Day 25, 26, and 27- Budapest - Budapest, Hungary
Budapest, Hungary
Days 25 to 27 –Budapest
Day 25
Time for another travel day. This time to Budapest. We left our very pleasant Hotel Krunstof in time to make our RailJet train heading to Budapest. In time plus a little more so that I could make a quick stop at the Penny Market to pick up some of the best butter cookies I have ever had…and two big sleeves of them for under a 1 euro. I also wanted to pick up a 1.5 liter of water for the trip. Unfortunately I seem to have an inability to pick out the "still" water vs the water with “gas” which is a much more popular option here. Tom likes the bubbles but I want nothing to do with them L I thought for sure I had gotten it right this time, last night I had picked up two bottles of water “with gas” and therefore left with none to drink. But alas, it was not to be because later on the train I turned the cap and “sppppritz” with the gas out the top. Tom even threw me a bone and looked at the label to acknowledge that he would have thought it was still water. Oh Well…I got my cookies.
We were travelling First Class (not Business which is the real First Class on the trains) so we were able to use the Rail Jet lounge. It was a nice place to wait for the train and get some juice, coffee, and WIFI. We went up to the platform about 15 minutes before the train was supposed to arrive. As with all of the trains we experienced so far, right on time it turned the corner and started to slow down as it approached. We found our seats, single seats facing each other with a table in the middle which was nice, and settled in for the trip. We haven't really had a bad experience on a train yet, but this was certainly the classiest, most comfortable, and pleasant train. The trip was uneventful. Tom used up some euro coin on a beer served to him at his seat and I spent most of the short 2.5 hour ride looking out the window listening to a pod cast.
The minute we arrived in Budapest it felt older than everywhere else we had been…and that is saying something. Older and much less refined. That isn’t a bad thing, it is just a feeling you get immediately as your disembark from the train. There are taxi drivers at every door of the train with tags around their neck saying “TAXI” as they repeated the word trying to look each person leaving the train in the eye. We had our directions so no need for “TAXI” for us. The train station has not been cared for very well; its very old age evident. If it could talk it would probably say “hey…I think I look pretty good for as old as I am…you try getting this old”. As broken down as it is, when you look up at the oxidized and crumbling ceilings you could get a sense of how grand it once was.
We made it out the main entrance of the station and followed the markings on the ground that pointed us to the Metro. Down underground we went again, Tom determined and face down into the map and directions on his phone he had researched and plotted the night before. Two metro trains and one connection got us where we needed to be in no time. A few blocks down and across the street we found the gate and buzzer panel for our home for the next three nights. We pressed the buzzer and Viktor, the owner of the apartment we were staying in, let us in and met us up on the 4th floor. We got a great deal on this airBNB rental. Huge apartment with one big room serving as bedroom and living room with plenty of space in between and a hall leading from the entrance with a small kitchenette and bathroom off of the hall. A small dining room table sat on the side of the hall. Viktor gave us the 411 on everything we wanted to know…including the 4 keys needed to get into the apartment starting from the street entrance, to the gate to the elevator, to the gate to the hall our apartment was in, to the gate on the door of our apartment and finally the door of the apartment. I know you are now thinking, well some deal…but the area really is not that bad. At least I am telling myself that J
Vicktor left and we got situated. It was raining at this point so we tried to wait it out. It didn’t work and we needed to get money (no euro here it is the Forint) and something to eat. As soon as we left the building the REAL down pour started. We have been so fortunate on our trip that the only real rain was a light drizzle the day before as we toured Vienna on our last day that it was a shock. Thankfully Tom had a rain jacket and we had an umbrella we bought at one other stop when rain threatened a bit but we never needed to use it. We were not going to go far, not in this rain. We were able to find an ATM. Note to self…a down pour is not a great place to try and figure out the newest currency and how much you should get out for your stay. We ended up figuring out a basic calculation for the Forint to help us through the rest of the stay. If you take whatever the amount is, divide it by 2 then move the decimal place to the left two spots, you have an approximation of the equivalent USD.
After getting some money out we tried to get back to the apartment as the buckets of water came down, planning on picking any place along the way to stop and get a bite. We stopped at a corner restaurant that looked popular. It was a cafeteria style restaurant where you picked up your tray, and went down the line putting together your email. We are in a section of town with VERY few people having any English and this included this restaurant. We did a lot of pointing and talking in that funny way that we think makes our English more understandable. We made it to the end of the line and the cashier. Tom had picked up a meat plate with small balls of meat similar to the “Kibbeh” (pronounced kuubee) that my mom makes from a family recipe. I decided on gyro type beef on a bed of rice, a small salad, and a sour cabbage that I surprisingly really enjoyed. We each had something to drink and I also added a cheese/pizza type bread and a sample of baklava for desert. This all came to a total of 4,500 Forint. Yup. But, remember your math…divide by 2 and move the decimal place and our meal came to about $22.50 USD which wasn’t so bad. Each out main meals were only about $7 USD and they were quite large. Quite a difference from the past few cities.
