Recently we were with some friends talking about places we would like to see in Europe and we all agreed that we would like to visit Budapest. I had heard from other friends that it was a beautiful underrated European City with amazing buildings and low prices. So a little research on the internet and the next thing we knew we had cheap tickets booked on Ryanair and an Airbnb rented for four days and three nights.
But where is Budapest and why don’t I know more about this city and the country of Hungary? I discovered that Budapest is in Eastern Europe and spent many years from WWI to 1990 under Communist influence. Yet despite its recent past, Budapest had a glamorous history when it was the dual world power of Austria-Hungary before the turn of the twentieth century.
Everything changed though, on June 28, 1914 when Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in Austria, Austria declared war on Serbia and secured Germany as an ally. Germany declared war on Russia, France and Germany declared war on each other and Britain declared war on Germany. “everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse,” wrote British naval official Winston Churchill as the world flung itself into war. After finding itself on the wrong side of two world wars, Hungary spent the next fifty years under Communist control. Today however it is again a bustling, prospering city full of life and rich in culture.
Budapest is said to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, ranked as “the world’s second best city” and “Europe’s 7th most idyllic place to live” by Forbes. The central area of the city along the Danube River is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Budapest is two cities in one split by the Danube River. The hilly West Side is the Buda side boasting the Fisherman’s Bastion, Castle Hill, Buda Castle and two of the oldest Thermal baths in Budapest: Kiraly and Rudas.
Budapest, Hungary
The Buda side is the wealthier side and reminds us of what it would have been like in the late 1900’s when the Hapsburgs were in their peak of power. Across the river is Pest, Pest has the Parliament Buildings, Opera House, Jewish quarter (with the biggest Synagogue in Europe), Hero’s Square, Vajdahunyad castle and Szechenyi Baths.
The reason Budapest is so grand with amazingly massive and beautiful buildings is because the Hapsburg family ruled much more than modern day Hungary we know today. In their prime, their dynasty stretched across more than 12 countries including Italy (Veneto area), Montenegro, Croatia, Poland, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and parts of Ukraine. So the buildings and Parliament were a fitting size for a powerful ruling family like the Hapsburgs.
So on our trip to Budapest we opted to choose an Airbnb on the Pest side of Budapest, our neighborhood was walking distance to all of the sites to see or we could catch a tram that hit the highlights. Our flight from Rome to Budapest was a short flight of only an hour and a half. We popped out of the clouds in Italy in time for me to watch the sunrise casting its orange glow on the newly snow covered Apennines mountain range.
Our plane took a gentle right at the Croatian coastline while the passenger next to me was snapping pictures out of the window. I asked him what country that was below us and he said “it’s Croatia, my country” he waxed poetically over the beautiful Croatian beaches and showed me pictures of his children playing on beautiful white sand beaches. Then he pointed out Bosnia and his tone turned serious as he spoke of the war of Independence that was fought from 1990, just after the iron curtain came down, until 1995. The majority of Croatia wanted independence from Yugoslavia but Serbs living in the territories of Croatia wanted Serbia control and war broke out affecting Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I remember seeing reports of this war on the news in my early twenties and hearing terrible words like genocide, ethnic cleansing and displaced refugees.
Soon our wheels were touching the ground in Budapest and after stepping off the plane we caught a taxi to our apartment. We dropped off our luggage and started off to see the sites of Budapest. We began the walk down Andrassy Street, past the old Opera house, through all of the high-end shopping and down to the Széchenyi Chain bridge.
Before we cross the Széchenyi Chain bridge we enjoyed some street food for lunch, it’s incredible in such cold weather that they would be serving street food and we would be dining outside, but thats how they roll in Budapest. Wear a coat, scarf, hat and gloves and carry a cup of steaming mulled wine to keep you warm.
We ordered paprika chicken and beef stew served on a potato pancake. We sat on nearby picnic tables and tore into our hearty food steaming on the plate before us. We couldn’t resist having the Chimney Cake for dessert. This is bread dough wrapped around a wooden dowel with a four inch diameter, they sprinkle the dough with sugar and roast it over an open fire.
