Budapest, Hungary

Two Cities in One:
Budapest, Hungary

I took the 8.5 hour train from Ljubljana to Budapest (6950 SIT/€29/$37); it leaves daily at 7:40 am and arrives after 4 pm. It was cheap but long. I was met at the train station by Istvan, owner of the room I had reserved. I spent five nights in Budapest before flying to London.

Who knew Budapest knew about Ypsi? This was a storefront on Vaci Utca. It put a smile on my face ☺

After this trip, I can add markets to my list of things that I have seen enough of (in addition to museums, churches, and glaciers). This is the Budapest Great Market Hall. The building is beautiful; inside is a large food market. A supermarket is in the basement. A Burger King is across the street ☺

I've wanted to come to Budapest since I saw the Amazing Race come here. One of the places they went that made a strong impression on me was the Fisherman's Bastion. It really is beautiful in person! I didn't pay to walk on the top; the free views were enough for me.

My third Roman site (after Split, Croatia, and Ljubljana, Slovenia) on this trip was Aquincum (in Obuda; take the HEV to the Aquincum stop [included with the Budapest transit pass]). Unfortunately, I went to Aquincum on a special night where the grounds were open for Hungarian-language-only tours and the museum was closed. It was disappointing and expensive (1000 Ft, $5). In hindsight, I actually learned (and saw) quite a bit. For example, if you look closely at the walls in this picture, you will see a red line. [I had seen this line in Ljubljana as well.] That is the line of what was actually found by archaeologists. Everything above that line is a reconstruction (a guess at what it might have looked like). This photo also shows the raised (heated) Roman floor that I learned more about in Bath.

I really enjoyed nearly two hours at the Széchenyi Baths. I travelled very lightly there (didn't take a camera or my money belt; only took my transit pass, bathing suit, towel, comb, and soap), so this photo was taken later. If you go, it is quite confusing. Read the description in Rick Steves, make sure to wear shoes (I nearly slipped down the stairs in my bare feet), and be sure to try all of the thermal pools inside the building (watch people go in the small side door and come out the other end--there's even a current pool inside!), not just the outdoor pools! It cost 2000 Ft ($10) to get it; I got 600 Ft ($3) back in the end for staying less than the allotted time.

The Budapest Parliament building is so pretty! I took this picture from the Batthyáany HEV station across the river.

Two Cities in One: Budapest, Hungary I took the 8.5 hour train from Ljubljana to Budapest (6950 SIT/€29/$37); it leaves daily at 7:40 am and arrives after 4 pm. It was cheap but long. I was met at the train station by Istvan, owner of the room I had reserved. I spent five nights in Budapest before flying to London.

I reserved a room with Maria and Istvan in Budapest; they were mentioned in the Rick Steves guide. It was pretty cheap (€22 [6094 Ft or $29] per night). It was a step up from a hostel and in a good location. My room had a TV and a fan (the fan closest to the window is my Ljubljana-purchased fan). The "bed" was a couch cushion with a sheet and comforter thrown over it. The room had two "beds" and a nice, large closet. The bathroom was nice: bathtub with hand-held (annoying) showerhead (I couldn't keep the water in the tub, no matter how hard I tried), sink, mirror, and clothes-drying rack. The toilet was in the next room. No bar soap provided (but two towels were). The room was at the intersection of Mester and Haller. It was on two tram lines and within walking distance of two metro stops. Lots of grocery stores, bakeries, pastry shops, and gyros shops were within 5-10 minutes' walk.
Another nice thing about the room was a large refrigerator in the mini-kitchen. I bought strawberry yogurts and pops to store in the fridge. Dishes were provided!
	Who knew Budapest knew about Ypsi? This was a storefront on Vaci Utca. It put a smile on my face ☺
After this trip, I can add markets to my list of things that I have seen enough of (in addition to museums, churches, and glaciers). This is the Budapest Great Market Hall. The building is beautiful; inside is a large food market. A supermarket is in the basement. A Burger King is across the street ☺
	I was in Budapest during extreme construction (lots of road detours; even the M2 line on the subway was closed) AND the closure of the Chain Bridge to traffic. The normal ways to get up Castle Hill were not working, but I combined the bus #16 and walking. The view was beautiful!
I've wanted to come to Budapest since I saw the Amazing Race come here. One of the places they went that made a strong impression on me was the Fisherman's Bastion. It really is beautiful in person! I didn't pay to walk on the top; the free views were enough for me.
	My third Roman site (after Split, Croatia, and Ljubljana, Slovenia) on this trip was Aquincum (in Obuda; take the HEV to the Aquincum stop [included with the Budapest transit pass]). Unfortunately, I went to Aquincum on a special night where the grounds were open for Hungarian-language-only tours and the museum was closed. It was disappointing and expensive (1000 Ft, $5). In hindsight, I actually learned (and saw) quite a bit. For example, if you look closely at the walls in this picture, you will see a red line. [I had seen this line in Ljubljana as well.] That is the line of what was actually found by archaeologists. Everything above that line is a reconstruction (a guess at what it might have looked like). This photo also shows the raised (heated) Roman floor that I learned more about in Bath.
I really enjoyed nearly two hours at the Széchenyi Baths. I travelled very lightly there (didn't take a camera or my money belt; only took my transit pass, bathing suit, towel, comb, and soap), so this photo was taken later. If you go, it is quite confusing. Read the description in Rick Steves, make sure to wear shoes (I nearly slipped down the stairs in my bare feet), and be sure to try all of the thermal pools inside the building (watch people go in the small side door and come out the other end--there's even a current pool inside!), not just the outdoor pools! It cost 2000 Ft ($10) to get it; I got 600 Ft ($3) back in the end for staying less than the allotted time.

