Travel Series: Budapest

3:28 am

T R A V E L S E R I E S
B U D A P E S T
Hungary

Jamal had organised a 8day 7nights euro trip for me and his friends to Budapest-Hungary, Prague-Czech Republic and Dubrovnik-Croatia where we would spend two nights in Budapest and Prague, and three nights in Dubrovnik. Initially that was the plan for me, but I got to spend only a night in Budapest, two nights in Prague and three nights in Dubrovnik. If you read my previous post you know why I didn't stay the two nights in Budapest.

I did get to see the famous monuments in such a short period of time. We stayed in this lovely Airbnb apartment which was located in the heart of Budapest-- in an old building. Form the outside, it looked a tad bit run down and dark. To be honest, I was getting a bit freaked out. I wasn't going to stay in a place like this.. Once we got to our apartment and went in, I was shocked to see that the interior of the apartment wasn't anything like the lobby of the building. It was completely different and I was relieved.The ceilings were high, we had two comfy couches with lots of pillows, a love spacious dining area, a kitchen, lovely comfortable rooms, two toilets, a smart TV and laundry machine as well as a drying machine.

Petra was in charge of finding a place to eat. SO that night we went to this lovely restaurant called Comme Chez Soi located in the inner city of Budapest. This restaurant is famous for its Italian, Mediterranean, and Hungarian dishes that burst with flavour. We arrived at the restaurant at around 10pm and we made the mistake of not making an advanced booking. One of the waiters told us that we they were closed and we were just so disappointed. Also, we weren't really sure where we were going to find food because everything else was closed at that time. The chef, Roberto asked us where we came from and told him that we flew from England. He then decided to open a little longer just for us. How nice of him! The food there was splendid and all of us spent quite a bomb in the end because we were just too hungry. Note, the portions in that restaurants are large, so I suggest you think twice before deciding to order an appetiser or starter. This is definitely a MUST visit when you are in Budapest! The dishes tasted a mazing and the presentation of the dishes were different. It was definitely an experience that I would remember.

After dinner, we walked around Budapest. We thought, why not.... That was such a large dinner, might as well walk it off a little. SO we did. We walked home. The walk from the restaurant to the apartment wasn't that far anyway but as for me, having such a long day that day, my eyes started to get rather heavy. I packed my bags that night and went straight to bed.

Goodnight budapest

I was the first one up! Well... mainly because I was the first one asleep. I showered and got all my things ready as we had to leave the apartment by 11am. We have made some plans with our agent that day to leave all our luggage at their office until 4.30pm while we went around town and explored. The boys didn't mind going round and about with me. I bought my hop on hop off bus ticket and got to see the whole of Budapest. Mind you that Budapest isn't that big and you don't really need many days to explore it. A great was to explore the city is to get a hop on hop off day pass. You are able to get off at any stop you want and get on at any stop you fancy. Easy peasy.

Our first stop was a stop for food of course. We had a quick Hungarian breakfast nearby our apartment. We shared four dishes; the Chicken Paprika gnocchi, chicken paprika risotto, grilled chicken salad and goulash with rice. (not sure if you can tell, but Hungarians really love their paprika)

Our second stop was the Heroes Square. It is a large square constructed in 1896 for the millennium of the Magyar Conquest of Hungary. The square's millennial monument is flanked by the Fine Arts Museum and the Mucsarnok Art Gallery.

Address: Andrassy ut | Next to City Park in the VI. District, Budapest 1062, Hungary

Our third Stop was the Gellert Hill. Gellert Hill is a 140 metre high dolomite rock rising above the Danube in Buda. At the top of hill, you can relax and just enjoy the panoramic scenery and all the greens that Budapest has the offer. According to the legend, witches visited the hill every night. The rode on the backs of human beings. Besides this scary fantasy, this hill offers a=other attractions as well such as historical monuments like The Citadel (Citedella). The purpose of the Citadel was to remind the rebellious Hungarians who ruled the country. It was the most despised establishment back in the day. Before, Hungarians called it the Budapest Bastille. Parts of the Citadel are however ruined..

Next was the famous Statue of Liberty. Its nothing like the one in America, if you were wondering. It is a large statue of a female (symbol of the Hungarian capital) that stands in front of the Citadel. This statue commemorates the country's liberation from the Nazi rule. According to the story, she was originally designed to the memory of Regent Horthy's (right-wing leader of Hungary- between the two world wars) son. Initially, the statue was supposed to hold a propeller blade. Instead of a propeller blade, the statue was then designed to hold a palm tree and a Soviet soldier was added to the base.