Budapest was a blast! What a cool city. We did our usual walking tour, went to the thermal baths, explored the night life, and went caving.
Our hostel in Budapest was a large converted apartment with room for around 30 people. It was very comfortable and the people there were relaxed and social. We ended up spending a good portion of our time with others from the hostel.
Our walking tour took us through some of the main sites on both the Buda and Pest sides of the city. If you didn’t already know Budapest is made up of what were originally two separate cities, Buda and Pest, on opposite sides of the river. Buda is old and hilly, with the castle and other important landmarks. Pest is more of a modern city on very flat land. We started in Pest, seeing a large cathedral and the parliament which is the second largest in the world. We walked along the river and over a bridge to Buda where we saw the castle district, another cathedral, and the Fisherman’s Bastion.
We spent a day with some friends from the hostel. We started the day going to a large indoor market which actually reminded me of the Quay in North Vancouver.
Then we went to the City Park where saw Heroes’ Square and the Szechenyi Baths.
The baths are beautiful. There is a warm “thermal bath” which I assume is what the place is named for then two others which similar to a public pool in Canada. The warm thermal bath water feels unusual, it seems heavier than standard pool water. Very relaxing to lie around and float in the pool. The baths were very busy but we enjoyed our time. I didn’t take any pictures of the baths unfortunately.
My favorite day time experience in Budapest was caving. The Buda side is full of caves, some of which can be toured through. They offer tours for just about anyone, including a walk through a cave with a paved floor. We didn’t want a paved floor, we went for “Adventure Caving”. I went into it thinking it would be a cool but easy trip through the cave and was quickly proved wrong. I seemed like the guide was making a game out of picking the least likely exit from each cavern. At one point the group was standing in a cavern with many large rocks making up the floor. The after telling us about the space our guide picked what looked to me like a random space between some rocks and dropped right down into the floor. We slid down slopes, squeezed through gaps and crawled up tunnels on our stomachs. I don’t think any of the group were ever worried about not being able to get though an obstacle but it did not seem like a watered down tourist experience.
In the afternoon after caving we went to the House of Terror, a museum built in the old secret police building. It detailed the horrors of Nazi occupation at the end of World War II and the decades under Communist regime immediately afterwards. In the basement of the museum there are restored cells where the police held people. Hungarian suffering under these two regimes cannot be overstated. One thing I thought the museum really glossed over was the fact that Hungary was allied with the Germans during World War II and had started suppressing the Jewish population on there own before the Nazi’s took over. I suppose you could say that isn’t really a part of the museum’s subject matter. Something that stood out for me was the way the USSR carelessly and wastefully used it’s population as a resource.
We climbed up the the Liberty Statue and Citadel to see night fall over Budapest. While it was still bright out we a had a fantastic view of the city and as it got dark all the bridges and buildings along the river light up. It was an incredible view.
Something that sticks out for younger travelers in Budapest is the night life, and we were no exception. The unique feature is the ruin bars/pubs/clubs. They are abandoned buildings within the city turned into bars. We only spent significant time in two of them but had a great time in each. The venues are an attraction in themselves, on top of the cheap booze and fun music.
The image doesn’t look very good on this blog unfortunately. In the courtyard of one of the clubs there was this tree with a statue of a man climbing it. The statue was at least 10 feet tall, a fantastic centerpiece for any venue. We had a great time going out in Budapest, dancing and having fun until the sun came up. If you are looking for a place to party in Europe Budapest should be on your list.
I am finishing of this post in Split, on the coast of Croatia, more than a week after leaving Budapest. Since then we have been to Zagreb and soon we will be leaving Split for Italy. I hope to write a post on Zagreb and the Plitvice National Park soon.
Declan Easton 