This past year has been a very difficult time for people with travellers souls. Two friends and I were planning to go for a weekend getaway for a while and were discouraged to go anywhere outside the country for obvious reasons. And boom! One fine Monday, authorities decided that people need change for summer and opened borders for several countries. Then started the excitement. We were discussing whether to go to Gdansk, Warsaw, Tallinn, Helsinki, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice, or Budapest! Yes! Budapest! It was decided! Based on 3 factors, 1. none of us visited there before, 2. it is not too hot or too cold or god forbid, raining, at this point of time, and, 3. A direct flight goes there because we didn't want to waste time in transit! So we decided to start our trip on Thursday and get back by Sunday as the authorities change regulations and status of countries on each Monday! The tickets were booked and the AirBnB was finalised and hence the excitement increased!!
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| Budapest as seen from the top of St. Stephan's Basilica |
We planned all the places we wanted to visit, read about the history, and the museums that interest us individually, and planned our outfits, decided which restaurants to go, watched travelogues and were in general very thrilled by the idea of going on the trip! We had our vaccine shots. We got our covid tests and were packed and ready to go to Budapest!
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| St.Stephan's Basilica |
On Thursday, we woke up early morning (read, late-night) and left our homes at 3AM. Went to the airport, stood in the anaconda zigzag line and cleared covid restrictions and reached the gate! After a short flight, we were in this fascinating twin-blended city of Buda and Pesht. The first impression was that it is very warm, people are surprisingly helpful and the architecture is stunningly beautiful! We went to our Airbnb, had lunch, freshened up and went on our first day of exploration.
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| The building hosting the House of Terror! |
The first place visited was the St. Stephan's Basilica. It is a nice blend of Gothic and Russian architecture. It has round ceilings and very intricate designs, and robust structures simultaneously. Saint Stephan was the first king of Hungary and this Basilica is his living memory. We went to the top of the tower and had the most mesmerising view of the city. The Danube river which joins the city via the chain bridge looks very calm from up there. The hilly, medieval side of Buda and the flat, modern side of Pest make a perfect blend for a traveller!
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| In front of the Hero's square |
After a refreshing lemonade, we went to the House of Terror! The pieces of evidence of atrocities carried out in the ghettos around Hungary were preserved in this very museum. It was unsettling to see how one human being was capable of treating another with such inhumanity. The different ways of torture and stripping the self of the person were very upsetting for me. The horrific events described and showcased in these historical places are presented in a very crude and brave manner, I wonder if everyone could take up the events the way they are shown! There are interviews and video memoirs of survivors and relatives of the victims. This set the mood for the evening. We had Goulash but couldn't eat much. And after taking a break from these upsetting thoughts, we went to our next sight: the hero's square.
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| Hungarian Parliament at night |
Hero's square is a tribute to the heroes of the country. The leaders who shaped the country are all commemorated at this place. Next, we went to the other side of the river to see the Parliament at the night. To watch the sun soothingly sets over the river was the perfect end to day one!
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| Hungarian hot chocolate |
On the second day, we started our day with a lavish breakfast at the most recommended New York Cafe. It is a splendidly decorated richer's cafe with no connection to the history or to the local people, but we had the best "Hungarian hot chocolate", palinka infused hot chocolate with a dash of paprika! We had a heavy brunch and an experience for a lifetime! With that, we went to the Buda side of the city.
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| Fisherman's Bastian |
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| St. Stephan's Statue |
Fisherman's bastion is the part of the Buda Castle walls which was protected by fishermen in the middle ages. It has beautiful rustic medieval architecture and it is astonishingly picturesque. We lingered around the walls, the statue of St. Stephan and then we went inside the Mathias church. It is like any other church, except the roof of the church has mesmerising colours, the motifs inside are of Hungarian style and all the pillars and the walls inside are painted with Hungarian embroidery like motifs.
