Budapest, Hungary
Sorry, this will be a LONG post! We took over 1000 photos, so I had to try to capture the essence of both beautiful cities and our adventures in them!
What an amazing anniversary and birthday (for Craig) vacation!!! It was very fun, exhausting and romantic. Thank you to my wonderful husband Craig for researching, planning and organizing this trip! We started out in Budapest and stayed at the Hotel Palazzo Zichy which was a very nice, boutique hotel not too far from the main downtown core, but far enough that it was quiet at night for sleeping (important for us). The only weird thing was the toilet seat was so high my feet fell asleep from dangling in the air!! lol
On the way there we met two nice Russian ladies who invited us to meet up with them when we return to Moscow and they would show us around! Hopefully we are able to do that soon. Her father was once a Russian diplomat in Ottawa, so we had lots to talk about.
Budapest consists of two sides. The "Buda" and the "Pest" side. It is the capital of Hungary and has a population of 1.74 million (2011). It occupies both sides of the Danube River and is home to many World Heritage Sites.
We arrived in Budapest and there was a HUGE line up at passport control. It looked like it would take at least an hour to get through, but with our diplomatic passports we went into another area where there was NO line up and were able to go right through. Who wouldn't appreciate saving an hour of their time when arriving on vacation??
For our first meal in Budapest Craig just had to have goulash soup of course.... along with pizza and I had a pork medallion dish with some sort of gnocchi (VERY filling; a "put meat on your bones" kind of meal).
We like to go on the free city walking tours and this time we chose the Jewish Quarter walking tour. The walk starts by going to the largest Synagogue in Europe and the 2nd largest in the world. Built between 1854 and 1859. On the property there is also a museum, the Heroes' Temple, the Jewish Cemetery and a Memorial Park. The memorial is a large weeping willow tree. Inscribed on each leaf is the names of the Hungarian Jews killed during the Holocaust (see below).
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| Memorial to Jews killed during the Holocaust |
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| Jewish Synagogue- well, I guess all synagogues are Jewish! |
The Jews have a long history in the region now known as Hungary. During the time of "Black Death" (1349) Jews were expelled from the country. During the rule of King Ladislaus II (1490-1516), Jews were burned at the stake. When Imperial troops recaptured "Buda" in 1686, most Jewish residents were massacred. During the reign of Charles III (1711-1740) and Queen Maria Theresa (1740-1780) their fate did not improve and in 1746 they were expelled from Buda.
Obviously Jewish people managed to survive despite all odds against them and by World War I they had integrated fairly well into Hungarian society. They were not, however, allowed to own their own land. By the 20th Century, 23% of the Capitals' (Budapest) population was Jewish. They became prominent in science, arts and business (banking). Resentment of this trend of success was widespread. Starting in 1938, Hungary passed a series of anti-Jewish measures to emulate the Nuremberg Laws of Germany (antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany). Jews were deported and the vast majority were massacred. The first transports to Auschwitz began in May 1944. I'm not sure on the timing, but Jews were forced to live in a walled ghetto (Budapest Ghetto). It was surrounded by a huge stone wall that had barbed wire on top with guards who prevented any contraband from getting in or any Jews from getting out. I believe this area was established in early 1944. During the last years of WW2 over 600,000 were killed.
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| A reconstruction of the stone part of the ghetto wall |
We took advantage of the Big Bus tour in Budapest because it was a great deal. We took one in Abu Dhabi and didn't find it that useful, but in Budapest it's a fantastic way to see the city and for about $30 Canadian per person for 48 hours, it's economical. That includes unlimited rides for the 48 hours and also at night (highly recommended because it goes over the bridge (I think it was the Elizabeth Bridge) at night and you have great views of the city from the "Buda" side to the "Pest" side. Also included with your ticket are unlimited boat cruises on the Danube! The boat took us to Margaret Island which is a hugely popular spot for locals and tourists alike as it a beautiful park area. We just rode around on a bike together and took in the sites.
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| Our "Love bike" |
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| You'd like this hot dog Dad!!! |
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| Superman in the phone booth! |
Here's some beautiful sites from around town on and off the Big Bus tour.