When the dough has cooked and the sugar has caramelized, they cover it in cinnamon sugar and remove it from the dowel with a swift bang on the table. They hand it to you with steam rising out of the middle of the “chimney”. It’s a delight to eat as it warms your hands and heart.
We crossed the iconic Széchenyi Chain Bridge with its two lions guarding entrance. Built in 1849 this was the first permanent bridge to span the river. We took in the views of the Danube River that winds its way through Europe originating in Germany and passing through 10 different countries including Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine before draining into the Black Sea.
We crossed the bridge and started our ascension up to Castle Hill. This is the rich and famous section of Budapest, lined with cobblestone streets with baroque houses and leafy promenades of Buda Castle, a palace razed and rebuilt over centuries, now home to the Hungarian National Gallery and Budapest History Museum.
But what really stands out on Castle hill is the Fishermans Bastion. Its turrets and terraces dominate the skyline and offer views over the Danube River and Matthias Church. Fisherman’s Bastion (Halaszbastya) is a monument built in 1902 to commemorate 1000 years since the first Hungarian King ruled. It was designed in the Neo-Romanesque Style of the year 1000 AD when King Stephen I began ruling, King Stephens pagan name at birth was Vajk, he was the first in his family to become a devout Christian.
The castle sits at the site of the ancient city walls that were protected by the fisherman guild in the Middle Ages, thus the name Fisherman’s Bastion. The original castle was founded by Hungarian kings, conquered by the Turks in the 16th century, re-taken by the Austrians and then attacked by the Nazi and Russian troops in the 20th century, so you can imagine that there were not many peaceful years in the history of the original Buda Castle.
The new Fisherman’s Bastion was built in 1896 as a viewing terrace with lookout towers on the ancient castle walls. Rather than rebuilding thick stone walls, the idea was to offer beautiful views of the city because the Buda Castle was no longer considered to be a military fortress.
The romanticized idea was to remember the times of former glory, like a fairy tale, to feel like history but look toward a peaceful and prosperous future. The seven towers depict the seven Hungarian chieftains who led their tribes to settled in this area in 895. During the Communist decades, a Soviet Red Star hung on the riverfront walls of the Fisherman’s Bastion, which could be seen every day from both the Buda and the Pest side of the river to remind people that the Soviet Union was ruling the town and the country.
We walk around looking through curved archways with the city and Danube River below us. You can’t help but to feel like a princess in a fairytale as you walk the turrets and towers. In fact we see a bride having her picture taken looking just like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty waiting for her prince to come.
We are still walking around admiring the beauty when the sun starts to set casting a warm glow on everything, it’s the golden hour. How everything looks beautiful in this light, the winter trees bare against a street warmed by the sun in its baroque beauty.
We see Baroque architecture everywhere in this city, baroque style is from the Italian Renaissance in the late 16th century. You would recognize it as grand and ornate with great expressions of wealth. However all of these baroque style buildings date from 1896, the year that marked the 1000 year of Hungarian rule. Every notable monument that we will see in Budapest dates back to this year of restoration.
We walk back across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge as sunset yields to night and the city turns on its lights. Budapest is the second most illuminated city after Paris and seven out of its eight bridges spanning the Danube River are illuminated.
We want to soak in the beauty of all of the opulent buildings illuminated at night, reflecting off of the river, so we scour the river front in search of a river cruise. Of course this is not difficult to do, even in the winter because a river cruise is the best way to see the illuminated waterfront.
The problem is not finding a river cruise but choosing which river cruise. There are dinner cruises, drinking cruises, pizza cruises, entertainment cruises and of course just the regular 45 minute cruise which we chose.
We start our cruise from the Liberty bridge which is painted green by day and illuminated green at night. We pass under the Chain Bridge and toward the Hungarian Parliament Building. It is cold on this early December night so we don’t stand outside on the deck of the boat, but rather we find an inside spot in the steps of the river cruiser in front of a large window to gaze out from.
We have ordered a bottle of wine and a bag of chips and create our own “discount memories” here on the steps of a boat. Sometimes the best memories are created from simple things, especially if you are in the company of good friends. Add to that an amazing view changing before your eyes as one building and illuminated bridge pass along the river providing the entertainment for the evening.
