Budapest: Always on the Wrong Side

My third and final leg of my Eastern European adventure was to Budapest in Hungary. I was excited, but also a little intimidated to go to Budapest. After becoming someone accustomed to the strange Slavic language, I was not thrown into one of the hardest languages to learn: Hungarian. It is not a Slavic language, but rather a cousin of the Finnish language in the Uralic family. Nevertheless, the city was still beautiful. And what made it even more beautiful …

SNOW!

It was snowing as I arrived into Budapest, although in the airport, it wasn’t that much. As I got off the metro in the heart of the city, there was more snow on the ground, and me, being a diva, was dragging along a 40 pound suitcase in the snow while being lost. I had to turn on my data to help me find my way, but alas, I finally found my hotel! I was just happy they let me in because my friend wasn’t arriving until later that night. Our hotel was also just around the corner of the St. Stephen’s Cathedral, so we were definitely lucky!

Although Budapest has a lot of history, it actually did not become a city until 1873. Before that, they were two cities separated by the Danube: Buda and Pest. Today, the Buda side has a lot more historical buildings and houses the Royal Castle. It’s street plan is a bit crazy and doesn’t make a lot of sense, making it very easy to get lost walking around that side. The Pest side is definitely more lively. However, in 1838 there was a flood that destroyed much of the Pest side and many things had to be reconstructed. Because of this, the street plan was reworked and made more into a grid-like plan that is a lot easier to navigate. There are many bridges that connect both sides of the city, so it is never difficult to get back and forth between the sides.

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Hungarian Parliament

The Hungarian Parliament is located on the Pest side of the city and is actually the third largest Parliament building in the world, behind Argentina and Romania. It’s a grand structure that is one of the focal points of the city – it makes for some scenic shots from the Buda side of the city. The Parliament was based off of Westminster in London, but has it’s own Hungarian style along with it.

We never went inside the Parliament, although from what I heard, it’s really beautiful. If you are a European citizen, you can get a tour for half price, so that is definitely a good deal. Unfortunately for us, we held an American passport, so no tour for us. We did see the outside all lit up at night time, which was really pretty. It’s kind of insane because they always have guards walking around outside protecting the building.

Fun Fact: No buildings in Budapest are allowed to be higher than Parliament of St. Stephen’s Basilica.

St. Stephen’s Basilica

Like I said in the beginning, our hotel was located right around the corner from the Basilica. It is the biggest cathedral in Budapest and the third largest in Hungary, but it is very important to the people of Budapest. It is named for the first king of Hungary who became a saint after his death (obviously). The relic of the “basilica” (not really a basilica but one of the popes referred to it as a basilica and henceforth was referred to as a basilica), is the hand of St. Stephen. You can view his hand in one of the chapels. I couldn’t really see much when I went to see it, but I’m kind of short and the view wasn’t very good!

The inside of the basilica is also very beautiful, of course. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t get to really explore the inside because they were holding a mass for the Epiphany (January 6th) and we were only allowed to walk around the outside. St. Stephen’s is also known for having the largest church bell in Hungary that is only used for special occasions.

The admission was really cheap to go inside, I believe 300 HUF, so it is definitely worth it to check it out! Also for all you soccer fans, the Hungarian and Real Madrid hero Ferenc Puskás is buried here.

Buda Castle

From the name, the castle is located on the Buda side, across from the Parliament building. There has been a castle of some sort in that area since the 1200s, but the present day castle has been constantly rebuilt throughout the years. In recent history, the Nazis occupied the castle in 1944 until the Soviets came in and destroyed the castle. Today, it is no longer houses a royal family, but rather several museums.

Matthias Church

Located on the Buda side near the castle, Matthias Church stands beautifully looking over the city. It is not named after a saint, but rather a king of Hungary, so it is not named after a saint. It is not as grand as St. Stephen’s, but I rather liked this cathedral because it has some very pretty stone art on the roofs of the church.

This is another place we didn’t see the inside of because of the cost, but I would like to see what the inside looks like.

What to Eat

Like many Eastern European countries, they have a diet that is based mainly on meat. The most famous Hungarian dish is the goulas (goulash – the “s” sounds like “sh” in Hungarian”). I did try it one time. For those who don’t know, it’s a stew full of meat. I personally don’t love stews and soups, so I really just ate the meat, but the meat was still really good!

Hungary also is famous for their “ruin bars” where they take a ruined space and turn it into a bar, but do zero renovations. Apparently you can sit in broken chairs and other strange items. Definitely not for the posh people (like me).

We were also given some important advice about tipping. It is expected to tip the waiters in restaurants, but if you say thank you when they take your money and the check, they will understand that as “Thank you, please keep the rest of the change.” (See below how that could be problematic.)

Money, Money, Money

None of the four countries I visited over my Christmas break used the Euro, and the money in Hungary was definitely the most confusing. They use the Hungarian Forint and basically, well … $1 = 300 HUF. I was walking around with bills that said 10,000 on them, which basically was about $30. Even the coins are only made of 100s and 200s.

For this reason, it is apparently very easy for Hungarians to take advantage of the tourists because they might put down 10,000 when they really only needed 1,000. All the zeros get confusing to the people who are not familiar, and the locals will sometimes prey on them.

Like in Prague, some places do accept Euros, but I find it much easier just to be prepared with the local money.

Transportation 

Budapest is home to the second oldest underground/metro system in the world, just behind London. The M1 line is the one that was constructed during the 1890s and is still in use today. There are now two more lines, M2 and M3 that were constructed later. The first time I got onto the metro, I thought it was an another train because it looked super old and out of date. I don’t know when the cars are from, but they definitely seem old and Soviet-inspired. It still does the job, nonetheless. The metro is another one of those where you buy the ticket and validate it, lest you be stopped by a person checking the tickets and handed a hefty fine.

If you want to use public transportation from the airport to the main part of the city, first you will need to take a bus which will take you to the train station. There you walk across the parking lot and head toward the “M3” signs. The M3 will take you to the center of the city. A relatively inexpensive way to get there!

Be aware! We walked most of the city, but be careful. Hungarians are CRAZY drivers. There aren’t a lot of crosswalks and the Hungarians may not see you. We nearly died a few times.

So do I recommend it?

YES! Budapest is very beautiful, and for me it definitely was enhanced because of the snow. There are a lot of parks and beautiful scenery. It is a tale of two cities, with the rocky, older part in Buda and the flat, more modern part in Pest. There are some Soviet remnants left over still, but it just helps to tell the history of the city. As our tour guide said, Hungary has only had about 300 years of peace in their history, due to the Ottomans, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Nazis, and the Soviets. He also “half-joked” that they are always on the wrong side of things and if a Hungarian makes a decision, choose the other option instead.

I think Budapest would be wonderful to visit in the summertime when the sun stays out longer (it started to set about 3ish) and warmer weather. Even though it was snowy, it was bearable, so visiting any time of the year is recommended. Budapest is a city that has a lot of history to it, so go out there and check it out!