After eating we went back to the apartment and basically just relaxed, waiting for tomorrow and our exploration of Budapest. We purchased the 48 hour Budapest card that gives us free public transportation and free or discounted access to a number of sites so it should be a good time.
Day 26
The morning of our first day was going to be headlined with a walking tour of the Buda side of Budapest. That was going to be 10:30 so we made it over to the Buda side by way of the Metro and Bus 16. We were early so we searched out a place to grab coffee for Tom. There were a few options but we settled on an empty café that promoted eggs as part of their offering for breakfast. It had been a while since I had eggs so I ordered a meal that ended up being scrambled eggs mixed with bacon. It was a closer to the perfect scrambled egg than I like (a tad runny) but it was quite good nonetheless.
After breakfast we met up with the rest of the people taking advantage of the walking tour that came with the Budapest City card we had purchased. Bridget was our tour guide. She was a Hungarian but spoke English well. She was going to take us through the Castle Hill area of Buda known as Várhegy in Hungarian.
Our tour started in front of Matthias Church as known by the people of Hungary or officially Church of Our Blessed Virgin. Like many monuments and key structures in Budapest the church is associated with the most favored King of Budapest, King Matthias. Building of the church began in the 13th century. It is called Matthias church because King Matthias had both of his weddings there. The colorful roof of the church is made from ceramics created in a southern part of Hungary.
Behind the church is the Fisherman's Bastion. This is the large lookout terrace that spans a large stretch of Castle Hill. It was built between 1890-1905, and is named after both the medieval fish market once nearby and the Guild of Fishermen who defended this section of the wall during past wars. The views of the pest side of the river are best from this location on the edge of the hill and in fact most post card pictures are taken from this spot.
We made our way over to the infamous Budpest Hilton. The building of it in the 1970s was not greeted very well by the people of Budapest. Many feel it is a way to modern eyesore amongst all of the history on Castle Hill. It was built by Conrad Hilton at the prompting and insistence of his wife at the time Zsa Zsa Gabor. The interesting part of the hotel is that it was built on top of an old Dominican church and maintaining an integrating into the design of the remaining walls and basement into the design of the Hilton was a requirement when they were granted permission to build it. The hotel’s wine cellar is built within the 13th century monastery. It was an interesting view of old and new.
Next we went to the castle hill wall on the opposite side of the square where the church and the Hilton were. We were treated to great views of the Buda hillside. The tour guide said there were two types of Budapest residents…ones that live on the Buda side and ones that want to live there. Below the overlook we could see the Hospital in the Rock which is has a long history of helping the wounded over the years and through many wars. The hospital is built within caves under Castle Hill.
We walked along the wall, viewing Buda, and then reached the actual Castle area of Castle Hill. There was the Royal Palace. It never actually housed the Royal Family. Today it houses the National Gallery.
The tour came to end giving people to explore further and in more detail everything we had seen. We needed to get back to the pest side for a lunch appointment. On our way to Budapest from Vienna we met a traveler from London on the train. We had a good time talking with him and when we found out he too was stopping in Budapest and would be staying near us we planned on having lunch with him. So off to meet in front of Comedy Theater. It is a theater built at the end of the 19th century in opposition to the conservative National Theatre and it became an institution of Hungarian drama, and one of the oldest theatres still in operation. For us, its importance was that it was a good meeting point for lunch due to its proximity of Kirk’s (our new friend) hotel and our apartment.
We had a great lunch with Kirk. We did not have plans for the afternoon yet. He was planning on going to one of the many hot mineral baths in Budapest. He had been there before. Since we had intended to go to the baths at some point, we figured we would take advantage of someone familiar with them leading the way, we walked across to our apartment and got our trunks so that we could tag along.
We were going to Szechenyi Thermal Baths, one of the more popular ones. It is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, their temperature is 165 °F and 171 °F. The bath is located in a city park and was built in 1913. It is made up from both indoor and outdoor baths of varying degrees of heat. There is even a very playful section of one pool that had an artificial current generated that moved people around in a large middle section of the pool at a very quick pace. Inside were a number of hotter baths and more medicinal pools. It was really interesting to see everyone recreating there. When you went in you were assigned either a cabin (read small closet) or locker. After getting ready and storing your personal items it was time to join the crowds in the baths. It was a good fun and Kirk helped orient us to how things were done and where different baths were located.
We lasted about 90 minutes at the baths and then were back on the metro going to the apartment. We were going to rest for a few hours and then meet up with Kirk again for dinner. We had a great dinner at a place recommended by Kirk. It was a perfect ending to a very relaxing day.