I took a day trip to Szentendre (624 Ft [$3] with transit pass); it is the last stop on the HEV from Batthyáany. Szentendre was not for me. I stayed an hour and left. In my journal, I described Szentendre as the Trogir of Budapest ☺ It's a cute old town filled with souvenir shops. The photo at left is of the Fo Ter (main square). The photo at right is of Szentendre's river walk. You can see the boat docked. Szentendre's TI has a free map in English. The ice cream was very good ☺
The Budapest Parliament building is so pretty! I took this picture from the Batthyáany HEV station across the river.

I took the "official" public transportation route to Statue Park [which costs 266 Ft ($1.50) over the transit pass], not the Rick Steves route [which I wish I had taken]). The trip there was almost as fun as the park. I took the tram from Deak Ter to Etele Ter, changed to the bus (but not the first bus station you see! Go around the construction to the Volan bus station), and was lucky enough to have bold travellers on my bus that asked where to get off. I might have missed it. The entry is 600 Ft ($3). The park is a nice 10-15 min walk-through. Nearly all of the statues have an English-language plaque. It was extremely hot and sunny, though (just like my whole trip), so I didn't linger. Statue Park was not as spectacular as I imagined. The photo on the right shows me with my favorite statue in the park.
One of my last destinations in Budapest was Gellert Hill. I took Let's Go's advice and caught bus #27 to the top of the hill (rather than walking up in the extreme heat). It was a little bus (just like the Castle Hill bus) because of the steep ascent.

I knew I was headed in the right direction when I saw the Citadella sign ☺ The views from the Citadella's observation points are amazing!! Just know that it is crowded with tour buses.
I walked around Margaret Island for an hour or so one evening. It has a very Central Park feel. They even have a dancing fountain (and I'm a sucker for dancing fountains!). It was dancing to music from The Nutcracker as I went home. I got to see the tower, the ruins, the pool, pedal cars, and an outdoor aerobics class (I really wanted to join in!).

Across from the Gellert Baths is the cave church. I planned my time so I would be there when mass was not going on (so I could go in). The outside looks like the photo on the left. The entry room is shown on the right. Appropriately, no photography is allowed inside the church itself. It was a cool and peaceful place. My practice (which I followed here and throughout my trip) when visiting churches is to sit in the pews and pray for a few minutes, thanking God for the beautiful things I have seen on my trip and asking for safe passage during the remainder of my trip.
Some people travel the world trying the local alcohols. As I don't drink, I try the local soft drinks. I especially love to try all the different Fantas world-wide. Nearly every country has lemon and orange Fanta, but the other flavors differ from place to place. Hungary has raspberry Fanta (good) and white grape Fanta (OK).
	Did you know that Pepsi made Pepsi Gold in honor of the World Cup? Since I watched the World Cup every day on my trip, I bought a bottle of it to try (even though it had caffeine, which I avoid because it causes me not to sleep). I think my bottle even had a picture of the handsome Thierry Henry on it! The taste? So-so (like a colored Pepsi). I drank too much, though, and didn't sleep very well.
Notes on Budapest:
Budapest has one of the best public transportation systems I have experienced! The trams, buses, and subway are all easy to use. Buy a pass (I got the 7-day pass for 3400 Ft [$17]) and go! All the banks I tried in Budapest would not change Slovenian tolars. I had to use an exchange booth :( Restaurants along Raday Utca are good. Menus are available in 3 to 4 languages. While its service was very poor, the food and prices at Trattoria (that was its name!) were quite good. I had a great French onion soup and a good chicken panini. My requested "still" water was carbonated, though. Togana (a second Raday restaurant I ate at) was not nearly as good in price or food; service was about the same as Trattoria. The TI could not confirm train times to Eger. Disappointing! Take your own food to Budapest's airport! I thought there would be a McDonald's or something cheap in the airport, but there isn't. If you take the M3-bus combo, buy your food at the end of the metro before you change to the airport bus. The cheapest sandwich was $5 (tomato and mozzarella baguette).	Ice cream in Budapest is VERY cheap (less than $1 per cone). Locals seemed to get a cone every day at nearly any time of day! A great place to eat (if you are cheap and not so adventurous, like me) is the West End CityCenter mall near the Nyugati train station. They have a food court with about 20 restaurants. I ate twice at the Mediterranean one. It had good, cheap food (chicken, vegetables), was point-and-choose easy, and had descriptions of the dishes in English Near my room was a nice Internet place (150 Ft [$0.75] for 30 min) and a laundry place (2300 Ft [$11] to wash and dry a load; was done in less than 2 hours!). Five nights in Budapest was too long for me. Three would have been sufficient. With the extra days, I would have gone to Lake Balaton or one of the islands off the Dalmatian Coast (Hvar, Brač, or Korčula).