Thyra Travels: Buda What? Budapest

After my short weekend in Prague, I took a long bus ride to spend a short week in Hungary! I had originally planned to spend my last two weeks in central Europe just in Austria, I am not one to “country-hop”. However, subzero temperatures and forecasts of snow in West Austria motivated me to take the ride to Budapest. I was happy I did because I got to see another great European city and a unique culture!

I arrived just outside Budapest late at night, taking the metro into the city center. Budapest is a SIGHT at night, famous for all the lights and panoramas. I got hopelessly lost looking for my hostel but finally stumbled upon the little street it was on, right in the ruin bar district of the city. I spent the next four days exploring the town, doing *hard* research for my food blog, and sleeping in instead of partying on Halloween.

There is a lot to see and do in Budapest. Unfortunately for me, it was pouring 3 out of my 4 days I was there. With the last day reserved for a hike, I ventured out of the hostel that first day with my trusty raincoat (RIP my umbrella, gone after being stolen in Portugal). My favorite things I saw were the Parliament Building, Buda Castle, and the Dohany Street Synagogue. Budapest gave me the vibe of being a little more ~rough than Prague, I found it to be diverse and full of interesting restaurants and stores. One night, I climbed Gellert Hill for a lit-up panorama of the city. Much to my suprise, the path was completely dark (apparently people usually drive) and I ended up running most of it to avoid the creepy park. When I got to the top, what did I find? About 100 korean tourists…annyeonggg! On my second day (out of three exploring the city) I chickened out and decided to spend the day at the thermal baths. Luckily for me, one of the turkish baths was female-only that day. I spent hours at the baths, forgetting how cold it was outside and sweating alongside 20 random strangers. I am all for all-gender/no-gender facilities but dang, baths particularly are a lot better when it’s just women.

I happened to be there over Halloween and the hostel I was staying in was VERY festive about the whole event. I was being ~anti-social and spent the evenings making homemade spaghetti and watching movies in my bunk bed. Perks of solo traveling, if you don’t want to talk to anybody, you don’t have to. My last day in the country I took two buses to get to the countryside for a hike. The sun was back, baby, and I was a happy girl. After being dropped off at what seemed to be a random selection of desolate countryside, I managed to find the path I had researched and hiked for several hours to get a view of the Danube. It was spectacular and reminded me why I love to hike after about two weeks without a proper one. The weather was good but in the shadows I would start to feel a chill. Attention, I have reached my minimum temperature limit!!

I soon found myself back on the bus (love you European public transit system <3) headed to Vienna. I left a lot of Hungary unexplored, a feeling I feel whenever I leave a country, even if I was there for two months.

T