One of the main reasons for moving to Spain, as
most of you already know, was the ability to travel through Europe. We wanted to see as much as we could in the
two years we would live here. Now there
are a ton of places we have gone, and still want to go, but the most important
place for me to visit was Hungary. This
is the motherland. My family lived
through WW2 here before moving to Canada and I have always felt a connection to
this land even though I had never been.
I know we get our roots from many places but Hungary has always filled
the space inside me where I feel I come from.
Papa, Ross and I before we moved here
So Ross and I decided the best place to spend
Christmas this year was Budapest. We
were really hoping to be able to make it to my Papas village but without being
able to drive in the country it wasn’t really an option. However, being in Budapest was a great
experience and did give me a taste of life in Hungary!
We began our journey on the 23rd and
stayed in an airport hotel in Madrid.
The hotel was nothing great but they did give us complimentary champagne
and they had a cat, which Ross hated but I loved. Our flight was at 7 am on the
24th so an airport shuttle whisked us off to our flight and we were
on our way. Two and a half hours later
we landed at Ferihegy Airport.
We grabbed a shuttle from the airport when we
landed that would take us right to the hotel.
This is very convenient when you are in a foreign country because it can
sometimes be difficult to figure out transit and street names and usually you
do not have a map of the city until you reach the hotel. Also keep in mind when travelling you cannot
always trust Google. It has steered us
in the wrong direction many times!
Andrassy Ave
I loved our hotel. It wasn’t fancy but it was nice enough,
centrally located on Andrassy Ave, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and
the staff were fantastic. The front desk
guy even carried my bags up to the room for me.
The first thing we found interesting and
challenging was the money. Hungary is
not on the Euro so we had to change our money to Hungarian Forint. I am not good at figuring out currency
conversions so it is always a challenge for me dealing with other countries
money and trying to understand if something is a good deal. So 1 Euro is worth 315 Huf. It seems crazy when Starbucks says you owe
them 2200 Huf for two drinks! But this makes things all the more exciting and
new.
Opera House
Inside the opera house
No big deal just chilling on the banks of the Danube river
I thought Budapest was a gorgeous city. It was not at all what I expected but that
made it more interesting in the end. To
give a little background back in WW2 Budapest was invaded and 80% of the
buildings were destroyed, including the Castle and Parliament (which is one of
the most gorgeous buildings I have ever seen) and all 7 bridges which connect
Buda and Pest across the Danube river.
If you are at all interested in WW2 history I highly recommend you
include the Siege of Budapest in your reading.
To get you started I included a link to the Wikipedia page.
I suppose I was expecting the city to look much
older and more medieval. However, when the city was rebuilt it was built strong
and proud. At least that is how it
appeared to me. I felt all the buildings
had a very solid look to them like they would not be taken down again. It is hard to explain but I could truly feel
the hard work and the pride that went into the reconstruction of the city. And as I said the parliament building is a
work of art. I was blown away by its
powerful façade. It was not just a
building it was a work of art.
Parliament Building
Walking down Andrassy Avenue
Buda
Just over the chain bridge leading from Pest to
Buda is Buda Castle. You can of course
easily reach it by a funicular located right at the base of Castle Hill but of
course Ross and I walked up because you miss the views and hidden treasures if
you take the elevator. Castle Hill has
much more medieval and baroque style homes and buildings so it is worth a
wander around. We enjoyed walking
through the narrow streets and seeing amazing views of the city and the Danube
from the castle walls. Buda Castle is
also a UNESCO Heritage site.
The Chain Bridge
Up around Buda Castle
Buda Castle
Parliament from Buda Castle
Now the unfortunate part of traveling at Christmas
is that basically everything is closed.
So we were not able to go into the castle, the museums or really any
sites we encountered. This unfortunately
included the Buda Labyrinth and Dungeon where Vlad the Impaler, better know as
Dracula, was kept prisoner! However, we
did get to enter the Castle church and St Stephens Basilica, which were without
question some of the most gorgeous churches I have ever set foot in. They had incredible décor and such warm
inviting colours, very regal. Matthais church was particularly intriguing as the entire surface area inside was hand painted in amazing designs.
Outside St Stephens Basilica
St Stephens
Matthais Church at Buda Castle
As I said with everything closed in the city it
can be tough to find things to eat, especially being a vegetarian and a
vegan. Hungary is another one of those
countries that loves to eat dead animals so there is flesh in everything. Not appetizing. We ended up eating a lot of
Asian and Italian food, not that I am complaining these are some of my
favourite foods! It is sad though
because when I travel I would like to try traditional foods of the
country. We did manage to score some
chimney cake at the Christmas market and I found pogascas at the train station
before we left so I was satisfied with that.
Christmas Market at St Stephens
Chimney Cakes being toasted!
Pogasca
To help with the food situation, as well as to do
something different and special for Christmas day, Ross and I took a dinner
boat cruise on the Danube. It was wonderful. The cruise was 2.5 hours. There was a guy playing piano and singing
throughout the whole cruise, we were given free champagne and got to choose
from a selection of dinner and dessert items. We were seated on the upper deck which was nice because the main deck was very crowded. It was very romantic and we felt like real adults for a change! We got great views of the city from the water
and just relaxed and enjoyed our Christmas together. It is hard being away from families of course
but we are our own family so we are still with people we love during the
holidays.
Christmas Dinner Cruise
Parliament from the cruise
On our last day in the city we went to City Park
which is the largest public park in Budapest.
It is massive with ice rinks, a zoo, a castle, museums, Heros Square and
of course Szechenyi Medicinal Baths and swimming pools. This is the largest medicinal bath in all of
Europe. The pools are supplied with
water from two thermal springs and the temperature is roughly 37 degrees.
Heros Square
Heros Square
Vajdahunyad Castle
If you go to Hungary do not leave without going
to the bath house! You will regret it. I
do recommend going prepared though, unlike us, bring a towel, flip flops and
maybe some soap for afterwards. And
ladies if you want to leave with makeup on bring some to touch up or like me be
forced to keep your head above water at all times. The cost was higher than we would have liked
but you are only young once so pay it and spend some time in the baths. There were two huge pools outside which were
just so gorgeous and fun. The
temperature outside was around zero so it hurt walking from the building to the
water but once you were in it was so amazing.
We didnt take many photos of the baths because we felt pervy
We spent a few hours going from pool to pool,
outdoors and the indoor ones. There are
also saunas, which I cannot handle. Ross
went in one that was 50 degrees!
Insanity I tell you! It was a
great experience. There were hundreds of
people there and I wouldn’t have changed it.
There were these old Hungarian men with a water proof chess board
playing together and I couldn’t help but smile.
I imagine they are there every weekend.
Street Art
Budapest was a fantastic city and we had a
wonderful time exploring it. I do think
it might have been better if it was not right at Christmas, maybe just before
so you still get the markets but stuff is actually open. Its hard when you see so many cool places to
explore but they are closed the three days you are visiting. I am so happy Hungary was a country we were
able to visit.
Having a laugh with his new buddy
Street Art
In coming days I will have more blogs to continue
with our Holidays in the Eastern part of central Europe! So stay tuned!
Train ride from Budapest to Vienna!
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