Pest and Buda, Hungary AKA Budapest

     Budapest is an exotic name for a city, I love saying it! The origin of the name is simply the unification of the town of Buda on the west side of the Danube River . . . (below is the Buda Castle)

. . . with the town of Pest on the east side of the river . . . (below is Hungary's Parliament Building on the east side of the Danube River) . . . 

. . . and both historic towns are connected by the iconic bridge, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.

     One year ago when my sister Vicki and I were planning our European destinations, she asked me "Where do you want to go?" my first reply was "Budapest!" Maybe those WWII movies and travel shows influenced me, but Budapest has always charmed and enticed me.

And I was not disappointed; it's now my favorite European city. 

     The city doesn't skimp on preserving its historic buildings, nor its nighttime lights. Above photo is one of its historic train stations with very modern commuter trains; below photo is the very same train station's exterior domes. For a fuller affect of Budapest at night, click here for a video of Budapest Nighttime Domes.

Vicki and I walked at least six miles every day. We walked everywhere downtown; only one mile from our boutique hostel (in a historic building). It was gorgeous weather for city walking; four coolish-days during the first week of November 2018. I will let these photos do the talking . . . 

We stepped inside the iconic St. Stephen's Basilica, too.

Outside view of the Basilica . . .

The Dohany Street synagogue wasn't open to the public when we were there . . . click here for info about its weeping willow sculpture below, and why the Jewish cemetery is here.

Many plazas downtown . . .

. . . and tiny historic streets with limited traffic.

     Every street was fascinating, but the most exciting thrilling and satisfying visit for me was the Great Market Hall. From the outside, it doesn't look impressive . . .

But inside, wow! all the sights, smells, restaurants, produce stands, music, historical architecture, crowds of people mingling around . . . just the combination of everything gave me a natural high.

We ate lunch at the Fakanal Restaurant, one of the numerous places to eat inside the market . . . Hungarian Goulash soup of course!

There was "Gipsy Music" there too, which brought back a flood of memories. About 55 years ago when I was practicing my piano lessons, I joyfully played Brahms "Hungarian Dance" which was played staccato (lively foot tapping music). These guys played staccato!

Directly across the Danube River from the Great Market Hall is the famous Hotel Gellert.

This historic hotel has an impressive lobby . . . . 

. . . and a bath complex built from 1912 to 1918 (destroyed during WWII but rebuilt).

Next to this historic hotel was a steep hill (Gellert Hill) which required a couple rest periods while walking up the winding path, but once at the top, there was a wonderful view of Pest.

Nearby was the Citadella and a park on top of the hill. It was windy and chilly on top of the hill and we were wearing winter gear, caps and gloves. Vicki was wearing white gloves. All of a sudden (because she was wearing white gloves) Vicki breaks into a Michael Jackson Moon Dance in a park on top of the hill overlooking the river and the city, which totally surprised me.  It was one of those rare delightful surprises -- I would have never guessed she'd do a really good Moon Dance :)

     After walking another couple of miles up and down cobblestone paths . . . .  when we had just completed up/down about three hills, we'd see another hill in front of us which was totally discouraging. Tour busses by the way are numerous and very busy; most folks don't walk. But fortunately, we both agreed we'd rather walk than take a bus.

     We visited the Halaszbastya which is sort of like a Walt Disney Fantasy Land of Hungary's medieval history. It was built in the 19th Century to celebrate Hungary's history; it's located in the Buda Castle area.

 It's an impressive complex with wonderful views of both Buda and Pest across the Danube River.

Vicki took this shot below of me with my camera. All these photographs in my European posts are my sister Vicki's photographs; unbeknownst to me at the time, my micro-SD card had malfunctioned.

The Matthias Church is another iconic Buda landmark.

We walked another couple miles through Buda's delightful business district . . . 

 . . . had dinner in a loft area at a cute little mom and pop restaurant, got wonderfully lost on the subway back to the hostel, got wonderfully lost again on the streets around the hostel, whew! I'm thinking "traveling is like a full-time job with overtime!" Good thing we got some rest on our flight to Krakow, Poland (next post) because that city was almost as enjoyable as Budapest.