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Published: November 9th 2008
Hello from Hungary! We have just spent 4 fabulous days in Budapest and are sad to be leaving. We arrived after a lonnnnnnnnng 10-hour train ride from Sighisoara, and after temporarily getting lost we arrived at our really nice hostel. After ditching our stuff in our room, we went out right away to explore. We walked around and saw the citadella and castle hill lit up at night, as well as the chain bridge and Independence bridge that connect Buda to Pest.
The next morning we walked from Pest, where our hostel was, over to Buda and climbed to the top of the Citadella. At the top there are some sweet views and the remains of an old fortress that was particularly significant in WWII under the seige of Budapest. We went inside and visited the bunker museum which was really cool. Next we walked over to castle hill. We skipped the museums at the castle and instead went to Fisherman's Bastion, which was a structure built on the hill that looked a lot like a sandcastle. TJ thought it looked like the Excalibur in Vegas. Usually you have to pay, but half of it was under construction so we didn't have to. We did a loop of the hill and saw a few beautiful churches, including the remaining belltower of an old church that was bombed during the 2nd world war. After that we headed back to the Pest side and walked to the amazing Parliament building. It was modeled after Westminster Abbey, and is set right on the Danube River. Tours inside were outrageously priced, so we just walked around and appreciated it's cool gothic-ness. That evening we met up with our American friends we met in Belgrade and went for a drink... on the steps of St. Stephen's Basilica. Yes that is a church. Apparently this is what people do here in Budapest and it is socially acceptable.
On day two, we slept in and then visited the Torture House museum a few blocks from our hostel. The building had previously been used to hold and torture prisoners, first by the Nazis in WWII and then by the Soviets in the late 40s and early 50s. It is by far the best museum we have ever been to. It was extremely well done, and provided a lot of heartbreaking information about the atrocities committed there. In the basement visitors are able to walk through the actual cells that were used to hold prisoners, and we could even see the room where executions were carried out. A very sober but interesting experience. To let that information settle, we walked out to the big park in the city and wandered around for a while. After about an hour we arrived at the Sechenyi baths. Budapest is famous for it's luxurious thermal baths, and we decided we couldn't visit the city without experiencing them. The one we chose turned out to be among the best in the city, with numerous indoor and outdoor pools of varying temperatures. They even had a tub that was a whirlpool! After a couple hours of relaxing we walked back to our hostel through Heroes Square, a monument to soldiers. That evening we again met up with our friends and they took us to a free concert put on by a friend's friend. The band looked to be about 17 years old, but they were actually quite good. Following their set we went to another bar for some more drinks. We walked down dark twisting alleys and through a strange gate, and voila! a bar hidden away! We met pretty much all of the American students in the study program and all sat a a huge table on the outdoor patio. *Yes, it is still warm enough to sit outside lol*
We had a relaxing morning on our 3rd day, and then met up with our friends Dylan and Andrew for lunch. We wanted to try some real Hungarian food, so they took us to a cool market for some cheap local specialties. We both had stuffed cabbage rolls (they are stuffed with meat, rice and spices and are amazing!!) and tried "longash", a pizza type thing with cheese and sour cream on a fried pastry. We walked to Margaret Island next. The park is similar to Stanley Park, and is accessible on foot via a bridge. It was getting dark, but we found a nice spot to sit and had a glass of warm, spiced wine. TJ also tried the local liquor Unicum, Hungary's version of Jagermeister. It is quite bitter and strong. When it started to rain, we headed back to the hostel. A few hours later we went over to our friend Kate's for her birthday party. It is really fun attending house parties at actual apartments after being on the road for so long! Her apartment was packed with people and it was great fun. Around midnight they decided to head out to a club, and we headed home to get some rest before our journey to Vienna. Of note is that we made Kate a really wicked Canada-themed birthday card which I took pictures of so you guys can see! We are off to Vienna in an hour, so we will update more later!
ps- we really miss hockey.... go Canucks!!
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Elizabeth
non-member comment
I'm homesick now...
Hi TJ and Teija, I'm so glad you had a good time in Budapest. Reading your entry I became pretty homesick and just can't wait to walk around those streets again...I agree, the baths are best in Budapest! Take care and have fun in Vienna.