Sunday, 19 November 2017

TRAVEL: Budapest, Hungary - bridges, Basilicas and (Air)bnbs


Eastern Europe is vastly underestimated as a tourist destination from Western travellers. Sure, France and Spain may be closer but not by much, and I can assure you heading to Hungary is absolutely worth that extra hour on the plane. Perhaps the worst part about visiting Budapest was having to fly from Luton airport, but hey, everyone has to make sacrifices.

Hopping off of the plane in Budapest, it was an easy bus ride on the 100E to downtown, where a 30 minute walk brought us to our Airbnb on Also Erdosor Utca. This was my first experience staying in an Airbnb, and I can’t recommend it enough. For £70 per person for the 5 nights we were there, this was a far cheaper option than any hotel. Plus, the apartment we stayed at was wonderful – a reasonable sized kitchen, a downstairs living room whose couch transformed into a double bed, and an upstairs mezzanine with two more single beds. Our host, Peter, was also lovely, giving us recommendations on where to go and stocking the fridge with basics like juice and bread.

As we’d taken a horrifically early flight from Luton, we still had much of the day to explore. I called up a helpful Hungarian friend of mine, and we agreed to meet at St Stephen’s Basilica, about 30-40 minutes walk away. I can’t say I minded the walk at all – Budapest’s architecture is stunning and even the shopfronts along one of the main streets, Andrassy Utca, are covered in magnificent stone statues. It’s far from a boring stroll.

And then you reach St Stephen’s – wow. An incredibly imposing and yet beautiful structure that is stunning both inside and out. To give us an overview of the city, we decided to climb to the top. Students, it’s worth bringing your student card with you as you get a significant discount – I forgot mine and was kicking myself for the rest of the day! The climb isn’t for the faint-hearted and I was wheezing by the time we got to the top but boy, was it worth it. Panoramic views stretching for miles across the city and offering brilliant views of Budapest’s incredible buildings including Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion. I was thrilled to have my friend as a local tour guide too – Hungarian history is ingrained throughout school so it was like bringing along a walking textbook. Definitely find yourself a local if you can!

Our walk continued through Liberty Square with its controversial monuments commemorating the horrors inflicted during the German invasion and Communist eras; and over to Parliament. It is legitimately hard to think of my favourite building in Budapest (trust me, they’re all stunning) but I think this one takes the cake. Impressive, impressive, impressive.

Parliament backs onto the Danube so we had the opportunity to stroll along its banks, watching the river cruises which make their way up the entire river come in to dock. I think if I’d had more time in this part of the world, that would have been a great way to see more of Eastern Europe.

We crossed over the lovely Chain Bridge, which connects Pest and Buda and stopped at Makos Guba for dinner – a recommendation from my Hungarian friend. If it’s recommended by a local, it’s going to be good. Having him around had added benefits of knowing what’s good to eat, and we ended up with a feast including catfish, beef stew, Turos Csusza (incredible pasta topped with cheese and sour cream) and a poppy seed and jam bread pudding. Delicious food and without breaking the bank.

To avoid the smoggy tunnel back to the bridge, we walked up to the Royal Palace and back down the other side, offering wonderful views of the city’s twinkling lights. What a way to end the day.

Day two started with an early morning as there’s so much to see. We began by heading straight up to the Danube and walking along it as the city started to wake up, before heading to Deak Ferenc Square to begin a free walking tour which departed from the square at 10:30am. Luckily for us, the tour was reasonably different to where we’d been taken yesterday, and included more of the Buda side of the city, including the amazing white-marbled Fisherman’s Bastion (complete with picturesque windows which make for the best photos) and the mosaic-topped Matthias Church. I realise I’m overdosing on positive adjectives here, but you would be too if you’d seen these buildings!

Two and a half hours later and we finished our walk at the back of the Castle District. Given free reign of the rest of the day, we first stopped for strudel (when in Hungary…) and then walked around the Royal Palace before heading back down to street level. Our next destination was Gellert Hill, where a few hundred steps will take you up to the Liberty Statue and Citadel. Again, great views and well worth the hike up to.

We headed back into Pest for dinner where a bit of looking around and the saviour that is TripAdvisor brought us to Taverna Dionysos. It was like stepping right into Santorini with the blue and white walls inside. And the food… I had an astounding cheese filled tub of calories and deliciousness, but I don’t think you could go wrong with anything on that menu. Hungary, you know how to do good food.

Feeling adventurous, we decided to head back up Gellert Hill once again as the morning’s tour guide had told us about a Hungarian folk party occurring between 8pm and midnight that night. I’m pretty sure we were led astray, finding no such party but it helped us to rack up 43,000 steps for the day (and work off that dinner) as well as spend some time watching the city at night.

