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Published: July 23rd 2011
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Mon - 7 solid hrs on foot: Pastel yellow stations and digital info board disappeared from the platforms. Instead stood rusty and airly stations. The train crossed Austria-Hungary border 1hr from Vienna. Right on schedule. The train arrived at Budapest Keleti station at 1p. It was a smooth ride. Finding Anna was smooth too, thanks to her detailed instruction. After dropping off my backpack at an apartment, Anna took me for lunch close by for typical Hungarian fair - paprika chicken rice and paprika sausage potato couscous-like grain. Lots of paprika for a great start! She ordered them with this fermented cucumber that tastes like pickles but they were not pickled. It's like cured with bread or yeast - interesting. The dishes were ginormous and the restaurant kept the leftover for us during our excursion - how nice! I was clueless with German but Hungarian, not a chance.
As we walked through town, the deterioration of the buildings were apparent. Now that the buildings are owned by the collective of individuals, as opposed to the government, it's up to the owners to fix it up. Understandably, the interior takes precedence. It was already apparent from the train. We visited the
Synagogue, then St Stephen's basilica. The basilica also has 300+ stairs you can climb up to the dome for the cityscape. At 5p every Monday, the basilica holds a pipe organ concert. I was lucky enough to be there. In the down-to-earth basilica, familiar tunes of ave maria and Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor echoes through.
Budapest consists of Buda side and Pest side, divided by the Denube river. Anna had a fierce schedule for us! Next, to the east end of Pest side to Hero's square and adjacent Varosliget, a city park where there is a pond, castle-like fixture and thermal spa. It was already ~7 but we were still going to cover the Castle Hill on the hilly Buda side. Connecting buses, we arrived at Fisherman's Bastillon just before dusk - great view of the memorial and the city. We walked through a cute cobble stone street to the palace. It was lit up as well as the city below. Another nice vista point! By 10, sun had completely set and it was time to retreat.
Day 2 - 7 solid hrs part deux: Anna had booked for us a parliament tour at 9:30am.
A cab picked us up to a tour bus pick up point. A big bus drove us 10min to the parliament - seemed more complicated than it needed to be. Parliament was tightly guarded. Throughout the tour, a big bold guy was regulating, keeping us swift and quiet. Tour gave the background of the revolution. Together with Anna's narratives, I was suddenly made aware of the recent history that I would have otherwise known. Also, as I understand, the country just underwent political party shift after 20yrs and everything is being changed from subway construction project to Budapest city flag to the Constitution, crazy.
The tour ended at 11a. We stopped by the "grandma's pancake" for a cup of Chicken soup and crepe which are typical of here. What's different from crepe? Filling can be poppy seed and sour cherry. The afternoon plan was Skanzen, a heritage establishment of Hungarian past by region. It's located 30min train ride northwards. Trains here are really old and rusty, scratched windows. This subarban ride was rough and shaking sideways :S. Skanzen had recreated villages with the demonstration of how the life used to be, incl pretzel bread pudding and crazy Hungarian animals
(curly-haired pigs and twilling-horned sheeps!!).
At the closing time of 5p, we headed back to Szentendre train station. Szentendre itself is a cute little town. Unfortunately, center was under construction. Street stone was all removed. According to Anna's chat with the locals, mayor wanted to make the cobble stone smaller to be tourist-friendly. The schedule was to be done in time for the summer (i.e. now) but the stone came in wrong size, oops. Nevertheless, I had my 1st dobos torte. It's a many layers of thin ladyfinger and chocolate butter cream (h e a v y). Burned sugar on the top layer cake is nice 😊.
Again we were at 7p mark but the night is still young . Anna took me up on the hill to Citadella for more sunset views. There were tour buses fulla people, also in search of pink sky and city all lit up at 9p. The city would be so attractive if it wasn't for massive graffiti. They are everywhere Sao Paolo style 😞.
Day 3 - Winding down: I freed Anna from consecutive long walking days and headed to the city on my own. I had until 5p train
Crust subway
Running at basement level to Vienna. Right off the bat, I got on a tram on the wrong side, haha. I went deeper into residential area. The scene was more-or-less the same. Anyway, made the U and back on track. Destination: Central market. Likes of Sao Paolo and Valencia, all-day market is under a fixture with produce vendors and eateries. It's always nice checking out the local produce and price. Like other things, the prices were similar to Vienna, perhaps more white peppers and less strawberries.
From the market, I crossed the bridge to the Buda side up the hill toward Citadella. At 3p, I met Anna for a fancy cafe and fine cakes for the last meeting in Budapest. Really, I couldn't have seen so much in such short time if it wasn't for her and I couldn't have learned so much about Hungary - thank you very much for a priceless experience!!!
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