BUDAPEST
Budapest, Hungary
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BUDAPEST DAY ONE
I've officially been travelling for a week straight, so a little rest and recovery day aboard a very plush coach bus was just what I needed. Most of today was spent travelling from Prague to Budapest, passing through Moravia (the wine region in the southeast of the Czech Republic - no we didn't stop for a taste!), through Slovakia for just a brief glimpse at its capital Bratislava, and finally into Hungary. The drive takes about six hours, but the stops George added on make the trip go by incredibly quickly. I may have also napped a few times to pass the time. Why no train?, I asked George. He replied that there isn't a faster/better way of getting from one city to the other.
About 90 minutes into our journey, it was time for a snack. At a McDonald's. Except European McDonald's aren't like our US McDonald's, not that there is anything wrong with ours. This one in Jihlava, is perhaps the fanciest McDonald's I've ever been in. It felt like a legit coffee house and not the place I grab a Shamrock Shake once a year.
Fueled up with our beverages (and happy to have access to a non-bus restroom!) we re-boarded and continued out journey south. After about another 90 minutes, we crossed into Slovakia. 20 years ago, when I was on this same bus ride from Prague to Budapest, the border crossing into Slovakia was much different. Our bus was forced to stop, boarded by armed guards, and each of us had to have our passports out, open to our picture page, and held in front of us. It was a very anxiety-inducing experience for a barely 18-year-old.
This time, however, thanks to the Schengen Area, we breezed across the border at highway speeds with no checkpoint in sight. While I *knew* we wouldn't have an issue, thanks to George (I had asked him about the crossing and explained my previous experience with it), I still was nervous as we approached the border. Thankfully, as soon as we crossed, I snuggled back into my plush seat and continued staring out the window at the beautiful scenery unfolding around me. Fun Fact: because of the small size of the tour groups (and we were near capacity for ours!), we had p-l-e-n-t-y of room to stretch out on our buses.
About another 90 minutes past the border, it was time for lunch at the Marché Restaurant...which was a truck stop. Now, just like the McDonald's from earlier wasn't what an American McDonald's would be like, neither was this truck stop restaurant. I had a delicious chicken drumstick, bruschetta and roasted potatoes - all delicious. I grabbed a bottle of mineral water on the way out and back onto the bus we went for our final leg of the journey into Budapest.
After safely making it to our hotel, the beautiful K+K Hotel Opera Budapest (literally next door to the famous Opera house!) we hit the road for our first glimpse at beautiful Budapest.
Back in Prague during our introductions, I said that I'd been to both Prague and Budapest previously, 20 years prior. I told George privately that a big reason I came back was because I had 7 rolls of film from the trip and only a handful of actual memories. As we toured Prague and Budapest, I kept commenting on how only a few things felt familiar - the Charles Bridge in Prague, Hero's Square in Budapest, as examples. On our first night, George mentioned that Prague suffered its worst flood ever in 2002, and much of Old Town needed extensive repair. Those repairs began Prague's new era as a European tourist destination, but that Budapest was much slower to recognize - and adapt to - the growing tourism industry. It is catching up, but some polish is still needed.
When I returned home, I looked back through the postcards I collected in 1998, and recognized one with St. Stephen's Basilica, where we performed in 98 and our first stop on our walking tour for this trip. The difference was astounding, and for the first time I really understood what a transformation both grand cities have undertaken in the 20+ years since my last visit, which occurred just three years after the fall of Communism. No wonder nothing looked familiar - they were visually brand-new cities!
A before & after slider; the image on the left is from my 1998 postcard, the image on the right from my 2019 tour. The difference between the images, both of St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest, is replicated all over Budapest and Prague as both cities learned the value of the tourism industry.
BUDAPEST DAY TWO
We started this morning's adventures on Budapest public transportation, packed in with Hungarians heading to work or their daily activities, making for a memorable, "temporary local" experience. There was no better feeling on my entire trip than being asked for directions or help in a transit station - even though I couldn't really ever help - because it meant I had the confidence of a resident. In those moments, I felt absolutely free.
Our destination for this particular day? Buda Castle and the Castle Hill.
Budapest, as it is currently known, got its start in 996 (nope, not missing a digit there, it's that old) and until 1873 was three distinct cities: Buda, Óbuda (meaning "old Buda", so don't feel too bad their name got omitted in the merger), and Pest. The Buda Castle dates back to the 14th century, however the Castle Hill was used for royal housing as far back as the 12th century. Featuring the castle itself, Matthias Church, the Fisherman's Bastion and several other swoon-worthy sights, even the fog that hung around from the night prior couldn't dampen the mood as we explored. I easily could have spent another few hours here, just exploring and learning more about the absolutely amazing ancient city.
After exploring the Castle Hill, we had all worked up quite an appetite - good thing lunch was just one home-cooked meal away. And by home-cooked, I mean a we-cooked meal.
In what was one of the most unique experiences I've ever had while traveling, our next stop was a Hungarian cooking class with the masters at Chefparade Cooking School. This will remain one of my all-time highlights of the entire trip, and will likely be something I try to do on future travels - it was simply that much fun. We each drew a number and then were grouped up by like number for the various parts of the meal we were to cook. Because we were there so close to Christmas, we had a more traditional Christmas menu which included fish stew, Hungarian-style enchiladas (at least that's what they looked like), a mushroom paprika dish and two types of traditional Christmas pastries.
Before the cooking commenced, we were treated to a tasty treat: Unicum Next. Herbaceous and perfectly citrusy, this liquor went down nice and easy (for those who chose to partake). Fun Fact: Unicum Next is branded as Zwack in the US! If you can find some, here are some suggestions on drinks you can make with it.
