Day one in Budapest was spent wandering the aisles of the Budapest Central Market. So much colour and movement, so many different kinds of salami. Had this not been the first stop of the day we may have been forced to buy a number of samples to take home with us. I'm not sure we would have tried the Donkey salami but we certainly like the sound of Catfish salami! It wasn't long before our stomachs started to rumble (it had been an hour since breakfast...) and we decided to try the must eat Hungarian street food, Langos. What is not to love about deep fried bread dough covered in sour cream and cheese?
After this we headed up to Buda Castle, managing to accidentally miss the stairs, but finding an escalator and lift to the top of Castle Hill instead. Not really a bad thing as the temperature was pushing 32 degrees. The view of the city from the top of Castle Hill is breathtaking.
We found a little cafe at the top to sit and admire the view and have lunch. We had planned to visit the Hungarian National Gallery after lunch (Gillian needed to see the Dali exhibition) but one look at the ticket line and we decided to just walk around the grounds of the Castle instead. We happened upon a photographic exhibition collected from submissions from the Hungarian public, called 'Every past is my past'. Deciding that might be a decent substitute we went to the ticket booth and found that not only could we get in, we could get a ticket to the whole shebang (without the hour long wait)! Virtue is its own reward, but we were pretty pleased with ourselves for finding the back way in... The photo exhibition was just fantastic, an insight into Hungary over the last hundred years - we took far longer in there than we thought. It was distinctive not only for the images that were displayed, but also for the lack of images of Hungarian Jews from the time leading up to and during World War II. We went on to see some of the (huge) permanent collection of the Gallery and also the Surrealist exhibition (Gillian was happy, Kieran found it a bit trippy).
We headed out for dinner in the old Jewish district and enjoyed a modern take on old Hungarian dishes. After dinner Gillian and James had a few quiet drinks in an outdoor bar whilst Kieran went off and explored other venues in the district.
The next day we managed a sleep in (might have been too many Spritz Aperols enjoyed by Gillian) and after breakfast we headed off to visit Hero's Square and a walk around City Park and Vajdahunyad Castle. James managed to navigate around the Budapest public transport system, always our preferred method of travel. Kieran was especially curious to use the subway, which is the oldest in the world. We caught Line 1 which began operation in 1896, and retains what must be a lot of its original design work and charm.
After a bit of a rest at our apartment, we headed out to explore another restaurant/bar street close by. Whilst we are loving the Hungarian food we felt like a bit of variety and opted for a tapas jazz bar, with live music. Sadly, the music was disappointing (to say the least - not jazz, not on tune, just one old guy on his guitar, possibly the owner...). We decided to leave as soon as the meal was polished off and the musician started playing the 'Irish Rover' - it just wasn't right!
Today, we started early because Gillian could not wait to go on a tour of the Hungarian Parliament. Our tour started at 8.30 am which meant a 7.30 am departure to be sure we didn't miss the start. The building is something else and well worth a visit - wildly oversized for the actual function it needs to play (third largest parliament building in the world, Kieran tells us), but spectacular. But for Gillian it was the Chamber which really made her little parliamentary nerd heart beat faster.
After many photos we managed to tear Gillian away and headed off for our next tour at the Dohany Street Synagogue, another incredible place of worship. Our tour guide George was very passionate and gave us an insight into life as a Hungarian Jew. As much as we were in awe of the building, the reality of what happened to this community during (and before) WWII was sobering, and upsetting.
After lunch Gillian and James headed off to the Gellert Thermal Baths, while Kieran had a rest. This is yet another beautiful building in the Art Deco style, and an interesting contrast to our experiences of public bathing in Japan. After joining the hundreds of people in the baths we headed home refreshed. The final thing to do is the laundry before heading out of this wonderful city tomorrow.
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