Budapest is one of the less expensive capitals to visit in Europe. They are part of the EU, but they don't use the euro. Instead, they use Hungarian Forints. Something like 220 Forints is about equal to 1 US dollar, so you can imagine how ridiculous we felt taking 20,000 Forint out of the ATM at the airport.
I really had no idea what to expect of Budapest. Hungary is a country I knew virtually nothing about, really only that it's the furthest east I've ever been before!
We landed in the Budapest airport around 9 PM Friday night and were greeted by a sweet old man from our hostel who would be giving us a ride to our doorstop. We drove for about 40 minutes until we turned the corner and were hit with this gorgeous view.
Having booked our place at the last minute, I realized I had no idea what to expect, but surely it was not the perfect little loft that we were greeted with.
We found ourselves unreasonably hungry and were in need of quick cheap food. Lucky for us, there was a 24-hour crepe restaurant right around the corner! A crepe oozing with warm Nutella and banana slices, along with a hot cup of tea cost me only 700 Forint, or about $3. We then walked along the Danube river, admired Parliament and the Buda Castle, and strolled across Chain Link Bridge. We discovered paprika chips, which are pretty much the best things I've ever tasted, and then decided we should have an early night so we can enjoy Budapest to the fullest on Saturday.
I didn't exactly have the same luck for breakfast as I did for our midnight snack the night before. We went back to the same crepe place for breakfast and I gave the spinach crepe a go, but quite honestly it was just a microwaved crepe filled with what looked like puréed spinach soup. It was just gross. Next, we took a look around the grocery store and I had the bright idea of picking up some yogurt for breakfast instead. I was totally lost in the yogurt isle, seeing as absolutely everything was in Hungarian. I recognized what I assumed was the Hungarian version of Dannon yogurt and gave it a shot, along with what I hoped was still water. When we returned to our flat, I saw that I had actually bought Kefir, which Google kindly informed me was a fermented milk drink. I immediately poured it down the sink, along with my 90 Forint bottle of water, which turned out to be sparkling (Ew). Luckily for me, I only wasted about 75 cents total on that fail. I finally opted for an apricot filled croissant and we began our day of sightseeing.
We signed up for a tour bus package for about $20 that takes us all around the city, to the major sites, and also included a night cruise along the river. We started out by taking the bus to parliament.
From there, we took a nice stroll over to St. Stephen's Basilica.
It was built only in the 18th century, and actually had to be rebuilt after the dome caved in on itself due to bad quality building materials and poor masonry. Now it stands proud, tall, and beautiful.
We hopped on the bus and it took us down the beautiful Andrassy Ut, a shopping avenue lined with trees and stone buildings.
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At the end of the avenue, it opens up to Hero's Square.
Further along the bus route brought us to the Jewish Synagogue.
Then, our bus took us on a climb upwards to the Citadella, which provided breathtaking sweeping views of the entire city.
It felt like we had been plopped right into a Disney movie.
That night, we took a ride along the Danube and saw the entire city lit up from the water.
We warmed up with spiked hot chocolate, and after the boat docked, we settled into a martini bar for a quiet social night.
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