Continuing my trip from Czech Republic, I arrived in Budapest early morning by an overnight train from Prague. As soon as I, along with my two friends walked out of train station there was Metro bang opposite. Budapest was at first, a let down from Prague. It felt like; we have come from a fairyland to a common concretized urban jungle. However it was a very bad presumption which changed soon drastically. The weather in Budapest was cold but not very chilly during the month of April.
We stayed at MarcoPolo Hostel which also offered individual rooms and more or less operated like a typical hostel. It was an average place however situated in a prime area.
Once settled, we started walking towards our pre-booked walking Tour, now we asked for directions at the reception and they said its twenty minutes walking basically to the next metro station. My friend recommended let’s go by metro only then I insisted lets go walking, lets experience our first walk in Budapest. As soon as we started walking, it started raining; we didn’t reach in twenty minutes and took about forty instead. The tour left without us and this was informed to us by some other tour guides there, however we had the contact details of the person who was organising the tour. So we immediately called and got the chance to join the tour, they had not gone much ahead. The tour covered quite a few places in the city and also the tour guide was superb, she also shared the history of the country, gave us some important facts and yes even told us how Buda and Pest are connected by bridges and what the importance of each of them is.
The streets were quite lively even during morning times; we walked by the Danube river which flows all the way from Austria. Also lot of squares are connecting places. Buda being hilly area and Pest is plain grounds. The advantage is all bridges have a pedestrian cross way and are not limited to vehicles. The tour ended in the famous parliament building. We liked the tour guide so once it was over; we asked her if she can give us a private tour of Budapest Castle obviously at an extra charge. It worked out pretty well and we decided to meet in early evening. She told us that she will also give us all required info for the rest of our stay and yes she was pretty sweet and helpful. I found Hungarian people quite heartwarming and friendly.
We moved to a place for lunch and realised Hungarian food is pretty awesome. It’s spicy and has great aromatic flavours. It perfectly meets the Indian Taste Palette. The goulash was out of the world. Along with the food, a good glass of Hungarian Beer called Soproni. Dreher is also quite popular. My favourite Czech Beer Pilsner Urquell was also easily available here. There were abundant choices of restaurants serving multicuisine, however Hungarian is a must try especially chicken paprika with a good Wine. Hungary is also to an extent known for its wines and there is an excellent region of Eger town which is popular among tourists for wine tasting and buying. We had Eger planned for the last day of our trip which was quite overwhelming.
The Budapest castle tour was really spectacular. Now the advantage here was there was a local with us so she gave us all the info we needed for our trip here. Even in metro we bought a group train pass as per her recommendation and it proved to be really economical. The fisherman’s bastion in the castle area was spectacular to take pictures. Overall we enjoyed the tour and she gave us good tips to enjoy the rest of the three days.
The streets were so well lit with people skating around, bicycling and even running. What we realised that lot of people here commute by bicycles and there are paths made almost on all streets for ease of crossing. Then we hung out at the most popular street called Váci Street which is full of cafes and restaurants along with ample options for shopping. The pathways are embraced by street musicians who make the venue very lively during the evenings.
The second day we woke up late and decided to hire bicycles for roaming around the city. As mentioned earlier the two parts of the city are very well connected by bridges which have pedestrian’s crossovers as well. Hiring a bike was super easy. And there was a choice of drop off point as per your convenience which is superb. We took the bikes and headed to the parliament building. Now the unique thing about Budapest is that there is a nice quiet island in between the two parts of the city which is very well connected by one of the bridges. We could easily navigate this route and found our way to Margaret Island. It was just wow! The island was so beautiful full of parks, a small zoo, jogging track along the river Danube and breath-taking views of the city. It was a perfect hang out spot. No vehicles allowed on the internal of the islands, so you can imagine the peace and serenity. Acres of lush green lands with easily navigable pathways. It meets the vims and fancies of many.
After covering the island, we went through the side pathways across the river, cycling around the town. We then headed to the Citadella which was located on the hill in Buda. We parked our bikes on the foot of the hill and climbed upwards. The climb upwards is a bit tiresome but definitely worth the view. The hill overlooks the city and hence offers picturesque views of the parliament building, the river and Pest region. On the top of the hill is located the Liberty statue also called as Freedom Memorial. It’s a must visit as it has a lot of historical significance and again the views are breathtaking. We then headed down and returned the bikes. Once done with this there is a really good option of experiencing hot baths in Budapest in plenty of places. The thermal baths are very popular and the weather is superb for it.
This evening we headed to Heroes square which is also one hell of a site in Budapest. In the night it looks glorious. It is the home to the seven chieftains of Magyars (Hungarians), the oldest seven tribes. Later we went for dinner at nearby lively street. We were waiting at a bus stop and got approached by a lady. She asked us do we need help. So I was going to tell her that no and then she just blurted it out openly ‘Do you guys need sex?!!!’ We were stunned and right away said no politely. Then she did help us with some directions for finding a dinner place.
The next day we did a grave mistake. We happen to knew that Vienna in Austria is just three hours from Budapest by train. So we decided to skip roaming more around Budapest and headed to Vienna by 7 am train. We reached right on time and bought a Euro Rail Pass for entire day. We came out of the train station and took a ring rail tour which covers most of the important places in one circle with self-audio guide. It was quite educating, however covering these places on our own was tiresome. One day was too less to cover even half of them. It was a pathetic decision to do this while we could have been enjoying Budapest even more. In the evening, we visited the Schonbroon Palace which was a couple of metro stations away from city centre. It was humongous and I wish we had more time to explore, however we had a return journey ahead.
We were dead tired by the time we reached back Budapest. The next day we had to get up early again as we had a day trip planned for a small wine town called Eger. Budapest is known for partying and also the ruin pubs. This night we visited Szimpla Kert and wow it was spectacular. It was divided into lot of huge rooms and was so crowded. All of Budapest along with tourists was here. It was super lively with good music and very multicultural. A good place to know locals and enjoy good beer.
Next early morning we headed to Eger. This was also a good two hour journey from Budapest. But this was worth a visit. The town was quite different when compared with Cesky Krumlov in Czech although it has the same kind of premises. The wine town has a lane of wine cellars where they allow you to taste as many wines and the ones you want to buy; you can buy in plastic decanters. It saves the packaging cost which leads you to buying amazing wines at very economical rates. Then we had a lavish breakfast at one of the restaurants in front of a cellar. They all were very eager to serve and had good options. I tried citric beer which surprisingly went well with breakfast at such time of the day! The small town is a good stroll, it is known for homemade ice cream varieties. There is a medieval castle also this town has with where a small entry fee has to be paid. Then after a long day, headed back to Budapest. Last night around was as usual very happening. People drinking on the streets, cafes all lit up, a pure party place for sure.
We had an early morning flight and return transfer to the airport was pre-booked. We were flabbergasted by the way this city is always. So happening, so alive, always people are partying, Margret island was full of fitness enthusiasts during day time on a weekday. I started wondering when do these people work? No wonder Matt Damon after his shoot of Martian said, if he had a choice, he would settle in Budapest.
Alas our fast paced enchanting trip of two beautiful countries in Eastern Europe came to an end.
