Welsand's in London

Budapest, Hungary

The first destination of our holiday was Budapest, Hungary. The official language in Budapest is Hungarian and the currency is the Forint (HUF)(1 GBP=393 HUF OR 1 USD=203 HUF).

Budapest was extremely affordable, a little dirty as some big cities can be, but had great architecture, lots of restaurant choices, fantastic river sights and a little rioting. It was the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian's Republic Day so there were lots of special events happening. They had a special art display with 300 banner size photos on a special display along the road next to the Danube River that was very moving. Unfortunately there were also some riots on Monday (the day we left) and police fired rubber bullets in the crowd. I was glad we were on a train heading to Vienna at the time.

There were lots of police around the entire weekend, but specifically on Sunday, which was unsettling. At the end of the day we learned that there was a special ceremony at the Opera House that evening and all key political figures were in town. The police were stationed outside their hotels and also acting as escorts to get the officials to the Opera House that evening (we were stopped outside a hotel and watched as one official got into his car, we thought it might be Julia Roberts or Brad Pitt--bummer!). I have not heard so many sirens or seen so many police in one day in my entire life. So Budapest didn't feel extremely safe that weekend...

Here is what we saw and some notes about each:
Hungarian National Gallery - this was at the Buda Castle, we took the funicular up the hill (like a train/cable car). We just had a quick view of the major paintings. Both Jeremy and I agreed that we liked the late 1800's Hungarian pieces of the countryside the best.

Matyas Church - walked by, gorgeous!

Sandor Palace - official residence of president, walked by, very plain, nothing exciting, we didn't even take photos, considering how many police were stationed throughout Budapest, we were surprised to see very few here. The president must have been out.

Fisherman's Bastion - this is cool, looks like a Walt Disney castle, you can walk around and see fantastic views over the city, interesting

Gellert Hotel and Baths - walked by this, the "baths" are very popular and a big part of Hungarian life, they are actually pools, unfortunately we didn't make it for this experience, not enough time in the day...we did have out suits though they went unused.

Cave Church - this was a first for us, seeing a cave used as a church, interesting set-up

Hungarian Parliament - this building is gorgeous, so many peaks and points, it is a defining sight in Budapest.

St. Stephen's Bascilica - we just walked by this church, though it does have a viewing platform, it is huge and really something from the outside! Absolutely amazing!

State Opera House - we walked by this and tried to get inside the ticket sales area but it was swarming with police and people setting up for the big night (which at the time we were there we had no idea there was a ceremony there that evening) the building itself was incredible and we saw inside the Opera House that evening on the television, gorgeous!

Vaci Utca - this is a popular area with lots of shopping, we walked the entire thing (needless to say we took ibuprofen every night after all the walking we did!). While we shopped a lot we didn't really buy much. The common things to purchase in Hungary are porcelain, crystal and antiques, they have lots of all. For Sophie's keepsake gift we purchased a traditional Hungarian dress for her at one of the market's up the hill outside the Buda Castle.

Margaret Island - we walked around this little island as much as our sore feet would allow while Sophie napped one afternoon, enjoying the weather and our holiday...

We did a lot more walking by the major sites than we did inside them, just not enough time. We saw 9 of the top 10 highlights; the other one was out of the city and again just not enough time. Usually we spend 4 days/3 nights in each city so by combining them we actually cut a little time out of each.

We left on Monday afternoon, taking a train first class to Vienna. The entire trip was 3 1/2 hours. It was nice to have some views of countryside, a break from the city. And taking first class (which was not much more than standard class!) we practically had the entire car to ourselves. As long as Sophie has her portable movies she is in heaven (and at the hotels cartoons in foreign languages is great fun to her!). We met an American family on the train that was on the exact vacation as us, it was fun to share experiences. I had booked our trip completely through the internet and they had gone through a travel agent--small world.

For more photos of Budapest please visit our photo site at Shutterfly.

posted by Chris @ 8:20 PM