It’s been a long time since I have updated the blog, but believe me, it’s in everyone’s best interest. No one wants to read about me having far too much time to kill while I hang out in Austin waiting for my finger to heal (it has been a frustratingly slow process). However, seeing as I just returned from a trip to Hungary, I finally have something remotely interesting to talk about again!
Back in August, my oldest brother and his wife and kids moved to Budapest for a year (or possibly more). Missing them – and excited about the possibility of visiting a country I’d never seen – I made plans with my sister and my other brother to go and visit.
After a brief stop in Amsterdam – where we spent the first day trudging through the haze of jet lag – we arrived in Budapest. We were greeted by a fantastic three-bedroom apartment that cost less than the single bedroom in a shared apartment we stayed at in Amsterdam. We now had a ton of space, a fancy kitchen, a stocked wine cooler, two bathrooms, seven beds, a personal sauna (with an iphone hookup for music), a shiatsu back and foot massager, and a fully equipped separate living room. Now this was the good life.
The beautiful tiled shower with a door to a private sauna in the back… all within our incredibly affordable apartment.
I was completely blown away by Budapest. The primary reason for my trip was to visit family, and I had no idea what to expect beyond that. The city has all the beautiful castles and old buildings that many other famous European cities have, but without being overrun by tourists and modernization. It’s an undiscovered gem that will likely see massive changes in the coming decades.
The ladies on Castle Hill (my sister, me, my sister-in-law, and my niece).
The true highlight of the trip was getting to see family, but I’ll keep the mushy personal details to myself and skip forward to some highlights and random observations:
- The buildings in Budapest are stunning, particularly the Hungarian Parliament Building, St. Stephen’s Basilica, and Matya’s Church. Most of them are located right along the Danube river – which separates Buda from Pest – making for some beautiful views.
The massive entry hall of the Hungarian Parliament Building.
Every inch of Matya’s church was covered in beautiful, intricately painted designs.
- I was worried about finding gluten free food here. While the language barrier sometimes made it tough to communicate, everyone was able to accommodate me. Restaurants frequently labeled their menus, often offered gluten free bread baskets (with better bread than I have ever found in the US), and there were even a few establishments that are exclusively gluten free.
- As part of a treaty with Russia, a large obelisk sporting the communist star was erected in Budapest. The monument cannot be taken down in accordance with the treaty, so various groups have built other statues in an effort to dilute its meaning. One of these is a statue of Imre Nagy ‘crossing a bridge to freedom’, while another in a larger than life statue of Ronald Reagan, whom Hungarians credit with ending communist rule in their country. It was a little disorienting to wander around a corner in Eastern Europe, only to run into a huge likeness of Reagan.
- Budapest is known for its thermal spas located in beautiful, ornate buildings. We visited two of these enormous bathhouses and enjoyed the outdoor wavepools, indoor lap pools, saunas, numerous hot baths of varying temperatures, and more.
My sister in the main room of one of the bath houses.
- The Budapest nightlife is known for its Ruin Pubs – old, formerly abandoned buildings revived and turned into bars. We visited my brother’s favorite – Szimpla Kert – and we were in awe of its size and atmosphere.
- Our last day there, we visited an outdoor market in Freedom Square (Szabadság Tér). Instead of just setting up tents, they wheeled in wooden structures or constructed tent frames out of metal rods (not like the snap together tent poles I’m used to).
A small portion of the outdoor market. On the left side of the picture, you can see one of the many wooden structures brought in just for the weekend.
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