up there in full makeup and really nice clothes to have their boyfriends take photos of them. The boyfriends are always in tshirt and basic shorts with slides on their feet. It’s pretty funny.
After sunset we were starving so we found a restaurant that was cheap and sold Hungarian food! It’s always overwhelming choosing restaurants, but Miriam is much better at it than I am. Once I’m hungry I just need food and can’t be bothered choosing.
Dinner was really good! We both had variations of goulash which is a beef stew type meal. It was delicious!
After dinner we headed to a ruins bar. These are bars that have been built into buildings which are part in ruin. It was a very cool experience but it was really busy so we couldn’t be bothered finding a spot to sit down and have a drink! We just decided to call it a night and head back to our hotel! It had been a very full on day!
Friday
Friday has been much more of a chill day! We went out for coffee and wandered around a little bit. We didn’t have any particular sights that we wanted to see so we just did a bit of a loop around the place. We found an area with a bunch of food trucks and have a good fried chicken burger for lunch!
We then headed back to our accommodation where our bags were being stored. Jordan & Tristin were heading off earlier than us because they are taking a train and a bus to Split. We are just taking a bus.
We have spent most of the afternoon enjoying the air conditioning because it’s 36° outside and we are exhausted!
Our bus is at 9:30pm and arrives in Split at 9:30am. The next adventure is a 4 day sail trip in Croatia that we are both very excited about!
Hungary/Budapest was not a place I ever thought that I would go in my life, but I’m really glad I did. It is a pretty awesome city and we’ve both had a really good time here!
Bye for now! 👋🏻