There was more to discover the next day and we headed in the opposite direction up to Margaret Island, a long expanse of land sitting in the middle of the river. On the island, you’ll find a variety of pretty gardens, rentable buggies to drive around in, and most importantly, the all important ‘Budapest’ sign you can take photos in front of. But be warned, the island is longer than you think and we were pretty tired out once we reached the end – it might be worth investing in one of the buggies if you want to see the whole island quicker!

Budapest is famous for its baths, so that was our plan for the afternoon. Unfortunately, yours truly had neglected to bring any swimming gear, but I’ve been assured by my friends that the Szechenyi baths are well worth a visit. Even if you’re not into swimming, the park the bath is located in is massive and an easy way to waste some time.

Dinner didn’t disappoint again and we ended up at the newly re-opened Comme Chez Soi in Pest’s shopping district. Despite its French name, it was a wonderful Italian restaurant with all of the character in the world and the most charming chef, Ricardo. The food was delectable, reasonably priced, and followed by complimentary sorbet and chocolates. How did we get so lucky with food here? If you ever visit (and I would encourage you to) you might find a little note we left the staff still stuck in the bottom-right hand corner of the mirror. Feeling full and happy, we roamed the streets before arriving at some of Budapest’s famous ruin bars, so called as they are located in old city ruins. Tired after our busy day, we weren’t too disheartened to find the queue for the Szimpla Kert bar, the ‘original’ ruin bar where bathtubs serve as some of the seats, stretching around the corner, but if you want to check it out, get there early!

Our final day in Budapest was more leisurely and we made our way over to Parliament again, first heading into the underground museum which holds some of the stonework, and then into the visitors centre. If we’d known, we would have arrived even earlier as entry is only allowed on a tour which sell out very quickly, so in spite of arriving before 11am, the next available English tour wasn’t until 2:30pm. Nevertheless, your ticket grants you access into a small museum which details 100 years of Hungarian history where we easily spent our 2 hours waiting.

I’ve already told you about how beautiful Parliament is, and that wasn’t even talking about the inside. Our 45 minute tour brought us through a small fraction of the building, but a wonderful one nonetheless. Everything was covered in gold! I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen such an opulent building. Plus, you’ll also find the crown jewels inside and we arrived just on time to see the changing of the guards. Well worth a visit.

Lucky for us, our time in Budapest coincided with a Hungarian folk festival taking place in the Royal Palace grounds. Whilst not too cheap to get into, it offered an excellent way of passing the afternoon, as we passed by hundreds of stalls selling beautiful Hungarian crafts, listened to some traditional music on the stages, and ate ‘langos’ – effectively a huge savoury doughnut covered in sour cream and cheese. Yum.

As the sun began to set, we raced along to Margaret’s Island (stopping briefly to admire the sun’s golden rays glinting off of Parliament’s windows) and arrived with moments to spare before the 8pm fountain show where the water lit up and danced along to music (similar to my experiences in Kuala Lumpur which you can read about here). As it turns out, 8pm wasn’t the main show, as they have 15minute shows every hour on the hour, so we stuck around until 9pm, dipping our feet in the warm water and watching the water twirl languidly. Then, the excitement began and we were treated to almost an hour and a half of the fountain’s entire repertoire, ranging from classical music to Ed Sheeran and Justin Timberlake. It was brilliant. These mega shows run at 6pm and 9pm every night so make sure you check one out!

As they were on the way home, we wandered into a few more ruin bars – UdvarROM and Fuge Udvar, both of which were bustling, before returning back to our lovely Airbnb, catching a few Z’s and preparing for our return home the next morning. I had a fantastic time in Budapest and can’t recommend the city enough. If you can’t decide where to visit next, this is my number one pick. And, if my review isn’t convincing enough, EVERYTHING on this trip, including flights, accommodation, food and activities ended up costing less than £300. You can’t argue with that.

Ciara’s tips for Budapest: Firstly, go. Seriously, it’s a wonderful city and you need to visit it. There, that’s my marketing done. Secondly, BRING. A. SWIMSUIT. Biggest regret of the trip, but another reason to visit Budapest again. As always, Ciara’s Country and TripAdvisor are your best friends when travelling. Sure, you can risk walking into any restaurant for dinner, but the food we had was utterly superb so please consider trying them! Finally, give yourself time to explore the city. We’d initially considered visiting Budapest briefly as part of an interrailing trip, but making it our main destination was definitely a better decision. Enjoy!

If you enjoyed today’s travel blog, feel free to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry as I’ll be posting new travel blogs all the time! I’d also love to hear your comments – whether that’s about my writing style, recommendations, or places you think I should check out next. Let me know!

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