When I first arrived, I realized how good I am getting at the traveling thing. I was able to find the stand to buy my bus and metro passes (you have to buy them before boarding, and they are not sold at the stops in machines, but rather at newspaper stands), catch my bus, make the metro change, and find my way to my hostel, without a single wrong turn. And it was dark when I arrived. Anyone who has ever ridden passenger in my car or seen me try to navigate my way around Boise, my own city, would not have believed I would ever be capable of such a thing. To all of you, I say ''Take that.'' After I dropped my stuff in my room, I headed out to walk along the Danube, the river splitting the city (which was once two cities, Buda and Pest).
View of Budapest from Chain Bridge
Mathias Church from Chain Bridge
Monument to the Hungarian Revolutionaries shot in front of the Parliament
On my second day I walked around the Pest side and admired the architecture. I loved the shapes of the buildings and how different each one was from its neighbor. I went to the Great Market Hall, which was full of people on this day as it was the weekend, and then to the Mangalica Festival. Mangalicas are furry, Hungarian pigs. The festival happens once a year and the Hungarians flock to city centers to celebrate this furry little creature. After the festival I went to the House of Terror. This was once the headquarters of the ÁVH (like the KGB) and in the basement people were jailed, tortured and hanged. It has now been converted into a museum, unlike any other that I have ever been in. The visit begins on the top level and you gradually work your way down. There they house uniforms and memorabilia from the ÁVH and Nazis. They show videos of people who survived the regime, but lost family and friends to the House of Terror. The whole time ominous music is playing that makes you feel quite anxious. Then you enter the elevator and everything is black, and a video comes on. A man who worked as a janitor cleaning the gallow room describes what he saw. Then you are in the basement and see the cells where so many lost their lives. The walls are thicker to muffle the screams, everything is made of cement and damp and constructed to mess with the human psyche. There were cells where one person fits standing, others where the ceiling was at half the normal level causing you to stay hunched, some with a wooden cot, others with nothing, and some that had a constant drip. In each room were photos of victims, and in the final room was the gallow. Needless to say I left with a heavy heart, saddened by the idea that one human could do something to terrible to another, but awed that the people have overcome this past and are working so hard to continue forward. After the museum I took a walk down Andrássy út, a street that ends at Hero's Square and the city park. During my walk it began to snow, making it my first snowfall of the year.
A combination of so many styles in one street corner
A burned building
There were lots of really colorful buildings (and lots of really plain ones as well)
Great Market Hall
Veggie stall
Dill and curd cheese strudel, delicious
Furry piggies
Vendor cooking up some Mangalica festival food
yum.
House of Terror
First snowfall of the year, and oh so very happy
Hero's Square
The following day, I decided to make the hike over to Buda. I strapped on my hiking boots (Buda is up a hill, a snowy snowy hill) and was off. I started with a quick stop at the memorial on the Pest side, Shoes on the Danube Promenade. This is a monument in memory of the Jews that were lined up and shot into the river. The statues of shoes are lined up along the edge of river and I spent some time taking in the meaning behind each pair of shoes. It was not something that was easy to comprehend, or really even possible to comprehend.
Shoes on the Danube Promenade
I crossed over the Chain Bridge to Buda and hiked up the hill. The most beautiful thing that I saw was the Fisherman's Bastion, and to have the opportunity to see it when it was covered in snow was amazing. From the Fisherman's Bastion I went to the Mathias Church and then to the Buda Castle. Everything I saw was so much more beautiful than I could have imagined, and so much colder. I took a break from the cold and tried some cream of forest mushroom soup, served with some fried goat cheese. It was the most delicious soup, and was the perfect for the cold day. From Buda Hill I hiked up further to the Citadel. This area overlooks the whole city and I assume provides a spectacular view of the whole city, but with all the snow coming down it was impossible to see it. From the Citadel I climbed down and caught a bus to Szoborpark. This park is outside the city and houses statues from the communist regime. These statues were once all around the city, but when the Soviet Union collapsed, instead of destroying all the statues, the citizens of Budapest preserved a part of the history and moved the statues to this area. I loved seeing the statues and having the chance to be exposed to that part of history. On my way back to the hostel for the night I made one final stop at the Synagogue.
