Here we were, our final stop.
It was sad, exciting, and all that other stuff rolled into one last adventure.
When in Budapest your first stop should be to a ruin pub. Lucky enough for us, our hostel was in one/was one/shared a front door with one. Either way, our intro to ruin pubs in Budapest was our hostel. The point is, the hostel was awful. We had a thin mattress on a sheet of plywood they were calling a loft. Our window opened to a balcony of chainsmokers who got to watch the locals drink in the ruin pub below.
If you haven’t looked up what a ruin pub is yet, it’s just a run down building some one puts a bar in. Add some Christmas/string lights, some music, ensure there is no roof, and you’ve got yourself a ruin pub. They are all the rage in Budapest and one of the things you must do when visiting. Glad we got to check it off early.
Once settled in, we hit the streets walking down the river on the Pest side, could have been the Buda side, to Margaret Island. The island has a brewery on it, or at least that’s what I heard. What Elizabeth said is still hotly debated, but she might have only said we can get a beer on the island. Either way, it led to our first fight in hours. So we sat down at the worst place on the island to have beer and ignore each other.
It was a hybrid sports bar/dance club. The music was bad as was the service. Of course the server was the only one talking, since we were giving each other the silent treatment. About halfway through our two liter beers, we finally started talking. Mostly about how awful our decision was to stop here. We eventually left to make the long walk back to our hostel.
Budapest is another one of those magical towns. Like Prague, you can’t believe how beautiful everything is, at least near the river. You do have to ignore the massive homeless population problem, but once you get past that, it’s a majestic place. The lights bouncing off the water. The occasional car horn. Rumbling of a local railcar. Being in a downtown has its upsides.
On our walk back, we stopped for a burger, a Zing burger, and enjoyed a beer, a Budweiser. The real one, that originated in Europe. We kept strolling through the streets, wondering what we might run into and eventually made our way to a famous dive bar in the city.
It’s not ruin pub, just a regular hole in the wall bar. But this one serves the best schnitzel in town and everything is supposed to be dirt cheap. And the owner is supposed to be a former Olympic canoeist or somesuch. It kinda reminded me of a bar we went to in Alaska where we watched a guy with no legs spend countless dollars on pull-tabs, like scratch off lotto tickets.
The point is it was a rough spot full of kids our age out for a cheap beer. The schnitzel sat on a plate at the corner of the bar. I ordered two beers. The barkeep, who looked like his Olympic days were well before I was born, told me they were out of the beer I wanted. I think that’s what he said. It was in Hungarian, or not English, so I mumbled my best Hungarian to order two other beer names, grabbed my schnitzel and quietly walked off.
Was the schnitzel great? I don’t know. Could have been hotter. But it was good and cheap. If I had had the courage (and a second stomach), I would have gotten another. The beer was cold and we didn’t have much else to do. Two beers and a bite to eat for 4-5 bucks is what I consider to be a pretty good outing.
After a croissant for quick breakfast the next day, we learned about the cities of Buda and Pest from our walking tour. Our guide was wonderful, as they normally are, and took us to see both sides that make up Budapest.
After the tour, we headed into one of our last churches in Europe. The history of Budapest and Hungary is fascinating, the buildings are lovely, and we really enjoyed walking around the city. The church itself was fine. Sure, it was gorgeous on the inside. The pictures we have don’t do it justice. The colors were spectacular. But we saw it over most of our trip.
No, the really cool thing about this church was the roof. A colored patterned tile piece of art. I don’t think we had seen anything like that yet. It was nice to still be surprised about a building on a trip going at the half year mark. While inside, Elizabeth dragged me into the gift shop. I assumed it was to buy yet another rosary for a distant relative (Insert Elizabeth’s eyes rolling). Instead, we realized the church sold the old roof tiles. Every so often they replace the roof, and we managed to get one of the tiles. That was probably one of the highlights from our whole trip and one of the best pieces of art we bought.
After stealing all the looks of the church we could stand, we meandered our way back to the city and into a ruin bar or two to celebrate the day.
We got up the next morning with yet another fancy cafe stop on the itinerary. I think the first beautiful cafe we went to on this trip was in Portugal. I probably thought it couldn’t be topped. The New York Cafe in Budapest might top them all. I don’t have anything to add, other than we managed to have an argument even here. Enjoy the photos.
Our next stop almost made me lose my breakfast. We were headed to St. Stephen’s Cathedral to see the final resting place of St. Stephen’s, the first king of Hungary. Well, not all of St. Stephen’s, just his right hand and see it we did. For 50 cents at a time, the light from above would shine down on the incorruptible hand of the king. Thankfully, the tourists in there with us had plenty of change so I could get a good shot of the hand. These churches really know how to wring every last cent out of visitors. I’ve got to hand it to them (hand joke).
The rest of the day consisted of drinking and eating. Hungarian wine, craft beer, ruin pubs, more hamburgers and sausages. I guess we were really getting ready to come home, ensuring our gluttonous behavior remained at the ready.
Our final day in Budapest was one of relaxation. We were headed to the local baths.
I hadn’t mentioned yet, but the last couple of nights in Budapest were actually spent traipsing around town trying to find Elizabeth a swimsuit. We had shipped both our suits back at some point, not expecting to do any more swimming, but apparently baths in Budapest is a must. The problem is the European cut of a suit for women is a bit more revealing than what some are comfortable with.
I was fine. I was just gonna wear my dry-fit underoos and be done with it. No one would know the difference. Elizabeth though was opposed to that idea for her. After much gnashing of teeth, we found her a workout top that doubled as a tankini top and she ended up wearing her dry-fit underoos too. So in the pictures you’re going to see of us at the bath is of us in our underwear. Whatever.
The baths were awesome. Hot baths, cold baths, sauna. The Gellért Thermal Baths had it all. We played and piddled, had lunch, got a massage, and slowly killed 5-6 hours. The facility is beautiful. You just don’t get this kind of beauty in the US, at least not in this volume. If we had stayed for longer we might have tried other baths, but if you can only pick one, you might as well go with the most beautiful.
Of course, the highlight of Elizabeth’s day wasn’t the beauty of the baths or the massages, or even being in Budapest. I think it was the wave pool. The moment she laid eyes on it, it was all she could think of. So I guess I didn’t need to take her halfway around the world to have a good time, just to a water park.
We finished the night out with pictures by the river and dinner at Bors Gastro Bar. It was an eclectic sandwich place. One sandwich had goat brains and the drink of choice there is half wine half sprite.
We headed to bed exhausted. and probably a little sad. Our trip was effectively over. We would be in America the next day. Arguing about what to eat for dinner.
cornetravel 