2016 Europe Trip: Days 3 & 4 Budapest

Day 3: Budapest!
We were so excited to begin exploring, but our bodies were tired from the long travel days - so we slept in a bit.  We met up with a former student and her boyfriend, Oli and Caio.  We were all hungry, so we walked until we found a bakery with selections we wanted.  I enjoyed a caprese sandwich on multigrain bread and Chris selected a pastry.  

Now we were ready to explore!  We walked back the way we had come and then walked across the Elisabeth Bridge which took us right in front of the hill with the Citadel.  After enjoying the manmade waterfall coming down the mountainside, we took stairs up the hillside and then a pathway of switchbacks - a great little hike - until we made it to the top of the hill to the Citadel.  What a beautiful view of Budapest!  We had some fun posing with the statues.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the same Kebab shop and then met up with an online friend. She met us with her husband and son.  Her son is finishing school in Budapest and spoke good English and enjoyed being our tour guide around Budapest.  We walked along Museum Street and passed the Hungarian National Museum building.

Our next stop was Lavendar gelato shop – Where I had an awesome strawberry ginger gelato and Chris had a very creamy and rich chocolate gelato.  Next we passed the Mercado Central Market and headed over the Liberty bridge to the Buda side.  As we crossed the bridge you have a great view of Gellert Hill.  

At this end, there are some cool churches built into the hill - one of them is the Pálosok, Sziklakápolna. They pointed out some of the locations that had been used in recent films.  

We then jumped on the street tram and rode down to the base of Buda Castle Hill.  Here is the 0 kilometer marker where all roads go away from Castle Hill.  

We were treated to a ride on the Funicular that goes up Castle Hill

 arriving right outside the palace and we were just in time to see the changing of the guard.  

We walked around the Buda Castle grounds and up Castle Hill.  We were treated to a typical Hungarian streusel filled with cherries and poppyseeds and topped with powdered sugar.  Next was the Cathredral and Fisherman’s Bastion.  

The Cathedral has a unique and colorful roof with individual color tiles.  From the Fisherman’s Bastion, there is a beautiful view of the Parliament on the Pest side along the River.  

We made our way down the stairs to the river to cross over the famous Chain Bridge with tongueless lions that greet you on each side of the bridge.  

On the Pest side is the Széchenyi Square where you can see the Ministry of the Interior and Science buildings.  From here, we walked down Akademia street until we came to the Parliament square.  It is a very large and beautiful building.  Unfortunately, the English tour was not for another couple of hours, so we continued on our tour and visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral which is a very beautiful and large Cathedral.  

We stopped in a café Babka and enjoyed some carbonated non-sweetened lemonades.

  The Dugonics wanted to treat us to some traditional Hungarian food, however, the first restaurant they had selected wasn’t serving dinner, so we rode the street tram across town to a different restaurant. We enjoyed some Goulash soup and we all shared two large platters of a variety of meats and vegetables.  It was really fun to try it all.  They walked us over to the large mall and we parted ways. 

Day 4: Second Day in Budapest

We snagged breakfast at the same bakery and had some excellent hot chocolate with an Austrian chocolate covered cookie for breakfast.

After taking our bags to the train station lockers, met up with Oli and Caio again.  We tried some marzipan truffles from a street vendor as we walked along making our way to Buda Castle again which they wanted to see.  

This time we walked up the hill instead of taking the funicular.  We enjoyed shooting bow and arrow at a little hands on medevial area on the back side of the castle we had not noticed the day before.  

After another view at Fisherman’s Bastion,

we again crossed Chain Bridge and walked up Zrinyi street toward Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, but this time ate at a Istanbul Kebab shop.  They were not as friendly at this shop as the one by our flat, but the Gyro was just as good. 

After Oli and Caio grabbed their bags, we took a street tram to the north side and walked to Hero’s Square. 

We still had time before our trains, so we saw this pretty lake and City park behind Hero’s square and walked over to it.  There were foot pedal boats for the lake, so we shared one and enjoyed a ride out on the lake.  

The guys pedaled first and then Oli and pedaled a second lap around the lake.  

It was a fun time.  They took the underground with us to the train station and we said our goodbyes.  We retrieved our luggage from the lockers and found our night train and got settled in our compartment.  I purchased a private car for Chris and I that had a sink in the compartment.  The train took us from Budapest to Krakow.  It wasn’t the best sleep, but we did get some rest.