Weekender: Hungarian Style

TJ and I ventured to Budapest this weekend. A whirlwind weekender to the former Soviet Bloc. In the images above, these statues are located high on Gellert Hill at the base of Szabadsag Szobor, or Liberty Statue.

In 1873, the city was formed from three cities: Buda, Obuda and Pest. Now districts, Buda and Pest are separated by the Danube River. It is an exquisitely beautiful city with ornate castles, churches, baths, and government buildings. You not only see the history around you, but you can feel it too; it's palpable.

The image on the left is the tile mosaic in front of St. Stephen's Basilica (Szent Istvan-bazilika). The image on the right is a statue on the ground in front of Buda Castle. No, I didn't knock it over.

TJ and I weren't sure what to expect from Budapest. We were pleasantly surprised. At night, most of the buildings and bridges are lit up; a truly magical view. The first night, we walked along three of the main bridges spanning the Danube. On Saturday, we covered a lot of Buda and Pest by taking one of the hop-on, hop-off tourist buses.

One critique. Although, I think Budapest is one of the more beautiful cities that I have seen in Europe, I was a little shocked by the amount of graffiti that covered most street-level facades. Still, it did not detract (too much) from the old world charm of the city. And I mean really old world. I could have spent a week photographing the crumbling, faded. stained facades. Still, I did manage to take quite a few pix in the time we had. Luckily, the weather cooperated. By that I mean, it rained a bit, the sun came out more than a few times, and it was warm-ish.

Budapest is relatively inexpensive compared to the rest of Europe. It's nice that our money goes a little farther somewhere. Most tourist shops were filled with paprika and goulash mix. At the Great (or Central) Market Hall, I bought the former so that I could properly make the latter. Paprika can be either hot or sweet; I couldn't decide so I bought both. We also tried some tasty pastries filled with apple/cherries (TJ) and poppy seeds/cherries (me). Below is an image from the Market Hall.

We did not order goulash while dining out. Thought about it, but didn't. Did try a fried cheese dish with a peach sauce and dumplings. That was worth the trip right there. And, I had the best little heavy (dumpling-like) pancake dollops for breakfast. Sank right to the bottom of my stomach. And a warm waffle filled with vanilla custard always hits the spot. Utter bliss. Koszonom, Budapest!