The train ride was fairly uneventful. I worked on the first part of the Vienna sightseeing blog, which is when I decided it was going to need to be more than two parts. I left it in draft form, because in less than two days, I had an almost 7 hours train to Prague, which is when I planned to catch up on my multi-pronged blog approach, and after going back to proofread, it was obvious my brain was on another sleep deprived planet.
With the end of the Vienna Socializing blog as context, I didn’t get a lot of sleep on Sunday, which was my 51st birthday. Thankfully, I had the forethought to get packed up and ready to go before we went out for the day, and I was blearily ready to get to the train station by 10:30 for the relatively short trip to Budapest (about 2 hours and 45 minutes).
We arrived in Budapest around 2:30 PM and it was cold and rainy. My first mistake had been wearing shorts and packing my rain jacket in favor of my hoodie. Whereas all of my train travel up to this point had been relatively easy, be it either my sleep depravation or just the Eastern Europe of it all, the Budapest train station and transfer to the subway was proving to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. I also needed a restroom, and while there were signs, one never did present itself fully.
After a couple trips back and forth in the station and multiple attempts to get the Budapest transit app to work, I finally figure out a way to my hotel and got on my way.
I may break this out into a separate post, but in Brussels, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague, transit is very much on an honor system. Budapest was the first city where I actively saw employees checking to make sure you paid. It was fairly aggressive, but it makes sense.
Once I get to the Hampton Inn City Center, I am happy to be back in a chain hotel after a time in an AirBnB-style flat in Vienna. I get the allure of an AirBnB especially for families and groups who want a full kitchen, but I also abhor the idea of taking housing stock off the market. I just like a mid-range hotel better, and I never see a point in a luxury hotel because I do not plan on spending more than sleeping time at it.
By the time I checked in and got settled, it was almost 3:30, and I decided to find a grocery store for energy drinks and some snacks. The energy was at low ebb, and I wasn’t feeling adventurous enough to try anything local. As I have established, I love grocery stores, and I just find a certain level of comfort in them. I went to Lidl, which is very Aldi like, but just like European Aldi (Sud or Nord), it’s just better than the American version. I bought some fresh bread, ham, and cheese, and I made my own sandwiches back in the room while trying to figure out what I had the energy to do the rest of the day.
I was staying on the Pest (pronounced Pesht) side of the Danube, and I decided to walk around and get the lay of the land for what I plan to do the next day. I had planned on seeking out a restaurant and maybe going to a bar for a cocktail, but the energy was just not there (or so I thought). Plus, I knew Monday was going to be a wall-to-wall sightseeing marathon (spoiler for part 2: it was!).
My hotel was near St. Stephen’s Basilica, not to be confused with the gothic cathedral in Vienna. This is a beautiful melange of neo-classical and neo-Renaissance style because there was a dome collapse and new architect involved during the building of it. It is the biggest church in Budapest and tied with the Parliament building as the tallest structure in the city. Tallest doesn’t necessarily mean highest, because while Pest is relatively flat, Buda is very hilly, but more on that in part 2.
Even on a Sunday evening, the square around St. Stephen’s is bustling with energy. It is hard for me to say whether these are locals or tourists, but it was great to walk around towards the Danube.
Once to the river, I see the historic Chain Bridge, which is one of the structures nearly destroyed during World War II, and I walked north along the river towards the Parliament building. I came across the Shoes on the Danube Bank art installation, which is brass shoes memorializing those murdered by fascist Hungarian militia during WWII. They were asked to step out of their valuable shoes, and then they were shot so they would fall into the river and be swept away. On a dark and cold day, it was still pretty chilling to see.
Beyond that is the breathtaking Parliament building, a neo-gothic behemoth. The iconic lighting had not come on yet, but I was still in awe of it.
I walked away from the Danube into the city and past the Ferris Wheel of Budapest on my way to Piana Vyshnia, which is small chain specializing in a Ukrainian sour cherry liqueur. I ordered the traditional room temperature version, and the bartender explained the ritual to drink it. You put your hands behind your back, make a wish, and lean in to and drink as much as you can in one sip. I was commended for the amount I drank (LOL), and then he put cherries into the glass to complete the serving.
I sat at the little bar for a bit and savored the sour cherry goodness, and with my back to the entrance, I was fiddling with my phone until I hear singing behind me. At first, I thought it was just a recording, but I quickly realized there was a live singer performing. I turned around to enjoy the show, even though I felt relatively trapped because the venue was that small. It was a boisterous way to get the vibe of Budapest, which up until now had been really just me walking around enjoying the dreary weather view. This is where I began to fall in love with Budapest.
Piana Vyshnia is at the entrance to a long corridor of interconnected courtyards called, Gozsdu Udvar, which is filled with restaurants and bars of every variety. It also had video game arcade and lots and lots of karaoke. Again, this was all surprisingly busy for a Sunday night, and while I didn’t partake, it was another great tribute to the vibes of Budapest.
Once I walked through Gozsdu Udvar, I found myself near the gorgeous Dohány Street Synagogue. I had marked it on my map during research, but it didn’t make it the final itinerary. However, I will definitely need to go inside when I am back.
While starting to slow down even more, I discovered that I was near an LGBT bar called Habroló Cafe & Bar. I wasn’t sure I was up for it, but after looking in the window at the quirky scene inside, I decided to pop in for one drink at the bar.
Habroló is fairly compact, but they have maximized the high ceilings of the inside by building a metal mezzanine accessed by a set of stairs that look like they may have claimed the lives of several overindulged individuals. The walls were festooned with pictures and liquor advertisements, and while the bartender was fairly mystified by my tequila soda order, we got it together and enjoyed the cocktail.
By the time I finished that, I was ready to head back, and I walked back through Gozsdu Udvar and wended my way back to the hotel. I decided I should probably eat something, but after walking into a Budapestian “pizza joint” and getting thoroughly mystified by the menu, I walked up the street to Unique Burger and ordered a truly gigantic burger and fries. I’m not one for red meat often, but it was a really great burger.
After eating the burger and watching some of a BBC documentary on snow leopards, I crashed out around 10 PM set for an early start for the real sightseeing.