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| Mathias Church |
We walked to the next destination through the royal park walks. We saw the funicular going up and down the hill and reached the Buda Castle. Buda Castle is the house for Hungarian history and art. We went there and first had a refreshing lemonade and started our journey of exploring the art. The rich and diverse collection of medieval, classical, neoclassical and eventually modern art is inspiring. On the top of the castle, there is an open gallery which shows us the view of the city from the other side!
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| The House of Houdini |
Next, we split up, my friends went to the central market and I went to the House of Houdini. Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist, stunt performer and mysteriarch, noted for his escape acts. The museum hosts the life story of this astonishing performer and then a debunker of the spiritualist. It is very fascinating to witness the transformation from a struggling performer to a well-recognised artist, standing up against the exploiters, yet grounded persona: a life well-lived.
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| The liberty statue |
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| The cave church |
Later that day, after reuniting with my friends, I went to the pest side again to see the Saint Ivans cave or the cave church. It has amazing acoustics because it is a closed connected cave system. I was lucky to attend the evening mass and experience the mesmerising acoustics. Next, I went to see the Liberty statue and the astounding view of the city in the night from the top. The temperature was very apt, the breeze was not too warm, not too cold and I could just sit there and watch the sunset over the Danube river and the lights started to pop one by one and in no time it was the night view of the city! |
| The liberty bridge joining Buda and Pesht |
On our last day, we started with a filling breakfast at the Gerbeaud Cafe. It is a typical Hungarian historic cafe that opened in 1858 and still going strong. With that experience, we went to the Vajdahunyad Castle near the city park. It is a replica of the Hunyad Castle in Romania. It is a marvellous blend of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architectural styles. It is very soothing to roam around the central park area.
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| In front of the castle |
The famous baths are very near fro this site, but we skipped it and went to see the Shoes on the Danube bank. It is a memorial for the victims shot at the river during the communist era in Hungary. Recently, in 2005, these metallic shoes were placed in their memory. The whole city reflects the horrid past in one way or another, and this manifestation is one of those inherently sad memories.
We went near the Basilica again to get flower-shaped ice cream and came back to the Parliament for an insider's tour. The parliament is built in 1904 and it is welcoming to all Hungarians. It has the coronation crown and orb, and it also has the pillars in the atrium which depict the citizens from all professions, from farmers, butchers, to scientists and philosophers. This wonderfully designed palace-like building is in working and they arrange the tours every day with passionate tour guides who take us, tourists, through the centuries of history of this country.
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| Shoes on the Danube bank |
Next, we went to the Hungarian national museum where the robe of the coronating king is stored. But to our surprise, we saw that and much more! The religious history of the country is quite more fascinating! Politics and religion mix and mingle with each other throughout history to make it rich and more intense. The jewellery and the furniture have so much Arabic influence because of the Mughal invasions in the 10th-11th century. The Russian influence on the motifs and designs is rather recent. But all this cultural intermingling makes the historical artefacts much more meaningful and astonishingly beautiful.
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| Inside the Hungarian parliament |
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| The intricate ceiling of the senate hall |
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| The ruin bar |
Then we had Korean dinner and went to Gellert hill, we came back as we went because it was quite cloudy. In the night I went to one of the recent attractions: The ruin bar! It is the youth rebel that uses the places in district VII abandoned since world war II and converts it into an underground hippy, artsy, funky place which will make you feel comfortable. I went to the first of its kind ruin bar, Szimpla Kert, which looked like any building house from the outside, but this old abandoned factory was filled with people, colours and the stench of alcohol. Budapest may sell itself on history and thermal baths, but the ruin bars are by far the most unique thing about this city. Meeting with local youth here, finding topics to connect with them was one of the most enriching experiences of this trip!
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| My friends and I at the end of this covid trip |
The next morning, we had our flight, back home! With so much on our minds and goodies and souvenirs for our loved ones, we came back from this dreamy, charismatic jaunt. Obviously, we had to wait nearly 6 hours to get our covid tests and get to our homes from the airport! But that's #NewNormal!
