A five day visit to Budapest, Hungary

My next stop was a visit to Budapest, a city known for being the coolest in all of Europe. Okay, maybe that is just opinion but it is definitely a city worth spending at least a few days… and if you are anything like me, you may decide to extend your stay once you get here (just like so many others do). And what is not to like? The city has great nightlife, a turbulent and fascinating history with tons of sights to see, more than 3 million Hungarians, baths built around hot springs and fantastic beer! I went from a 2 day visit to a 5 day visit in Budapest because I liked it so much! (if you couldn’t already tell…)

View towards ‘Pest’ over the Danube river

With so much this city has to offer, it is hard to leave. And some may not be aware of this but Budapest actually stemmed from two cities, the Buda side and the Pest side with the Danube River separating each as it runs through the middle of what is now one city (as of 1900) but each side is still called by its separate name. I stayed on the ‘Pest’ side of the city which is flatter and an easy way to orient yourself between the two as the Buda side sits up on the hill.

Parliament Building overlook from the Buda Side

So what should you do when you come to Budapest? Well, no matter what you do, you don’t want to miss the Szechenyi baths and spas, something this city is known for and very popular with both locals and tourists alike. Although they have baths and spas located on both sides of the city, the  largest (Szechenyi) is on the Pest side of the city, sits behind Heroes’ square and dates back to 1879 when its thermal springs were discovered.

The Szechenyi Baths

There are a total of 15 pools, some as cool as 18 degrees Celsius and others as hot as 38 degrees Celsius along with several saunas and steam rooms of varying degrees. As you can imagine, it’s hard not to spend your entire day here. The outdoor pools shown in these photos are all different temperatures and one of the pools outside even has a genuine whirlpool. What do I mean? Well, if you notice the pool in the photo below, you’ll see it has an inner and outer circular pool within the pool. The inner circle is small pool that has jets that run vertically while the outer pool actually has jets that run horizontally along the outer walls of the circle. So it will actually whirl you around the ring fast enough to crash into other people in front of you. Definitely something to try on your visit to Budapest!

Big pool, little pool – you can see the ‘Whirlpool’ in the center

I don’t really know what it has to do with steam, saunas, massage jets and relaxation but it’s pretty awesome. After a full day here, you’ll become quite dehydrated if you don’t drink enough fluids but you’ll still enjoy it enough to want to spend another day here which is exactly what we did.

St. Stephen’s Basilica

On another day, I spent an afternoon on a walking tour throughout the city. Usually I try to take these walking tours because they are typically free (with tips at the end of course) and they are put on by locals and you can really learn a lot about the city and its history instead of just walking around wondering what you’re looking at.

Some familiar faces from back home that happened to be in Budapest while I was there! Apparently we got ‘photo-bombed’ by a random Hungarian waiter in the background which definitely adds to the awesomeness of this photo. His bunny ears are a bit weak though…

While here, you’ll definitely want to try out the Langos. It all starts with a big ball of dough that is pulled into the shape of a pizza then fried.

‘Langos.’.. it means ‘Delicious’ in Hungarian

After a few minutes of cooking, it’s coated in garlic sauce and topped with sour cream and cheese. It doesn’t sound like much but its very filling, very tasty and very good for you of course. Aside from some more traditional Hungarian dishes (and gyros), I had my fair share of these while here.

It all starts with a ball of dough, then stretched to’ pizza form’, then tossed into the fryer!

The finished product

Next on the itinerary was the House of Terror that is located on famous Andrassy Avenue. Although I knew it would be a tough visit, it was a museum that was a must see while here in Budapest as it really reflects the history that leads up to present day Budapest since the end of World War II. Before it became a museum it was the headquarters of the ‘secret police’ for both the Nazi and Communist governments. The Nazis occupied it during the later stages of World War II to continue their extermination of Hungary’s Jewish population. Once the Soviets moved into Hungary after the war they used the same building as their headquarters for their own secret police that would torture, deport and execute anyone accused of being an enemy of the state. For a bit of history, Hungary was actually occupied by Soviets until 1991 when the last soldier left and freedom was restored to the country.

After learning what I did while in the House of Terror, I realized how much many of us don’t ever learn about the events that occurred after World War II. Many don’t realize that Hungary did not become a free nation until 50 years after the war had ended.

Heroe’s Square at the end of Andrassy Avenue – a World Heritage site. Underneath is the Millenium Underground – the world’s second oldest running Metro

So Hungarian is a very hard to language to learn (said to be the 5^thhardest language in the world) but unlike some places that don’t appreciate you trying out the language, all the Hungarians I met here while traveling got a kick out of foreigners trying to speak the language.

Some of those responsible for extending my stay here….

So how do you say ‘Cheers’ in Hungarian? Egészségedre! (Egga Shegga Dre for beginners)