On Thursday morning my roommate Kate, Quincey, and I hoped on a 8 hour bus ride to the budaful Budapest! The bus was very enjoyable with recliner seats, hot chocolate, and TV screens on the back of the seats. My great friends Rachel, Ross, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey helped pass the time. We took an uber from the bus station to our colorful little hostel on the "pest" side, a couple blocks up from the river and super close to the night life, and tourist strip.
We dropped our bags and walked down and across the river to the Citadel, climbing up a huge hill right as the sun was setting.
We went out to eat in a local Hungaian restaurant Kisharang where I had a "Hungarian pancakes". It looked like enchiladas with ground up chicken and the tortilla tasted like crepes- all smothered in paprika sauce.
That night the three of us went on a two-hour river boat party cruise which included a bottle a champagne. Nothing better than the sound of hundreds of bottles poppin' into the river cruising down the illuminated city. These boat parties are always filled with international students with all sorts of back stories (and tips about visiting their home country for my backpacking travels after).
Parliament and the castle:
After we disembarked everyone headed to Fogos. Budapest is famous for its ruin clubs and now I know why. They are filled with all sorts of random artwork and rooms with bars, lounge areas, tables, and dance floors. The decorations are something else- people with animal heads. Pots and pans, hanging disco pigs, giant trees, antique furniture, and cars you can sit in. After Fogos, we went to another ruin, Szimpla, who's ranked by Lonely Planet as the world's 3rd best bar. Here we met up with three other girls from our program. Cate, Megan, and Sidney who are staying in the hostel with us.
Friday we were lucky enough to have Megan's roommate Cayli, who's studying abroad in Budapest, show us all around. We ate at a cute little soup and sandwich shop on the main drag.
She gave us a tour starting with the Great Market Hall (can you tell I'm a sucker for farmer's markets).
Venturing across the river towards this fortress. At the top of the hill you can see a woman holding a feather for all those who sacrificed their life fighting for the freedom of Hungary. Budapest had a lot gigantic statues that were very empowering.
View from the top of the Citadel. Kate, Megan, Kate, and I.
Onward towards the Castle.
Fisherman's Bastion.
Siting on a ledge (sorry mom) with a great view. We really lucked out with the weather all weekend.
Parliament in the day time.
Above is on the Danube bank, a memorial for all the Budapest Jews.
We ending the 13-mile walking day with a 70 cent cold beer from a pub called Cheers (extremely local despite it's name).
Then back to the hostel to get ready for another night in the Hungarian ruin pubs. The one we went to this night, Instant, is two houses that turned into an enchanted forest with 25 rooms, 4 dance floors, and 2 courtyards.
Saturday morning the six of us headed to the Budapest spa Szechenyi, the largest medicinal bath in Europe.
There are a bunch of different pools filled that are all sorts of temperatures, some only recommended you stay in for 10 minutes, others were ice baths. We lounged around most of the day hanging in the whirlpools and fishing around. I decided to treat myself to my first ever massage at the bath spa and got a 60-minute oil Thai treatment.
After filling our tummies with another Hungarian dinner, we went to Anderson's pub famous for their "meter long beers" and "half meter shots". 10 beers for $4, 5 shots for $3.
After walking home from the pubs, Quincey and I sat along the river talking for a couple hours taking in our last bit of this alluring city.