A Little Bit of Buda, A Little Bit of Pest

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Leaving Turkey left us with a mixture of emotions and a sense of sadness. This gentle country, with it's array of breathtaking landscapes, gorgeous mosques, the call to prayer that echoes out 5 times a day, little old Turkish men sitting around with their backgammon boards, hijab/ harem clad old women weeding fields by hand under the hot sun, and the overall gentle nature of this country are memories we will forever treasure.

We had arranged to take a shuttle from Selcuk to Izmir Airport. Our meeting place was just past the hospital by a parkette. We were to be there by 10:30 as the shuttle was to arrive anywhere between 10:30 and 10:45. So we said our good-byes to the staff at Hotel Bella and began our walk to the stop. Arriving just after 10, we had plenty of time. We watched as shuttles and buses continually passed by. Nothing stopped for us. Starting to feel a bit fretful, we decided that if it hadn't arrived by 11:10 that we would have to hoof it down to the train station to catch the only one that would get us to the airport with a few minutes to get our boarding passes. By 11:00 we had our backpacks on and watched. At 11:05 a white shuttle bus came barreling down the street, flashing his lights at us. He quickly pulled over and we boarded. We arrived at the airport where we received our boarding passes for both our flights of the day.

The flight to Istanbul was short and sweet. After landing at Ataturk, we had a 4 hour layover so after getting through security we wandered through this massive and very busy airport, waiting for our gate number to appear. We may have returned to the same store several times just to keep nibbling from their plates of delicious Turkish Delight 😊. As soon as our gate number was displayed we made the long walk through the airport. Our flight to Budapest was to leave at 6:10. The young attendant at the gate was trying to expedite the process by checking our boarding passes and passports while we sat in the lounge. He gave us a stamp so we did not have to show our passport again. As boarding time came and went, the young man came back over to us and explained that there was a delay since the plane hadn't arrived yet. We read and waited and about 20 minutes later we saw the pilot going through so we figured there must be a plane now! Not long after, boarding began. Curtis and I were separated by one seat so as a young man from Texas pointed out his seat between us I asked,"Would you like to sit next to my husband or would you prefer if I did?". He said, "By all means you can sit there. Oh, I mean I would love to sit next to him!", grinning mischieviously. Our flight soon departed for Budapest. It was a bit rocky in spots, enough that I was rubbing my stone frantically and repeating a slew of "Hail Marys". Thankfully we arrived safely after our two hour flight and an older gentleman was waiting outside the gate holding up our name. He drove us through the busy streets of this huge city, pointing out sites to us in broken English (which is far better than my non-existent Hungarian!).

We arrived to a busy neighbourhood filled with people and found the entrance to our apartment. We unpacked and Curtis went out to pick up a few groceries. Not long after we fell into bed, worn out from our long travel day.

Friday morning we woke to sun streaming through our window. Our apartment is very basic but the bed was comfortable, the rooms large, and we are centrally located on the Pest side of the river. I had booked us on a lunch cruise down the Danube and we were to be at the meeting place by 1:30. We spent couple of hours wandering the streets. What an absolutely vibrant city! The old buildings tower along the busy streets. We first came to St. Stephen's Basilica where we enjoyed walking through this golden Baroque-style Church. We then climbed the 302 stairs up to the tower where we had a wonderful panoramic view over the city. Using our map, we identified many of the places we want to visit during our stay. We also go to see the actual "hand" of St. Stephen that had been once kept in Transylvania, Dubrovnik and Vienna before being brought to Budapest. Next we wandered to the "Chain Bridge", a magificent structure spanning the Danube. We walked across, checking out the numerous river cruise boats. As we got to the other side we found out where we could walk up to the Buda castle the next day instead of taking the funicular. We then headed back to meet for our lunch cruise.

Just before 2pm we were lead down to the Danube with a group of about 30 others. We were greeted by a number of servers formally clad in white shirts, black pants and ties who handed us a glass of champagne and we found a table. This was by far one of the best tours we have signed up for! We were treated like royalty! Our glasses were never empty and our plates ever full. The Hungarian Goulash soup was fantastic complete with fresh bread and spiced cottage cheese cream. We dined on mini stuffed cabbages, Paprikasch (traditional chicken leg), roasted chicken breast with basil cheese sauce, spicy pork rib with thyme-mustard sauce, roasted sea fish with a Chardonnay sauce as well as a huge selection of dumplings with spinach and mushroom sauce, grilled vegetables, and potatoes. This was all topped off with homemade Apple Streudel, mini tarts, and Europa style desserts!! Imagine dining like this all the while you are sailing down the Danube taking in the wonderful sights on each side!! What a way to get our first taste of Budapest!

After docking we rolled off the boat and waddled back to our apartment where we promptly had a nap. Later that evening, still too full for supper, we strolled out to take in the Budapest nightlife and admire the sights under the stars. Budapest stands in sharp contrast to the conservative country of Turkey where drinking was accepted as something foreigners do but most of the locals on sip on tea all day and into the evening so walking through the streets of Budapest at night was quite a culture shock! We've been to vibrant cities like Madrid, Florence, and Barcelona where people come out in droves at night, but this place is something else! Restaurants and squares were full of people, just like in other big cities, but the biggest shock was the parks. They were full of young people sitting on the grass or on benches in large and small groups with 4,5, or 6 bottles of wine, spirits, water, and beer sitting on the ground in front of them. I have never seen anything like it! Every green space was filled to capacity. People would slip off to the nearest grocery store and come back with an armful of more beer and wine. They drank it out of plastic cups or straight from the bottle. Everywhere we turned the city was abuzz. It was wild! We went back to our neighbourhood where we stopped at a place called Goszdu Udvar, which is basically an enclosed street lined with restaurant after restaurant and was burstingwith people! We finally found a table where we had a drink and watched a crazy character (who had a few beers under his belt), try in vain to attract the attention of women. He would put his shirt over his head and undulate his belly in and out while standing in the middle of the walkway. He received a lot of ignoring and a couple pats on the head!!

We are looking forward to exploring Castle Hill tomorrow!

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