Snow and icicle climbing up Buda Hill
Fisherman's Bastion
Fisherman's Bastion
Mathias Church
Fisherman's Bastion, I asked a group of Mexicans to take my photo, and thanked them in Galician
Headed to the Citadel
Statue on the hike up to the Citadel
Statue at the point of the Citadel
Cave Church, the snow and me
Gellert Hotel (home to the thermal pools)
Statue outside the Cave Church
Szoborpark
Szoborpark
Szoborpark
Budapest Synagogue, an amazing sight with the falling snow at dusk
The next day I was exhausted, but there was still so much snow waiting for me to come and play I had to keep on truckin'. I bundled up and headed out to Margaret Island, an island that serves as a park between the two cities, no cars are allowed into the center of the island and a running track outlines the whole island. Once again, in case I have not already made it clear, with the snow it was quite the sight. After Margaret Island I went to Szentendre, a small town outside of Budapest. This town serves as a hot spot for tourists wanting to escape from the city and see a quaint, Hungarian river-town. But this must be in the summer. I was the only tourist. It was worth seeing, and looked like something off a postcard, however, Szentendre was even colder than Budapest, so my time did not last long. I headed back to the market to try some traditional pastries. Then I went to fetch my swimsuit and go to the thermal pools. I went to the pools in the Gellert Hotel, the same pools used by the hermit monk that lived in Cave Church to cure the ill. Budapest is the city with the most thermal pools in all the world, and I picked the pools with the nerdiest history. My goodness was it relaxing, no wonder that monk never left his cave.
Snowy banks of the Danube
Me on Margaret Island (I worked hard on this trip trying to perfect the self-portrait, to prove I didn't just get my pictures from Google)
On Margit hid, Parliament in the background
Church in front of train station before leaving for Szentendre
In Szentendre
Postcard town
Stairway alley
Bridge over the stream cutting through Szentendre
Szentendre (on the Pest side of the Danube)
Hungarian Parliament
Buda Castle
Curd cheese strudel (best idea) Poppy seed strudel (worst idea, most traditional)
Entrance to the Gellert Hotel, thermal pool side
Gellert Hotel entryway
Gellert Pool (from Google, I did not take my camera in to swim)
Gellert Thermal Pools (incredibly luxurious looking, with one exception....)
Swimming cap required. Less than luxurious.
Liberty Bridge
On my last day I spent my time walking around the city, Buda and Pest side, and trying my hardest to spend all my Hungarian Forint (it was not enough to convert back to Euros) but everything was so cheap, I failed. It was snowing again on my last day and I soaked up my last bit of freezing temperatures (yes, I am a bit sick now from ODing on snow time) before my night flight out. The journey home was a new step in my travels, I slept in an airport. On purpose. To make my trip even cheaper, in an attempt to be able to take more trips in the future, I booked a flight from Budapest to London. Slept on an airport with strangers who smelled and snored. Then had an early morning flight from London to Santiago de Compostela. Once again, something I never would have been capable of in the past, but I have grown capable of sleeping in public. Maybe one day I'll be as prepared as the travelers with their own mats and 1lb sleeping bags curled up under the heaters...
Liberty Bridge
Liberty Bridge
Urban park, with mural of a real park
Tram
Statue near tram
Statue on tram rail
Padlocks of love
My favorite padlock
Hungarian market, and tots on a field trip
Grandma taking the kiddo for a walk, too much snow for strollers, so the adults were pulling kids in sleds
Langos, traditional fried Hungarian bread, with sour cream and cheese (it's what everyone else was having and I hopped on the bandwagon)
Now I am back in Santiago de Compostela, and it hasn't rained yet. I don't expect that to be the pattern for long though. I am itching to go on another trip as soon as possible. I am convinced that traveling, though it may be one of the most expensive, is the healthiest addiction a person can have. And I've got it bad.
