Budapest, Magyarország: Day 3

Budapest, Hungary

Day 3: Sunday, 11/28

On Sunday we had to check out of the hostel, but the workers were nice enough not to shove us out at a ridiculous hour and to let us keep our bags there until we had to catch out return bus. We had breakfast at the Alexandra bookstore... which was really dessert, but we had to go back to this place! I had the dobos torte which layers yellow sponge cake with chocolate butter cream and is topped with a slice of solid caramel.

 Alexandra bookstore cafe - complete with Christmas tree!

Afterward, we headed downtown to the Great Market Hall, which is a three story building that has tons of stalls and vendors inside. I was excited to look around and get some souvenirs - possibly paprika. We were pretty bummed out to find that the place was closed on Sundays though! We now had a lot of downtime so we went to the location in the middle of the market and our hostel - uncharted territory. Luckily enough, we stumbled across the Christmas markets!

 Christmas tree at the Markets

After getting out fill of the markets, we headed back to get some lunch.. at the hummus bar! This time I had the pita with hummus and sabik (eggplant and egg) and the malabi (rice pudding) with coconut (Hummus Bar.) After our lunch it was time to go to the hostel to pick up our bags and go back to the Nepliget station to catch our 4:00 pm bus back to Prague.

The 7 hour ride went quickly enough, thanks in large part to the better movies they played this time - The Proposal, The Ugly Truth and Blue Streak. We had a stop at Bratislava for a half an hour, where it was snowing. By 11:30 pm we were back in snowy Praha!

And it was back to the "real" world...

Budapest, Magyarország: Day 2

Budapest, Hungary


Day 2: Saturday, 11/27

We woke up with the intent on having a spa day - Hungarian style, that is. Our destination was the Széchenyi medicinal baths. We got a hot chocolate at a local cafe (with the most overbearing and pushy waitress I have ever encountered), and then started our walk to the baths. We passed Hero's Square, and the Museum of Fine Arts and Art Gallery that flank its two sides. We also passed the Vajdahunyad Castle.

 Hero's Square

The Széchenyi Bath is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, their temperature is 74°C/165°F and 77°C/171°F, respectively. It was built in 1913 in Neo-baroque style to the design of Győző Czigler. We opted out of going into the actual baths (it was a cold day outside) and decided to get massages instead - when in Budapest... We had an hour to go until our reservation so we walked around the city park for a bit.

Széchenyi Baths - outside

Széchenyi Baths - inside

My first massage was great! Very relaxing amidst all the walking we were doing. Next up? Lunch. We went to Paprika, on the recommendations of some of our NYU in Prague friends who had went there earlier in the semester. They had traditional Hungarian food and I can safely say I like it a lot better than the Czech goulashes! We split an appetizer of cold goose liver in its own fat with onions, tomatoes, toasted bread, and peppers. My entree was turkey breast stuffed with french plums and smoked cheese served with rice, croquettes and walnut sauce. We finished off the meal by splitting a dessert of pancakes: 1 jam, 1 cottage cheese, and 1 cocoa powder (Paprika).

We were fairly stuffed after our meal so we relaxed for a while at the Alexandra bookstore. We read our books in the upstairs cafe area while listening to the live piano music. Yes, this is a bookstore. It was designed by Zsigmond Sziklai and built as the first modern department store in Budapest in the 20th century, opening in 1911. The interior is decorated with frescoes by the German Hungarian painter Károly Lotz.

We stopped back at the hostel to wind down and headed back out again when we realized our stomachs had digested our massive lunch. We went to Tavernas for a light meal of meatball soup and olympos pie. No rain tonight!

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.