Budapest, Magyarország: Day 1

Budapest, Hungary

Day 1: Friday, 11/26

Our bus arrived at the Nepliget station in Budapest at around 7 am. We took the metro to the city center and after a little difficult in finding which direction the river was, made our way to The Groove, our hostel. No one was awake to check us in at 8 am so Kim and I walked next door to a cafe and got a coffee and hot chocolate. After waiting enough time we went back to the hostel and got our stuff in our room. The place was a pleasant surprise- hardwood floors, bright colors, huge windows, high ceilings and open spaces. This was no cramped hostel! No bunk beds either.

We had heard rave reviews from several others who had traveled to Budapest about the Hummus Bar, so we had to try this place for lunch. I had the falafel in a pita and baklava for dessert. Afterward, we made our way to the Buda Castle. On the way we passed a couple of pretty churches that we stopped at. After crossing the bridge over the Duna river we walked along the bank to see some of the sights from afar. Most notably, we passed the Parliament - the largest building in Hungary and the largest parliament in Europe.

 The Parliament

We took the funicular up Castle Hill to go to Buda Castle - a castle complex of the Hungarian kings. Nowadays, the castle houses the Budapest History Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Hungarian National Gallery. The last of which we looked around its permanent exhibition. This included Medieval and Renaissance stone carvings, wooden sculptures from the Gothic period, late gothic winged altar pieces, 19th century paintings, 20th century paintings, and contemporary art.

The Buda Castle

It was already getting dark by 4 pm when we were finished here and so it was hard to find the Buda Cave labyrinth so a while later we found our way back on the opposite side of the Duna and went back to the hostel. The employees had recommended a restaurant called Most, so we headed over there. They didn't have traditional Hungarian food - but they did have Indian and Oriental! I had the crispy taco chicken and the galuska for dessert. After our very long, relaxed dinner it was pouring rain so we headed to the hostel.