Rambling About Europe: Budapest

We left Vienna very early in the morning to catch our three-hour train to Budapest. We knew next to nothing about Budapest and Hungary, and this was the easternmost country that we would visit on our trip, so it promised to be interesting.

We underestimated exactly how long it would take us to get from the train station to our apartment, so when we arrived, our host was not there to meet us, and we had no way to contact him. Eventually, I convinced a random Hungarian man to place a call to our host on his massive 1980s cell phone, and everything was back on track. As it turned out, we hadn’t missed him earlier. He just hadn’t showed up yet. Awesome. Eventually, he arrived in our not-exactly-the-best neighborhood and let us in to our not-exactly-well-lit building.

While Reed got the lay of the land from our host, I googled what there was to do in Budapest, and we were soon on our way.

First, we strolled past the Hungarian Parliament which is, in addition to beautiful, the country’s largest building and the largest Parliament on the European continent.

From there, we walked along our friend the Danube as we headed toward the Buda Castle. Fun fact: Budapest was once two cities known as… you guessed it… Buda and Pest. Well, that’s at least the story that Reed fed me. So we walked along the water, past memorialized shoes that the internet would later explain to be a WWII Memorial for Hungarian Jews, and we slowly made our way toward the famous Chain Bridge.

As we walked, we took in all of the Hungarian scenery. Budapest is a striking city; it’s really worth seeing. It might not be as nice or as polished as Vienna and Prague, but it definitely has an image all its own. Every building was a mix of eastern and western cultures that together created a really unique character.

We crossed the Chain Bridge and ascended the hill to the Buda Castle. When we arrived, we walked around the castle’s exterior, but the inside was closed during our visit. To be honest, as far as castles go, I wasn’t that impressed. It was actually one of the less beautiful buildings in the city, I thought.

Before crossing back over, though, we took in the other sites on the Buda bank of the river including the orange-roofed Matthias Church (29) and the gorgeous white Gothic terraces of Fisherman’s Bastion. From there, we could see all of Budapest, and though the weather was gray – as it was throughout our entire time in Eastern Europe – it was quite a sight. We then wandered our way through Budapest and back over the river to have lunch and a mid-day break.

After lunch, we wandered around the market building, along the outside of the Catholic St. Stephen’s Basilica (30), and through the Great Synagogue (31) – the second largest synagogue in the world. Located in a historic Jewish quarter, the Great Synagogue also housed a Jewish museum and an interesting memorial to Holocaust victims which featured decedents’ names engraved on the leaves of a silver tree. Most of the religious buildings that we had seen throughout our trip thus far were Christian, so it was interesting to see the greater Jewish presence as we entered the eastern parts of continental Europe.

Before heading back toward our apartment we took the subway to the edge of town where we saw Heroes’ Square – a huge town square that no doubt carried significant political significance to someone knowledgeable about Hungarian history. We didn’t really understand what we were looking at, but it was still impressive. We then wandered through the city park past the quaint Vajdahunyad Castle before heading back for dinner. I later learned that the castle is modeled after a similar one located in Transylvania. Transylvania is trendy right now, right?

Anyway, to round out our Hungarian experience, I ordered some goulash and chicken paprikash at a local gastro pub. One of my mother’s friends had recommended both dishes as an authentic taste of Hungary. Goulash is essentially a beef stew, and the chicken dish is dressed in a sauce that tastes like sour cream, paprika, and peppers. It wasn’t particularly spicy, but Reed bit into an unusual looking pepper on his plate, and let’s just say that I don’t think he will ever do that again.

Brief as that was, it pretty well covers our experience in Budapest, and I really enjoyed our visit. Some of the neighborhoods we walked through weren’t entirely comfortable, but I think that’s an essential part of the experience. Budapest was very different than any place I’ve ever been to, and for that reason alone it was worth the trek. If you’re in the area, I recommend stopping by for a day or two. I was glad that we did.