Now we are passing the Parliament Building, the largest building in Hungary, the tallest building in Budapest and the third largest Parliament building in the world. It was built in the Gothic Revival style with a central dome in Renaissance Revival architecture. But tonight it’s Dome and towers are lit up golden and reflecting on the water in a manner befitting a Grand Kingdom. Across the river we also gaze at the fairytale Fisherman’s Bastion and Buda Castle as they too sparkle under the canopy of a black velvet sky.
All of this river cruising has left us hungry in Hungary so we disembark and head out in search of dinner. We find the restaurant our landlady has recommended for us called Bp BarBQ between District VI and the Palace District. We clammered upstairs after placing our orders and are soon greeted by a Ruben and pulled pork sandwich with oven fries. Hungary knows how to cook pork and any other heavy dish designed to keep you warm in cold temperatures and tonight was no exception. They guys keep talking about this sandwich to this day. We head home to collapse into bed to rest up for our next day of sightseeing.
Day 2 we decide to visit Hero’s Square, Vajdahunyad castle and Szechenyi Baths. We opt to walk there from our apartment so we can sample some coffee shops and bakeries on our way. Our first cafe was the grand New York Cafe built in amazing scale and decadence.
It was one of those places you feel you don’t belong because certainly everyone else there is worthy of the high prices and opulent decor but somehow we feel inferior in its grandeur. But we pulled ourselves together and held our heads high as we sat a fancy window seat and ordered our 8 euro coffee and hot chocolate. I must say, it was the best hot chocolate I have every had and that includes the hot chocolate I had when I was 5 years old at a fancy hotel in San Francisco with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
This hot chocolate was enjoyed by a much more experienced woman than my five year old self and it was thick and rich and creamy but lacking the cherry on the top.
We approach Vajdahunyard castle from the back as we crossed the park. We can see people ice skating in front of the castle and many street food booths are set up on the castle grounds.
We notice the various architectural styles used in creating the castle and remember that this castle started out as a fun cardboard feature before it was created out of stone and brick in 1905. The various forms of architecture were to commemorate several landmark buildings in the Kingdom of Hungary.
We turned the corner to see Hero’s Square, which was also built to commemorate the 1000th year of Hungary rule with construction beginning in 1896. At the front of Hero’s Square is a large stone cenotaph (tomb commemorating fallen hero’s but without the remains of the people). The cenotaph is dedicated “To the memory of the heroes who gave their lives”.
Directly behind the cenotaph is a column topped by a statue depicting the archangel Gabriel. In his right hand the angel holds the crown of King Steven, the first king of Hungary. In his left hand the angel holds a cross, a symbol awarded to him by the Pope in recognition of his efforts to convert Hungary from paganism to Christianity.
At the base of the column is a the Magyar chieftains who settled their tribes here in Hungary. As we look at the depictions of these chieftains we are struck by the “toughness” of these men in their armor circa 996 AD.
Near Hero’s Square is the Szechenyi Baths which opened on June 16, 1913, It is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs and we think this is the perfect solution for travel weary feet and legs so we eagerly step inside. It is a big beautiful space with Baroque ceilings and carvings with spiral pillars and grand spaces.
The cost of entry is €15 and it was money well spent. There were dry saunas, Turkish baths or steam rooms and various temperatures of soaking pools. But the main attraction in the giant pools outside. Yes, we even ventured outside in 40 degree temperatures in our bathing suits.
Funny that one moment you are dressed in coats and scarves and layer after layer of warmth and the next minute you are tiptoeing across cold marble in your bathing suit! But the pools were warm and inviting and beautiful to look at. We found a pool some distance away that had a circular whirl pool that surrounded a jacuzzi. The whirlpool swept you up and sent you spinning around the jacuzzi. So much fun! We could have swirled around in those warm waters for hours but soon the sun started to set and we wanted a perfect seat for the show.
