Where do I even start? What a crazy wonderful weekend!
First I'd like to note for people who would want to take this trip from Vienna to Budapest, they should use the Hungarian national railways website to get tickets on the way back. My half brother, Eskil, has a friend from Hungary who showed me the website. The tickets to Budapest with OBB (Austrian railways) were 40 euros but the tickets back to Vienna with MÁV-Start were only 12. And the trains were identical. But you can only print their tickets while in Hungary, so it only works for the return trip.
Here are some of the first images I took while in Budapest. The first thing that struck me was those ceramic tiles again. The same ones I saw on the Stephansdom and occasionally as accents on buildings around Vienna. The image on the right with the tiles is the Great Budapest Market by the way.
We stopped to eat at a restaurant called Monarchia, close to the market. It was hands down the worst restaurant that any of us had been to on this trip. The service was terrible and the food was microwaved but hey we all made good fun out of it. Kind of amazing really that we were able to find a restaurant with 1.5 star ratings and 700 reviews. It becomes one of those moments where you have to laugh and then remind yourself to always check the reviews of a place beforehand.
The whole first day I couldn't get over the difference in infrastructure spending between Vienna and Budapest. Because in many ways the architecture and general building layout is quite similar, but the last 50 years of history for both countries has been very different in terms of regimes in power.
Just look at the facades of these buildings. They're crumbling off and exposing the structure underneath
But after going to the House of Terror (Museum on Communism and Fascism in Hungary) this all begins to make sense. Totalitarian governments like that will do a number on anyone.
While on the topic of architecture around the city I have to remark on this one building I saw. It had the most bizarre mix of Neo-classical, Egyptian, and late 19th century styles all throughout its construction. Note the obelisks on the corners of the roof and the Corinthian-like columns adorning the front. It's as if the person commissioning this building was like, "give me everything" when asked what traditional styles he wanted. I love it.
Next stop was the Basilica, and to our good fortune there happened to be a symphony playing on its steps. The whole thing was surreal, so we stopped for a moment, got ice cream, and took it all in.
On the inside I saw a level of gilding that could only be rivaled by the Melk monastery. It was stunning. Just look at the leaves of the columns.
Here's a picture from the ferris wheel with Michael.
This night was Randi's birthday, so we made sure to go out and experience a bit of Budapest's night life. And the thing that everyone talks about when it comes to night life in Pest is the ruin pubs. Here's a little blip from an article describing the history of the ruin pubs in Budapest,
"In the early 2000s, the inner part of the VII District was made up of crumbling, abandoned buildings. Once the site of the Jewish ghetto, the historic Jewish Quarter became dilapidated in the decades following World War II, after the deportation of 10,000s Jews. In 2002, the guys behind Szimpla opened up the very first venue on Kertész utca – where you’ll find the Szimpla Café today. However, the real kick happened in 2004, when Ábel Zsendovits and his friends decided to gamble on a condemned building complex on Kazinczy street, which marked the start of the legendary ruin bar we all know and love today.
Szimpla began as a small experiment, a bar set up in an abandoned buildin offering affordable drinks for the young and creative crowd in Budapest. Szimpla became a bohemian hub after the crumbling building got spruced up with local design and vintage, mismatched furniture. Its chaos and eclecticism has turned it into one of the world’s most famous bars."
We went to Szimpla, which was just incredible to see how far back and around this whole pub stretched. There was beer being served every 10 steps you went and all sorts of nooks and crannies for you to sit with your friends and chat.
The next day I noticed something interesting. I saw the very same Stolperstein (Stumble over stones) that are in Vienna, that mark where Jewish families used to live before being either deported or murdered during the second world war.
I found my favorite church in Europe here in Buda, at least when it comes to aesthetics. It's called the Matyas Church and I fell in love with the orange ceramic tiles on the roof as well as the black accents on the smaller spire.
I simply had to have a tower tour and I'm so glad I got that to work. I was able to climb up, see the bells, and ask the tour guide plenty of questions. Some of the more interesting things I learned were that Emperor Franz Josef received his coronation at this church and that the traditional ceramic tiles on this church are Hungarian and so the tiles on Stephansdom are more than likely brought over from Hungary as well. In terms of the history of this church it was fascinating to learn how many times this thing has been burnt down, used by Turks, bombed, and then renovated each time.
The tour guide also mentioned that this is one of the cheapest places to get married in Budapest because for some reason it costs less than, "a pair of nike sneakers" to book the place. Although you need to book it at least a year in advance. That explains why we were never allowed to see the interior of the church because there was a wedding taking place every hour of its opening time.
Here's a view from the tower
And to really complete the experience up here in Buda, there was some guy playing the game of thrones theme song on a violin
And no good Catholic site is complete without a trinity column
And no good Budapest visit is complete without a trip to the thermal baths
My best meal in Budapest, and probably one of the best the whole month, was something called beef cheek. Tender and served with bread dumplings.
And to finish off the night, a group of us went on a party boat up and down the Danube for three hours. It was 35 euros for the whole thing and there was all you can drink beer and wine. I know what you're thinking, but hey everyone made it home haha.
That's where I got the first photo on this blog post, of the Hungarian Parliament building. The experience of partying on the boat while slowly passing by all these grand displays of architecture and culture was incredibly surreal. Had to pinch myself every now and then to make sure this was really happening. To top it off there were bats circling in great big arcs over the parliament building, like something out of a fairy tale.
Thank you, Budapest, for the great times
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