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| Just a pretty building |
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| Budapest Castle from Hop on Hop off boat tour |
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| Top left of picture is the Matthias Church with glazed orange tile roof |
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| Internet photo of Matthias Church |
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| A random archway that I loved |
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| The beautiful Parliament buildings on the Danube River. This is the building on every brochure for Viking River Cruises on the Danube. |
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| Another view from night bus tour of the Matthias Church |
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| Parliament at night from bus tour - note the birds flying above that look like lights (Craig thought it was fireworks) because of the up-lighting |
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| The police gathering by Heroes Square - we assume being deployed to areas around Hungary for border control due to Migrant crisis as there were hundreds and hundreds of them and lots of buses |
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| Széchenyi Baths- one of the largest medicinal bath houses. We did not go in the baths, but it is in a beautiful building in a beautiful park area near Heroes' Square, which was barricaded when we were there because of all the police (above). |
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| View of city (from Buda side) at the Citadel |
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| View of Danube River from top of Citadel Hill |
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| The New York Cafe in the Boscolo Hotel - self-proclaimed "Most beautiful cafe in the world". We had a coupon from our Big Bus tour for a "free postcard". It wasn't why we went there, after all, it's just a postcard, but I thought it would at least provide a really good picture of the cafe. Unfortunately, they said "I'm sorry, we don't postcards anymore". So Big Bus tour patrons, don't expect to get your free postcard! lol |
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| Craig enjoying our expensive little snack at this fancy cafe |
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| "Juliette" on the balcony at New York Cafe |
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| The Great Market Hall/ Central Market Hall - built in the late 1890's. It is located at the end of the famous pedestrian street - "Vaci utca" - near the Pest side of the Liberty Bridge. |
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| Paprika anyone? |
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| Weird pickled things with faces |
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| Food available - lots of meat! |
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| More food... |
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| View of the enormous size of this market |
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| The Cat Cafe! Yes, that means there is a cafe where the cats roam freely. In this one, there were 9 resident cats and don't be too surprised when they end up on the table. A nightmare for people who are allergic, but an adorable place for cat/animal lovers. Our native Hungarian friend Judy recommended we visit this cafe, thank you Auntie Judy, it was great! |
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| They have some really adorable places for the cats to lounge |
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| The 360 Bar with a nice view of the city - likely a fun spot at night, but us oldies weren't awake late enough to take in much night life! It's a very urban spot - a great hang out on a beautiful day. |
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| Another view from 360 Bar - a little cloudy on this day, but still cool |
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| Yet another view from 360 Bar |
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| Salad at Fatal Restaurant in Old Town |
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| Schnitzel the size of your head at Fatal Restaurant on Vaci utca |
Prague, Czech Republic
Prague from Budapest was a regional flight - therefore no customs - because they are both European
Union countries - it made for a very easy entry into the country. Craig enjoyed free Budweiser beer on board. We had arranged (well, Craig did) a driver (from the hotel) to pick us up. We were walking to the parking lot and I saw this Mercedes and thought the driver was heading for it so I thought it was for us.... Craig says I'm so spoiled (cannot deny this) and calls this my "princess moment"of the trip because I thought a Mercedes was picking us up. The funny thing is, that wasn't our car, but we did end up in a Mercedes!!! lol
The architecture in Prague is amazing and the ancient buildings are everywhere you look! It's not just the odd building, it's nearly every building in the downtown core and especially the Old Town area. We stayed at La Ballerina Hotel which was excellent! Craig had arranged for us to stay in a suite because we would be spending our anniversary here. It's another boutique hotel - and as the name states, it was filled with huge portraits of ballerinas in pose. Our room was beautiful! Thank you honey! This hotel is the sister hotel to the Luxury 5* Grand Alchymist Hotel and we were able to use their facilities. It is a truly romantic, historic boutique hotel. Parts of this hotel date back to the 14th Century. Someone working at the hotel said it used to be a monastery. The hotel website says convent. It does have that feel with it's stone walls and narrow passage ways. It's like a fairy tale in there. We are so glad we went and spent a couple of hours there enjoying the pool & sauna area. Legend has it that a nun here seriously violated the rules of her order and was bricked alive for her offense. It is said that her unhappy soul wanders the halls at night. We had a look at one of the rooms thinking if we were ever back in Prague we would stay here, but we quickly changed our minds when we saw that rooms were about $800-$1000 a night for a standard room!
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| The Alchymist Hotel lounge area to give you an idea what it's like |
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| Lower hallway at Alchymist Hotel |
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| Spa pool of Alchymist Hotel |
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| Interesting Oriental bench in spa lounge area |
Just as in Budapest, everywhere you go in Old Town Prague you will find amazing food. It was very hard to resist trying things, but sometimes we had to because we were so full! We did managed to try some of the street food including the chimney cake dessert. It's a pastry that is rolled on a wooden thing and then cooked. There are several different methods of doing this. We tried a plain one rolled in sugar and ground nuts and then also tried one with chocolate, strawberries and ice cream in it! Yum! They also have these in Budapest, but we didn't try them there.