Day 27
We had been to a bath the day before but we had been told not to miss the Rudas Baths as it was an experience unlike any other. If we went before noon the cost was less than half of the normal entry fee so that was the plan. Whether it was the rain earlier in the morning lulling us or we were just plain old exhausted, we slept in longer than we wanted; but we made it to Rudas by 1130.
The Rudas Thermal Bath was initially built in the 16th century. The center piece of the original bath is an octagonal pool covered by a dome measuring 10 meters in diameter. At the end of the 19th century a large therapeutic pool and saunas were added on to it.
We paid our reduced entry and were given wrist bands that looked like watches except they had no thing on the face. These were used to electronically unlock your cabin inside the changing room area. You put the band first up to a device that identified which cabin you had been assigned and then against the lock of the cabin itself to unlock it. You then stepped into the cabin to change and store your belongings while in the bath. Unlike the bath from yesterday Rudas was old school. And on this day it turned out more old school than some days as it was men only day and when you had gone through the turn style to get in, you were handed what amounted to a large thing hand towel with strings coming off of it. This was the default attire for the bath; a loin cloth to cover your front, leaving your behind exposed. Quite more revealing than a hospital gown for sure. We had brought our suits as we did for Szechenyi but it seemed they were not to be used. If push came to shove it seemed it was possible to wear trunks but you would stick out more if you did. So, when in Rome, or in this case Budapest Rudas Baths, Tom and I decided to suck it up and do as the Rudas do. Awkward and uncomfortable would be one way to put how it felt at first but as I said…everyone else was dressed this way and you soon forgot it wasn’t a bathing suit you were wearing. You didn’t have time to worry about your appearance once you entered the main domed area though because you were too busy being in awe at your surroundings. The domed area contained a larger central bath surrounded by four other smaller baths in the corners of the room, each with different temperatures. When you entered into the heated baths it felt amazing. As the heat of the water made you take some breaths to adjust, the breaths also began to relax you. When you looked up and around you could only think “wow”. The majority of the bathers seemed as old as the baths themselves and had the look of a crowd that had moved to Florida and gotten way too much sun in their later years. It added to the overall experience, as you felt like you were a fly on the wall back in history witnessing some assembly of city elders meeting to discuss the issues of the day. Not speaking the language at the root of the echoing hum also added to the sense of being but a mere fly or even invisible; and feeling invisible was comforting considering the whole loin cloth thing. It felt as if you were in a cave with the dome letting in just enough light, colored by the inlaid glass blocks going around the top of it. The heat and smell of sulfur while attributing to the overall relaxing vibe, also provided a self-timer of sorts and we had finished up within about an hour having been very glad to have had gone.
After Rudas we went to the House of Terror, a museum dedicated to not letting the world forget about the fascist and communist dictatorial regimes that at different times ruled over Hungary in the 20th century. It is housed in the actual building at Andrássy út 60 where people that were considered enemies of the governments were detained, interrogated, tortured or killed. It was a somber part of the day as one was taken through the building and an overall exhibit that detailed the history of the building and moments in history the citizens of Budapest and the world would prefer to forget but never should.
The Hungarian State Opera House was next on our tour as it was just down the street a ways. It took from 1875 until 1884 to build and was opened in September of 84. The Hungarian government performed major renovation work on it from 1980 to 1984. It is a beautiful building and considered to be one of the architect’s masterpieces. Its design is neo-Renaissance with elements of baroque. The main auditorium holds 1261 seats. The house is in use today with a season that runs from September to June. We took a tour of the building and all of its marble columns, gilded vaulted ceilings, murals, and chandeliers. Its opulence certainly cannot be challenged.
Our final destination for touring today was Hero’s Square, one of Budapest’s major squares. The square is met on two sides by the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace or Hall of Art. At the center of the square is the Millennium Memorial with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century. When originally built the statues were of members of the ruling family at the time, the Hapsburgs, but when it was damaged in WWII and rebuilt, the family members were replaced with the current statues of tribal leaders.
We ended our last full day with our new friend Kirk at a simple Italian restaurant near where all of us were staying. We needed to keep it quick and simple so that we could get to the Laundromat about a mile from our apartment before it got too late. The Laundromat was one of the most modern things we saw in Budapest; 24-hours, new machines that included and automatically dispensed detergent as part of the cost of doing a wash, and had WIFI to pass the time. Another traveler stopped in as our wash was being done. He was a writer for television from Los Angeles. He had just finished working on a show and was waiting to see if it would be picked up. He was doing a small tour of Europe with plans to stay longer in Czech Republic teaching English. We had an interesting conversation, helped him figure out what we had already spent time doing, figuring out how the machines worked, and even exchanged currency, LOL. He needed Hungarian Forints for the machines and we were headed to Prague and could use some starter Czech Korunas so after a check on Tom’s iPhone for the exchange rate, all were made happy.
With the wash finished and Korunas in our pockets, we returned to the apartment to get some sleep and prepare for Prague.