Sunset arrives early in Badapest, you have to prepare for the finale at 4:30. So we found our seat in the warm thermal waters outside the yellow and white baroque buildings. The sky was a clear blue but a cascade of puffy white clouds have conveniently clustered around the setting sun creating the most beautiful flare up of crimson across the sky. We watch from the warm shelter of our thermal pool as white steam ascends upwards from the hot water into the cold sky.
We ended our day with another amazing Hungarian meal of pork knuckle with cabbage and potatoes. I could barely lift my tired but soothed muscles and will them to carry me home.
On our final day we journeyed to The Great Market Hall or Central Market Hall (Hungarian “Nagyvásárcsarnok”) It is the largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest, Hungary. It was also built during the pinnacle and celebrations of 1896. It is located at the end of a famous pedestrian shopping street on the Pest side of the Liberty bridge. During the World Wars it was completely damaged and then closed for some years. Throughout the 1990s restoration works brought back the market to its ancient splendor. Most of the stalls on the ground floor offer produce, meats, pastries, candies, spices such as paprika that flavor the food of Hungary.
The second floor has food stalls and souvenirs while the basement contains everything stinky like butcher and fish shops and pickeled vegetables. We found the Great Market Hall to be a little too touristy for our taste so we asked a local where to get good Hungary food. He directed us to a little restaurant filled with Hungarian students just outside the Market Hall. We knew it was right for us because if student could afford it, so could we! It looked as if your Hungarian grandma had decorated it with red and white embroidered curtains, blue and white ceramics on the wall and a half melted candle on the table. So we lit our candle and ordered crispy duck with cabbage and potatoes and Goulash. We learned that true Hungarian Goulash is not macaroni and ground beef as we had thought but a beef soup flavored with Paprika and served with crusty bread. Perfect for warming you up!
After lunch we walked across the Danube River on the Green Liberty bridge to sample another famous Budapest hot spring, this time we had our sites on Rudas. It was first built in 1550, during the time of Ottoman rule but went through an extensive renovation recently. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience as we roamed from dry hot sauna to the steamy hot Turkish Bath.
We really shocked our systems when we got into the scalding hot pool then dipped into the icy cold pool. I think the knots in your muscles give up holding on when they no longer know what to do after a couple of cycles of icy cold and scalding hot.
But our favorite was climbing the stairs to the open air rooftop jacuzzi where we again watched the sun slip beyond the horizon from across the winding river that is the Danube.
From our warm steamy vantage point we could see the Chain Bridge and the iconic Parliament building, we recalled our experience on the Danube river cruise and the fairytale Fisherman’s Bastion. We imagined the lives of the rugged people who lived here during time of the first Hungarian Kings in 896 and the days of the Ottoman rule in 1550’s, the time of opulence during the great restoration of 1896 and the sad days to come after WWI and WWII. We thought of the resilient people who lived under Communist control until 1990 and suffered with their neighboring countries in the Independence wars ending in 1995. We looked over at the sparkling skyline across the Danube River and imagined the lives of people living in the opulent houses of the 1900’s only later to have the large homes divided into communist apartments measured out in “meters per person”. We thought of the Hungarians living through all different times and ways of life but continuing to care for their daily needs, cooking Goulash for their families and walking these very streets. We thought of culture and music and the lives lived and loved along the Danube River.
For other great travel articles about living in Italy try one from our Archives:
A Morning Run in Nettuno (Published September 10, 2017)
A Visit to Castelli Romani (Published September 13, 2017)
Dinner for Six (Published October 1, 2017)
Italian Cooking School (Published October 8, 2017)
Culinary Tour of Napoli (Published November 17, 2017)
Changing Seasons in Italy (Published November 25, 2017)
Our Trip to Englands Cotswolds (Published January 12, 2018)
Cooking with Pasquale (Published January 28, 2018)
A Tour of the Garden of Ninfa (Published May 7, 2018)
A Trip to Montefiascone (Published May 17, 2018)
San Gimignano, a visit to a Tuscan Hill Town (Published June 9, 2018)
Tuscan Hot Springs of San Filippo & Saturnia (Published June 13, 2018)
August in Sperlonga (Published August 30, 2018)
Villas, Palaces and Fortresses (Published November 25, 2018)
