Budapest castles and thermal spas

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Of course Budapest is a beautiful city filled with history, culture, good food and great public transit. After my work was done, I headed out on a sunny but brisk day to see some new spots and find new things.

Parliament Building

First destination was Varosliget Park just a few blocks from our apartment, down the end of Andrassy street (like Embassy Row meets Champs Élysées). Andrassy is a standout street for its unique tree-lined format, its quadruple sidewalks, and the echo of the underground train that tracks underneath. Pulbic transit here has been delightful with an honour system of jump on, jump off. I keep my monthly all-access pass tucked away in my passport and rarely have to show it. Trains come by every 2-3 minutes so you are never waiting very long.

Andrassy Street

But this morning, with the bright sunshine after so many days of rain, I was walking! Inside the park (which feels somewhat like NYC’s central park) there is a beautiful castle with many curious treasures inside like the bronze statue that looks like the grim reaper holding a copper pen that brings good luck and fortune to those that touch it. All I saw was a germ-infested object and declined to follow the masses, so I guess I have been damned.

The castle
The castle is located next to a natural thermal spring, which probably explains why it was built so far from the Danube. And the most infamous of thermal spas is next door. This place even offers a special beer spa package where you can stew in your unique blend of thermal waters, hops, malt amd yeast while drinking unlimited pints of draft beer. They are catering to the abundant UK and Dutch stag parties that come here for the cheap alcohol. Bottle of good Hungarian wine = 7$US. No surprise that Hungarians export very little of their wine, as Hungarians are the primary market. And the wine is surprisingly good.
I then hopped on the train going towards Parlaiment and the Hold market which has the best goulash I have ever had. Along the way I met Ronald Reagan and we had a little chat about foreign policy and the EU. Just so happens that on this trip we are in four different countries that are on the fence about the long term benefits of the EU on their economy. Ronnie didn’t contradict me, so I guess he was in agreement.
All of central Europe seems to be fascinated with these pork knuckles. They are good!

The best Goulash in the city (in Hungary it is a soup, not a stew) and the best sourdough bread I have ever eaten in my life. Source: Hold Market!

Such a surprise to see Ronald Reagan appear!

Its hard to describe Budapest and Im still puzzled by Hungarians. Stoic yet friendly, independent yet collaborative. But for me Budapest has a “grit” that no other European city has. Beautiful architecture and buildings, yet you ocassionally come to see buildings with eroding facades and lack of maintenance and care. I do know that the average salaries here are low compared to the rest of EU, which makes it a great low-cost outsourcing centre. As a result many tradesmen and professionals migrate to Austria or Germany for higher wages and commute home for the weekend. This has put significant pressure on a lack of skilled trades to do construction and renovation work. But I suspect this “grit” is more of a systemic problem, rooted in decades of Communist rule.

I will be curious to compare it to other Eastern European cities in the future. No doubt, Budapest is a very affordable European destination. We locked in our apartment for five weeks, everything in, for $700US. Flights were about $500US roundtrip. Food costs are about $25US per person, per day. It allowed us to have a homebase and still do our weekend jaunts to other cities. A local cell phone package for the month was 10$US and allowed us to incur roaming in other cities. And our monthly transit pass was $30US per person. So, for five weeks, thats 3430$US for two people, which is less than half what it would cost us for a two week vacation in Italy or Spain. We did plan this trip several months in advance, timing it for the lowest costs and my availability which happened to be in the affordable spring season.

I would come back, but I suspect we will be going to other destinations instead. I have my sights on the Basque and Northern Spain areas. We will probably make those decisions around Christmas time. And I must go to Stockholm to visit my new Swedish BFF!







This special gelato shop has a flavour based on the national Plum cake, flavoured with Palinka (the national drink). Yummy!
Portion control!


A view of Buda from the Parliament

Gritty Budapest. Zoom on the building to see the crumbling facade.

Comments

  1. lythaMay 9, 2019 at 11:09 AM

    I made my Hungarian crock-pot gulash tonight, I'm on hour #7 waiting....

    Sourdough? I've never found (what I know as) sourdough in Germany. Not that I eat bread, so that might be a good thing.

    Gorgeous photos, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nat DMay 10, 2019 at 12:14 PM

      How was the gulash? In Hungary, its soup. Everywhere else in the world its stew. What kind of paprika did you use?

      Delete

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