Ex-pat Newlyweds

Sabine at Heroes’ Square in City Park, Budapest.

In the not-so-distant past, as the gray skies still hovered over Berlin, I wanted a warm, sun-soaked holiday for Easter. We got on the websites, looked for deals and where did we come up with? Budapest, Hungary (pronounced Budapeshd, we learned).

Not at all tropical, but we did enjoy 24 C weather the whole weekend.

Looking at maps, we were worried we were going to be visiting Prague 2.0 — a city that disappointed us. There is a river that the city centres on, a castle on a hill, bridges everywhere. Fortunately, geography is all these cities have in common. Budapest is an amazingly beautiful city, gritty streets running alongside the glamourous ones, full of historic sites with a truly western feel. Not at all what we were expecting from a former Soviet state.

The trip started out well: we checked in late but got upgraded to business class. We were there by noon and made our way up to the castle. Whenever we go to a new city, we start off somewhere high up to get a panorama of the place, get a feel of where we are, what we want to see. We walked around, snapped photos, strolled through market stalls peddling handmade lace and enjoyed the sunshine.

Budapest was originally three cities: Buda and Pest make up the city centre, while Obuda is the northern outskirts. Buda is hilly, while Pest is flat. Here is Fisherman’s Bastion, Castle Hill, in Buda.
Castle Hill.

Josh snapping some photos with the “big camera” of the ruins at Castle Hill.

Our trip included no visits to museums or guided tours, but we still felt that we saw a lot and learned a lot. Budapest is an open city, with many of its historical sites, like cloister ruins and the castle, open to the public to wander around for free. It’s a small city centre, and getting around is easy with the three Metro lines, including Europe’s oldest underground rail line. Yes, the oldest Subway is not in London, but Budapest.

Like Berlin, Budapest had repurposed it’s Christmas Market Stalls for Easter. In a few squares, we found delicious food and Hungarian entertainment. In a square near our hotel, there was even a Jazz and Wine Festival, where visitors could enjoy the concerts for free and sample famous Hungarian wines for cheap.

Josh at M., where the decor was just brown wallpaper with drawn on decorative furniture. It was adorable… and delicious.

But our first night in Budapest was the best for food. We went to M., a restaurant recommended in our guide book, and, thus, it was full of tourists with the same book. But the restaurant was in the book for a reason and that reason is delicious. It’s a French-inspired Hungarian restaurant that has a constantly rotating menu, based on what the chef got at market that day (for us, it was duck). It was delicious. We ate so much. We washed it down with wine from Villany — the famous wine region. We went to bed in a food coma that night.

The crowded pool deck at Szechenyi baths… when we finally got to go.

Josh was really looking for some relaxation so we went to the spa on Saturday, but were thwarted by an early closure. Instead, we rented an electric vehicle and rode around the park. We returned Sunday morning fsaw us dipping into the many pools of Szechenyi Baths — one of the largest complexes of its kind in Europe — and even getting massages for 13 Euros. The spa culture in Budapest goes back 2,000 years and all of the city’s pools are fed by natural hot springs.

Sabine and a busty bust on Margeret Island, in the middle of the Danube River.

As it was Easter, Great Market Hall was closed, being the one disappointment of the weekend. We filled the rest of our days visiting St. Stephen’s Basillica, which held the first king of Hungary’s mummified right arm. We spent an afternoon wandering around the Danube’s Margaret Island, finishing our last evening in Budapest on it’s west bank, watching the sun set behind the hills of Buda.

Josh found a door he was too tall for in the Cloister Ruins on Margeret Island. This was very exciting for him.

We did a lot of walking, ate a lot of street food and saw a lot of sites. It was still a relaxing trip for us and we were delighted that Budapest was far from being Prague 2.0.

The Gothic Parliament that dominates the riverbanks on the Pest side of the city.