If I were to rank the cities I’ve visited during my summertime adventures in Europe, I would definitely put Budapest, Hungary at the top. There are several reasons to love this beautiful city, wait I meant cities, that definitely took my breath away. First let me explain to you that Hungary’s capital city, Budapest, was actually two cities, Buda and Pest, which were separated by the River Danube. Now, Buda represents the more historical and antique part of the country while Pest represents the more modern part of it. The two parts make Budapest into a country that excels both in heritage and modern economics and finance. Furthermore, they also have great local cuisine! As a fan of hot delicacies, I was surprised that one of Budapest’s essential ingredients is the paprika, also known as capsicum. Yes, this means that almost all of the local food is either showered with paprika powder or blanketed with a gravy which main ingredient constitutes that of paprika.
Now that our stomachs are full, let’s take you around the city for some breathtaking sights! We participated in a 3-hour walking tour around Budapest which started from Pest (the East of the city), to Buda. Stepping into Buda, one might recall the funicular train (cable car) from the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. I asked, and trust me, the movie is entirely fictional, although the inspiration for the hotel came from Buda Castle which sits at the top of the hill. We decided to take the scenic walk up the slopes to find ourselves in the middle of guard changing duty. What luck! We then walked towards Fisherman’s Bastion which showed us the amazing Budapest skyline. It was also the location of Matthias Church which is catholic but had some Islamic influence that can be seen from the roof patterns. This was where the tour ended but we continued making our way to one last stop for the day, the Széchenyi Thermal Bath.
This was the highlight of our trip as we have heard so much about Hungarian thermal baths. Budapest is known to have the largest thermal water cave in the world and thus is the perfect city to house these baths. Széchenyi is the BIGGEST medicinal bath in the world and is geothermal-powered, al naturale. We spent a total of 4 hours in the baths, trying all the different temperature waters in the estate. Satisfied, we walked home with shriveled fingers but wide smiles on our faces.
There were more places that I have yet to visit in Budapest and this will be a great incentive to come back to this wonderful city. I hope some of you can squeeze Budapest into your usual European itinerary because it is going to be worth it.
