Budapest

I took advantage of only having class a few days a week in June to join Brennan on some of his travels. We headed to Budapest together first. Budapest is another beautiful city and I really wished I had been able to stay longer than two days. Also, this visit really just reaffirmed how much I want to travel more in Eastern Europe. 

Both of us were a bit tired of visiting museums, so we mostly just walked around the city and looked at the major sites.  We started by heading up the hill to the castle complex, which includes a variety of museums and the residence of the president.

There’s a funicular railway going up and down the hill. We did end up riding it near the end of our trip to use up our extra money. As a brief side note, the exchange rate there is 300 forint per Euro which was definitely the most challenging currency adjustment I’ve had to make.

As would be expected, there’s a great view of the city from the castle hill.

Also on the hill is Matthias Church which has a beautiful tiled roof.

There’s also the Fisherman’s Bastion, a terrace on the edge of the castle complex.

By far, my favorite building in Budapest is the Hungarian Parliament Building. Built in a Neo-Gothic style, it’s absolutely gorgeous and impressively large. The crème color of the stone is beautifully rich at night when the building is lighted. The photo really doesn’t do it justice.

Our second day, we went into the part of the building open to the public, which houses the Hungarian crown jewels. The inside is equally impressive.

In the evening, we visited a natural spring bath. Inside, there’s a long line of small pools with differing temperatures ranging from numbingly cold to painfully hot.  There was also by far the hottest sauna I’ve ever been in at 90° C. It was physically painful to stand in there for more than a few seconds so we just walked through briefly. Outside, there were both regular pools and another large natural spring pool. It was a wonderfully relaxing and fun way to spend an evening.

We briefly walked through the inside of the Basilica during mass our second day (a Sunday) which was a bit awkward (I hadn’t visited a church as a tourist during a service before).

We spent most of the rest of our time walking along the Danube, enjoying the local cuisine (goulash is so delicious), and appreciating Budapest’s architecture.

I think this Holocaust memorial along the Danube is beautifully simplistic and it certainly had an impact on me, particularly after my experience in Poland.