Budapest, Hungary

We have been out and about again, this time for a three day New Years adventure to the Hungarian capital of Budapest.  

We stayed at a hostel called Mogyorodi, and it was an interesting experience. When we showed up to the hostel, we found out that it was really a boarding school, where all of the boarders were on holiday break.  Turns out they turned the students rooms into bedrooms, and we stayed in a dormitory.  The hostel wasn't anything special, a little grungy (Jordan and Ian used the women's bathrooms because they were cleaner) but luckily we did not spend much time there; next time I think we will be staying at an Airbnb!

Now back to the real fun....Budapest is on the banks of the Danube and certainly does not seem influenced by the Iron Curtin; rather there are iconic buildings and many monuments celebrating Hungarian culture and history- it's beautiful!

Our first place to visit was the famous Széchenyi Baths.  

These are the largest geothermal baths in all of Europe and attract tourists and locals alike.  They have indoor and outdoor baths to enjoy; and while the smell of sulfur lingers in the air (and in your hair) you get used to it!

Even in the cold weather (yep a chilly 29 degrees) the baths are nice and warm, which make them wonderful to enjoy.  

At the baths we started our food adventure.  We tried tepertőkrémes kenyér, which is a crunchy "cheese" bread topped with raw onions. There was some kind of crunchy paste on the bread...interesting snack, everyone was eating it so we thought we had to try it, maybe only eat one bite if you don't want onion breath.

One place to visit is Budapest's most recognizable building along the east bank of the Danube- the Parliament.  Its buttresses, towers, statues and large dome are dazzling from near and afar.

After checking out the Parliament Building we strolled along the open market.  They had my favorite chocolate with marzipan, but what we ended up splurging for was even better...

We found Hungarian Lángos of every kind!   Lángos is a deep fried dough bread typically topped with a sour cream and cheese, but they were selling them with everything from goulash to nutella chocolate.

...Of course we went with the Nutella Lángos, duh!

A must see when visiting Budapest is the forgotten Old Jewish Synagogue, since it is the biggest Synagogue in all of Europe. It is beautiful inside and out, as evidenced by the photos below.

I loved the saying on the Synagogue-you shall make for me a sanctuary, so I can dwell in it.

They have a very beautiful Holocaust memorial too

The tree branches memorialize Hungarian victims

And the birthplace of Theodore Herzl- the father of the Zionist Movement.

The Catholic cathedrals are beautiful too

 I love the ceilings, but looking up for so long can really give you a neck ache!

Time for another snack before more sightseeing.  It's a good thing we do so much walking while we travel, because we sure do eat a TON!  We found a street vendor with lots of Hungarians waiting for food so we figured it must be good.  We tried a Lángos fried bread smothered in sour cream, garlic and topped with cheese.  It was so good, and definitely tastes better than it sounds.  

We also tried palacsinta, which is basically a crepe filled with a chocolate powder. 

If you need a place to walk off all your calories do what we did and take a stroll along the Chain Bridge to Buda to explore Caste Hill. 

The castle district in Buda is a great introduction to the cities ancient history, beautiful architecture, and outstanding viewpoints.

 There was so much to see, but the highlights are the Royal Palace, Matthias Fountain, and Matthias Church.

In the courtyard of the palace is the statue of the wild horse being tamed; it used to stand in front of the Riding School before it was moved here. 

Standing on the highest rock, with a dead stag at this feet, is King Matthias.  On the rocks below him a henchman blows his horn while another hunter rests.  The hunting hounds are lifelike and big!

The ornate details on the Matthias Church was beautiful, I loved the detail.

And the lookouts across the river to Pest was beautiful!

It was chilly outside so we found a nice warm Hungarian meal after exploring.  Hungary is known for its paprika spice, and what's a trip to Hungary without some Paprika?

We tried Chicken Paprikash-Paprikás Csirke-made with whole pieces of chicken, peppers, sour cream, and of course a ton of its eponymous spice: paprika. 

To end our trip we watched the fireworks go off along the Chain Bridge.  Everyone loves celebrating New Years, and since fire works are legal to buy there were tons going off. It's really gorgeous seeing the Parliament building lit up.

We had a great time in Budapest and will be back for another visit again! Where will we go next...well from Budapest we went to Esztergom, check out what we saw on our next post coming soon!