Oh oh Budapest! 🎶

We celebrated our one-year anniversary in Europe, plus a delayed two-year wedding anniversary, exploring Budapest over the weekend! 

Like most of our adventures, we took off Friday afternoon and arrived in Budapest with enough time to check out our fancy hotel and take a walk down to the Christmas markets (Yes! They’re finally open!). Since we decided to call this an anniversary trip, we upgraded our stay to the luxurious New York Palace, home of the "world’s most beautiful café" (the New York Café), where we enjoyed staying in three different hotel suites (more on that later).

After dropping off our bags in the beautiful suite number one (complete with three rooms, our first bidet, a jacuzzi, and a fantastic balcony with a view of the city), we took a walk through the city streets to the Christmas markets. We may have been too late for the artisan stands, but luckily the food and Forralt Bor (mulled wine) stands were still open! We made a loop around the market, considering all of the different options (There were SO many choices!). We eventually settled on a “pancake” (like a potato hash brown patty) smothered with chicken and sauce, paired with a glass of Forralt Bor. Our first taste of Hungry was a success!

We were not brave enough to try this!

When we arrived back at the hotel, we found that our suite had an over-bearing smell of cigarette smoke, and even after trying to air the place out, it continued to get worse. As it turned out, our neighbor was a “heavy smoker” according to the concierge desk, so we packed up our bags and made a midnight move to our second room. Goodbye beautiful view of the city! 

We started Saturday off like royalty, enjoying a scrumptious breakfast in the New York Café, surrounded by the incredible Italian Renaissance architecture, including majestic ceilings covered with murals, twisted marble pillars, and remarkable detail everywhere you looked. You could spend hours studying this place! 

Following breakfast, we met up with our walking tour in the middle of the “Pest” side of Budapest and began our trek, learning more about the city and its history. During the tour, we stopped by St. Stephen’s Basilica, crossed the chain bridge to explore the “Buda” side, and climbed the hill to the extraordinary Buda Castle. We admired the colorful tiled roof on Matthias Church and soaked in the view of the city from Fisherman’s Bastion (a remarkable terrace complete with watchtowers). It was a fantastic tour, teaching us about Hungry as a whole as well as Budapest as a city. 

Following the tour, we made our way back down the hill, across the chain bridge and back to St. Stephen’s Basilica. This time, we wandered inside, with the unique highlight being a view of St. Stephen’s hand. 

We continued to wander through the city, making our way to the Blue Rose (a recommendation from our guide) where we enjoyed our first taste of Hungarian Goulash soup with a side of fresh, home-made bread. It was delicious! 

Next, we stopped back at the hotel, switched to our third hotel room (another fancy suite, but this time far away from the smoker), grabbed our swimsuits, and took off for Rudas fürdő, one of Budapest’s bathhouses. We spent the next few hours pool hopping between the five pools in the older part of the bathhouse, with the pools ranging from very hot to lukewarm, to quite chilly. We tested our limits in the sauna, complete with a dousing of ice-cold water, and we took time just to sit and unwind while admiring the beautiful stone arches and unique atmosphere of the building. We wandered over to the new side of the bathhouse, passing by the lap pool and soon finding another perfect place to relax, a roof-top hot tub overlooking the sparkling city. Beautiful!

Feeling refreshed, we left the bathhouse and took a walk along the river bank back to the Christmas markets. This time, we made it before they closed! With our Forralt Bor in hand, we wandered through the markets, listening to the live music and checking out the beautiful pottery, glasswork, and woodwork. We tried a couple more Hungarian dishes, including a Naan bread sandwich which the lady “ironed” together and Lángos (fried dough covered with sauce and cheese) a recommendation by Jeff’s coworker who was born and raised in Hungry. As we were leaving the market, we made one last stop at the Kürtőskalács stand, enjoying a cinnamon chimney cake, while reminiscing about our first introduction to these a year ago in Český Krumlov. Yummy! 

We started Sunday with another fancy breakfast at the café before hitting the town. Our first stop was the Great Synagogue, the second largest Synagogue in the world (with room to seat 3,000 people) and the first one Jeff and I have ever been in. The Synagogue was built in the 1850s and only took five years to construct. We enjoyed a fantastic tour of the Synagogue given by a local Hungarian and member of the congregation. He shared with us part of his family’s story as well as the history of Hungry and the devastation to the Jewish community during WWII and the occupation of the Soviet Union. He shared about the mass graves next to the church as well as the beautiful Tree of Life Memorial, with hundreds of thousands of names inscribed on the leaves, in honor of the victims of the Holocaust. 

Mimosas with breakfast!

Following the tour of the Synagogue, we took one last stroll through the Christmas markets and down to the river bank, making our way to the remarkable Parliament building. We stopped at the memorial near the Parliament, along the Danube promenade, to admire the bronze shoes strewn next to the riverbank. This small memorial pays tribute to the Jews who were shot by the Arrow Cross and thrown into the river during WWII. The individuals had to remove their shoes first because they were a valuable belonging. We took a few minutes to sit on the riverbank, lost in thought about the value of life while soaking in the sun and the city around us. 

We continued on, amazed by the sheer magnitude of the parliament building. It is enormous and stunning! We walked around the building and took a quick peek at the soldiers on duty (it’s fun to compare the military guards from all the different countries) and then set off for lunch. We found a restaurant nearby and dined on another delicious bowl of Goulash soup, this time with a unique side of the “must try” Palinka (a fruity brandy and Hungarian specialty) that will light your hair on fire!. Talk about a lingering burn! 

Egészségére! (Cheers!)

Following lunch, we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport, concluding yet another wonderful trip! We wish we had one more day in the city, as there were still a few more sights we would like to see, but what do you do... you have to leave something for next time!