We arrived Friday evening and checked into the Marriott. It's a gorgeous hotel right on the Danube River. We had a room on the 6th floor with a beautiful view of the river and the Citadel. It was such a treat to wake up to a sunrise behind this view in the morning!
One of the things I loved about this trip was that we didn't have an itinerary to follow. We had researched what we wanted to do but didn't have an actual schedule that we had to stick to. We decided to start by strolling through the Pest side and taking a look at some of the sights. Our first stop was the Grand Synagogue, Europe's largest Synagogue and museum. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go inside since it had closed for the day. Inside is the Wallenberg Memorial Park, built on top of a mass grave from the 1940s. We continued on to St. Steven's Basilica, commemorating the first Christian king of Hungary. We lucked out and entered the church during a concert. The music was really beautiful to match the decor of the church.
Our next stop was the Opera. We entered the lobby but decided not to pay for a tour. Instead, we bought a short book on Budapest. We continued our journey to the Parliament. This building is massive! And really pretty. We both agreed that we wanted to take a tour the following day. We later learned that this is the third largest Parliament building in the world. Student discount gets you 50% off!
Touring during winter really has its advantages....we strolled along the Danube back towards the Chain Bridge and it seemed like we had the whole city to ourselves. The "Shoes on the Danube" is pretty cool. It consists of 60 pairs of metal shoes set in concrete along the embankment commemorating Hungarian Jews killed in 1944-1945.
Tummies grumbling, we chose a boat-turned-restaurant on the river for some fine dining. The meal was delicious....goulash soup, almond encrusted chicken stuffed with feta and basil and a "Hungarian trilogy" plate consisting of three traditional Hungarian foods. Too full for dessert, we walked off our meal over the Chain Bridge and up the hill to The Castle District. The night-time views are really pretty, especially of the Parliament building. Budapest does a wonderful job of lighting up its landmarks at night time....it's possible that we enjoyed them even more at night. We returned to the Marriott for some drinks on the waterfront and called it a night.
The Budapest Marriott is great and the best part is the buffet breakfast! I was so excited for omelets and the variety of pastries....and everything else. Looking across the river to the castle while dining didn’t hurt either. Our first destination of the morning was the House of Terror. This building used to house the secret police of the Nazis and the state police of the Communist regime. Today, it commemorates the victims of these two parties. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for the weekend due to maintenance.
A bit disappointed but still in high spirits, we continued on to Heroes' Square. In the middle of the large square are the Millennium Monument and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Behind this square is the City Park where we were delighted to see an outdoor skating rink and what looked like a castle. It was, indeed, a castle...the Vajdahunyad Castle. It was originally built of cardboard and wood for the 1896 World Expo. It was built of stone at the end of the expo. Across the street is the Széchenyi Baths, an attraction we knew we were going to do the following day. We checked it out a bit so that we knew what to expect in the morning.
We made our way back to Parliament to buy tickets for an English tour. We killed the hour before the start of the tour with a Kürtőskalács, a circular cake with cinnamon and sugar, and a beer at an outdoor street bar. The tour of the Parliament building was really cool, though we only saw a few of the 691 rooms. There are also 27 gates, 10 courtyards and 29 stairways. The two wings are mirror images...we toured part of the north wing, the Lord's Chamber, used today as the session floor of Parliament. We were able to see the Hungarian Crown Jewels, guarded by soldiers that stand still on either side, only moving every 5 minutes to change the position of their sword. The crown is one the oldest in Europe and was used to crown every Hungarian king...something like 900 years. An interesting thing we saw were built-in cigar holders on the window sills. They are each numbered so that, when smoking was permitted, men would know which cigar was there.
Next up, the castle district during daylight hours. We rode the Funicular Railway, the world's second cable railway, up the hill. The castle now houses museums and offices and is no longer used as a residence. Just around the corner is the Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion. The Roof of the church is beautiful. We were 10 minutes too late to view the inside. The foundation of the Fisherman's Bastion is a part of the former medieval fortified defensive wall. Though it never served defensive purposes, it did serve as the home to a huge fish and grocery market in the Middle Ages. It's really pretty and provides a great viewpoint to look over the city.
The one event that we did plan for and reserve was a wine tasting at Faust Winery. It's located underground of the Castle District inside of the caves. There's a vast system of natural caves….the ambiance was great! We were one of five small tables, it was extremely intimate. Our sommelier was really nice and informative. We ended up staying for 3 hours! We did the short "Curiosities of Hungary," 2 red wines and 3 white wines with a callback at the end. It also included Hungarian scones, which were really good. In addition, we ordered a cheese plate and a sausage plate which were the icing on the cake. We finished the evening with Brandy Salinkas. We really enjoyed our time there and highly recommend it!
Our final stop for the night was to meet up with one of Bryan's coworkers and her friend, who works at the Budapest Marriott and we had met the previous night at the bar. We went to the Hard Rock and had a really good time...lots of laughs.
Our last morning, we got up early and headed, again, for the Marriott breakfast....another satisfying meal. We were really excited for the Széchenyi baths! This bathhouse was built in the beginning of the 1900s and is one of the largest bath complexes in Europe. It has the hottest thermal spring in the city. It contains 3 outdoor pools and about 20 indoor pools, each with varying temperatures and mineral content.
We shared a cabin and changed into our bathing suits. I was able to schedule an immediate massage. I absolutely LOVE massages and this was one of the best I've had. It was labeled "Revitalizing and Relaxation" massage...I was so incredibly relaxed afterwards, Bryan asked if I had fallen asleep (I have never, nor will I ever, fall asleep during such a pleasurable experience). Bryan was kind enough to stake out and test all of the baths while I was melting away, so he had a great plan of attack ready for us when I was finished. Our first bath was the outdoor bath. We lucked out with clear, sunny skies. The walks between the pool and inside were a bit frigid! Next was a really hot "Jacuzzi" followed by a cooler, but warm, larger bath. After relaxing in those we headed to a "whirlpool" oval-shaped bath...the jets create a circular current that's really fun to play in. After that we headed to the "medicinal bath" where we remained floating in a state of relaxation until it was time to leave. We truly enjoyed this experience!
We really enjoyed this trip and the city and would visit again in the future. Three days were plenty but four would be nice. The weather called for two days of rain/snow but we only encountered about 20 minutes...the weather was clear, albeit a bit chilly.
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