I was nervous about not having enough time to connect in Gatwick and that my bag wouldn't make it there, but I was worried about nothing, because I had plenty of time! I was waiting in line for security in London and looked up to see that Tom was in line in front of me.. perfect! He was my travel companion to Budapest, which worked out really well.
A short flight later, we found ourselves in Hungary! When we had our passports stamped, the customs agent had a lot more to process than she did for most other travelers- we have both been traveling so much that our passports tend to overwhelm the customs agents, but after waiting for my bag, we wandered outside.
We walked to the train station, which was a bit overwhelming. Not surprisingly, neither Tom nor I speak a word of Hungarian (also called Magyar), so we were confused by the train schedule, the tracks, and the currency. Hungary is petitioning to join the EU, so while they still have their own currency (Hungarian Forintz), you can also pay for things in Euro. I took some forintz out of the ATM, but it was still a bit confusing, and I was happy to return to the Euro when I got to Spain.
After abandoning our train to the middle of the city plan, we took the airport shuttle, which dropped us off at our hotel. It was a long day of traveling, and we were both exhausted, so we went to bed really early that night to get ready for a full day of sightseeing!
Budapest is actually two cities split by the Danube River, Buda and Pest. We stayed in Pest, and wandered around it for our first day. We visited the Great Synagogue, which was absolutely beautiful. We learned a lot about Budapest's role in Jewish history and went to a very cool museum with some beautiful artifacts. We also stumbled about St. Michel, a beautiful church that was at one time Dominican! We were very excited to see a piece of PC abroad, and little did we know that it wouldn't be the only Dominican connection we would find in Budapest.
The next day, we wandered around the Buda side of the city. It was absolutely gorgeous- amazing architecture and views of the river, and we climbed up to Buda Castle. I think my favorite thing was Matthias Church. It was breathtaking, every single surface was decorated! After that we grabbed lunch, and had traditional Hungarian food- chicken paprikas and goulash. It was very delicious, and I learned that paprika is a traditional Hungarian spice.
We also found a giant market inside what looked to be an old train station, and had strudel which was so yummy! For our last night, we planned to go to the Faust wine cellar, which is located on the big hill on top of Buda, for dinner. It's actually in the ruins of a Dominican monastery, but once we trekked up there, we discovered it was closed due to a wedding :(. We were bummed out, but ended up actually finding a lovely restaurant on the Danube, and on our way home encountered a jazz band! They were singing in Hungarian, and I'm pretty sure Tom has a video of it. It was a really great trip. It was hard to say goodbye to Tom since I won't see him til July when he comes home from Oxford, but I was excited to be off on my next adventure- visiting Anne in Barcelona!
I loved Budapest, and I'm so excited for my best friend Katie to study there in the fall- there's so much to see, I'd love to go back and explore it some more... maybe I'll go visit her?
It was hard to say goodbye to Tom since I won't see him til July when he comes home from Oxford, but I was excited to be off on my next adventure- visiting Anne in Barcelona!
ReplyDeleteAirport Taxi