And what do good budding Hungarian chefs do after a cooking class? They head to the Great Market Hall (Nagyvásárcsarnok) to scoop up some paprika...and if you're our crew, you head downstairs to the stinks fish market and grab a jar of pickles, too! The Great Market Hall was one of the places I distinctly remember from my first visit, and I walked away with a bunch of paprika just like I did 20 years ago. This time, however, I'm actually using it!
To end our day (and what a day it was!!) we headed to the Blue Danube for a riverboat cruise along the river, taking in the sights from an entirely different perspective. While, admittedly, the narration (from the perspective of the river?) was cheesy, the tour was fantastic. I thought it was going to be super touristy, but on the top outdoor level we found ourselves in the middle of a wedding proposal (with cupcakes!) and a very, very loud birthday party (with regular cakes!) Clearly this is tour is used by locals for their celebrations, which added a fun (if not slightly ear-piercing) aspect to it. I cannot imagine what it must be like to go through one's life - birthdays, school, work, marriage proposals, kids, etc. - with this amazing city as your backdrop. I wanted to take it all in and capture everything...but about 15 minutes in my battery died...and my backup battery was dead also. What does the self-appointed team photographer do when she can't take photos?
She sits back and drinks sparkling wine while soaking in all the magic around her. Egészségedre!
BUDAPEST DAY THREE
Our last day.
I created this scrapbook in chronological order, and as I sit down to write about my final day, I'm struck by the same feelings I had on my last day in Budapest - grateful for the opportunity to make (or relive) so many amazing memories, but sad that it's all coming to an end.
Enough boo-hooing - on to the Hungarian State Opera house (Magyar Állami Operaház)! I could NOT believe how far we had to travel to get there. Seriously, the walk from our hotel to the Opera house felt like forever. I truly didn't know how my legs would hold up.
If you've picked up on the joke there - good! That means you were paying attention above when I said that our hotel was next door to the Opera house. Talk about a prime location! The tour documents we received before departure states that we would not get to see the Opera house due to massive, ongoing renovations (can't be easy to maintain a 130+ year old building, after all). I was disappointed, but understood that things happen during travel and resolved to sneak over and take some pictures of the outside, at least. In case you haven't noticed this far, I like taking pictures of architecture! Imagine how delighted I was that not only were we staying next door BUT! that we were getting a private, guided, behind-the-scenes tour of the Opera house and a mini performance!
After our tour and performance, I felt giddy and rejuvenated in a way that only live music can foster. As we strolled Andrassy Avenue (Andrássy út), we came to Liszt Ferenc Square (Liszt Ferenc tér) and the larger-than-life (literally) statue of the great composer for whom the square is named. You can check out some of his work on this playlist (not my playlist). For a modern take on classical Hungarian music, check out HAVASI. We listened to one of his songs while at the statue and I think we were all hooked.
From there, we boarded the Metro (the oldest on the continent and dare I say, one of the best I've ever ridden) and headed to something I'd been looking forward to the entire trip: Heroes Square (Hősök tere). (Why is the word for square "tér" above and "tere" here? According to George, it's another Hungarian twist...there is no difference between the words). I remember Heroes Square vividly from my first trip, and I was excited to see it again. I wish we could have spent more time there, learning about its importance, but we were soon whisked away for coffee and cakes at the famous Gundel restaurant. Luxury abounds here - legitimate royalty like Queen Elizabeth II and Hollywood royalty like Jennifer Lawrence and Brad Pitt have all visited. We felt very fancy indeed and tried not to spill anything on the crisp linens or break any of the Zsolnay porcelain. When our break was done, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. Some people ventured to Monument Square, prominently featured in the Rick Steves' episode, some people headed back toward the hotel...but my girls and I hit up the Széchenyi Thermal Bath (Széchenyi gyógyfürdő), just down the street from the restaurant.
We soaked, and napped (at least I did), giggled, talked, and spent the day at the natives do - "taking the waters" at the bath. I was healing from a wrist tendon injury, so I didn't consider the hours we spent bath hopping (there are 11 indoor thermal pools and one outdoor pool) to be wasted time...I was simply doing my physical therapy and absorbing all the good minerals from the spring water! I must say - my wrist felt great after my extended soak.
Relaxed from our hours-long bath, our crew ventured back to the hotel to freshen up before our last evening together. As we sat together in Shannon and Mama Mo's room, scarfing down the jar of pickles we bought at the market the day prior (ok fine, I scarfed most of them), we reflected on the trip but also made plans for future travel together. Shannon and Mama Mo are on an upcoming trip to Portugal, and Naddia and I are on the waitlist. We've yet to convince Janice to join us...but we're still working on it.
After dinner it was time for one final buddy check before most of us went together to see a traditional Hungarian folk performance. This was an add-on excursion, but all except three of us went, and we were treated to an absolutely wonderful time. The dancing and music were exquisite and I cannot think of a better way to have ended this trip.
Sad that our trip was hours from ending, our crew quietly headed back to the hotel for one last beverage at the bar, but we finally managed to get a photo together. Over dinner, Shannon installed WhatsApp? on my phone and Naddia started an epic group chat; we still keep in touch almost daily, checking in on each other as our separate lives go on, posting memes that will make you inappropriately laugh at work (NADDIA!), sharing information on upcoming travel plans and generally keeping up the sisterhood we developed on this trip. I could not have asked for a better travel family and am looking forward to when we can all be together again.
One last tipple. One last photo. One last round of laughter. One last sleep. One last breakfast.
Just like that, it was over. Naddia and Janice headed home, Shannon and Mama Mo headed on to Poland while I made my way via train to Vienna for a solo Christmas adventure.