Making the Best of Budapest - Nov 2023

For our 7th anniversary, we decided to explore the lovely city of Budapest. Jacob had visited before and knew immediately that I would love it.

We arrived on a Friday, and little did we know that we managed to show up on the 150th birthday of the city. After not choosing the cheaper birthday public transit ticket due to misinterpreting whose birthday it was for, we headed to the market hall to check out the wares and grab lunch. It was packed - we had to queue with our bowl of goulash and plate of sausage until we could finagle the edge of a table. It was worth it, though, as the food was tasty and the people watching very fun.

After lunch, we headed down to the fanciest of the famous Hungarian baths... only to discover that it was only open to residents of Budapest. Luckily, it was a lovely day for a walk. We grabbed some boba tea and enjoyed the beautiful architecture while on route to a different bath... that we also didn't get into.

Later that evening, we tracked down an adorable wine bar with delicious Hungarian wines, cute artwork, and an impressive charcuterie board. As a bonus, there was some strange exclusive sale situation happening in the boutique across the way, which was surprisingly fascinating to watch. After dinner, we took a stroll to the Buda side of the river up to Fisherman's Bastion to enjoy the view before heading back to our hotel and soaking in the views of the chain bridge and parliament building at night.

Saturday was tour day - in the morning, we went on a walking tour with a lovely Hungarian host who told us about the history of the city, recommended a delicious slice of cake, and helped us appreciate the character of the city.

In the afternoon, we finally made it to a bath - a very casual bath that felt very local, which was a lot of fun. Even though we didn't get the right ticket to go outside, the baths felt lovely compared to the cold, windy outdoors, the people watching was once again great, and we had a hilarious encounter trying to purchase towels at the end of the visit.

To cap off the day, we went on a ruin bar tour of a few of the abandoned Communist buildings that have since been turned into hip bars. This tour guide also shared her love of the city and also gave us a lesson on how to pronounce Hungarian - it's supposedly very phonetic, but also not terribly easy to learn. The last bar was our favorite - a segmented cavern of eclectricity, each room has a different theme with various bars scattered throughout the premises. By the time we got there, we had befriended our fellow tourmates, so we stayed for an extra drink and swapped travel stories before heading to a big Christmas market to drink glogg and eat langos (Hungarian pizza).

It goes without saying that this trip was fantastic. Budapest is incredibly charming, and we'd gladly go back.

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