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| Chimney Cake being made |
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| Sausages teasing us everywhere we went |
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| Freshly made potato chips! Salty, but good! |
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| Chimney cake filled with chocolate, strawberries and ice cream! |
We also ate some fantastic meals in Prague. One was at a place called Nasé Maso and it was basically a butcher shop turned into a restaurant. It's a very tiny and busy place, but you get great food here, especially the burgers, which is what we ordered. It's got what I think would be a New York City vibe to it. You go to the counter, pick your meat choice out of the cooler and then they call your name out when it's ready. This picture from outside gives you an idea of what it's like inside. The burgers look a little raw and it's normally not how I'd eat my burgers back in Canada, but, as they say, "when in Rome"! They were delicious and Craig had the beer, which you served yourself from a tap in the wall and I had water from another tap in the wall. Very cool place.
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| A view from outside the restaurant showing what it's like inside |
On our anniversary, Craig had planned out our day. We started out with a beautiful walk up Petřín Mountain to Petřín Lookout Tower. Much of the stone used to build the major sites of Prague was quarried from this mountain. The tower was built in 1891 (and completely renovated in 1999) as an observation and transmission tower, but today is used as a major tourist attraction. The tower itself is 60 m high on top of a 318 m mountain. There is a funicular that takes you up the mountain, but it was closed for the season, so we were hoofin' it by foot. We didn't mind the exercise to burn off calories from all the food we were eating! There are two observation platforms. We took the 299 stairs up to the top platform for some great views of the city. Here are some of the pictures we took from the top of the tower. So glad we went up there!
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| View of Prague Castle with St. Vitus Cathedral behind |
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| A peek-a-boo look through an old stone wall looking towards old town as we descended the mountain |
We also visited St. Vitus on another day and it was THE most impressive cathedral either Craig or I have been in. It's in Gothic style and it truly is amazing. I'll let the pictures speak for me but they can't truly show the feeling you get walking into this cathedral. The building itself was so huge it was impossible to get far enough back to get a picture of the whole building outside.
OK, so back to our anniversary day story. We hiked up the mountain and then up the tower, took some great shots of the city, walked back down the tower and the mountain into Old Town where we had a lovely lunch in Old Town Square along with two American ladies whom we met - they've known one another over 50 years and they meet all over the world. We came to love this square because its huge and there's always lots happening here. It also has beautiful architecture to look at along with tons of people and entertainers to watch. The other thing you will see a LOT of in Prague is people on Segways. Not cheap, about $100 Canadian for 2-hour tour.
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| Here's a strange, but clever act in the square... his head is a real man, but the rest of the body is not. His real body is hidden in a chair under the blue cloth. Children absolutely loved him. He made weird little noises and was sort of like a mime. |
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| More interesting characters in the square! They made you stop to see how they did it! Can you figure it out? |
Something else you will see a LOT of in Prague is Thai massage places! They're everywhere! It was funny to see people sitting on display in the store window getting a fish pedicure!
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| Fish pedicure |
I went up in the gorgeous astronomical clock tower to get some more great photos of the city and the square. Craig wanted me to get his picture, but he was so small from up in the tower I couldn't see him. Without knowing it though, he was in a few of my photos! The other amazing building in this square is the Church of Our Lady before Týn.
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| What I thought was a neat view of the narrow streets of Old Town |
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| We ate in cafe below where the white umbrellas are and somewhere in there is Craig standing, looking up at me in the tower trying to get me to take a picture of him! |
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Me and these peek-a-boo shots... this one of the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Týn taken from the top of the astronomical clock tower
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| Here's a picture of the Astronomical Clock Tower at night - it was first installed in 1410. It was formerly believed that the clock master was blinded on the order of the Prague Councillors so that he could not repeat his work. In turn, he broke the clock and no one was able to repair it for the next 100 years. There's karma for ya. |
I keep getting distracted and adding photos. So on our anniversary day we had lunch outside in the Old Town Square then we walked around Old Town for a bit and went back to our hotel room for a wee nap. When we arrived back to our hotel, they had given us a bottle of wine to celebrate Craig's birthday, so we enjoyed that after our nap (well, Craig enjoyed most of it). We then headed off to our anniversary/birthday dinner at Ristorante Pagana. It is rated #1 on Tripadvisor for a reason! It is a charming place, but the food and the service are absolutely amazing! In particular, I was charmed by the owners. It is truly a family-owned business. Santo was our waiter and his cousins are other waitstaff / chefs and his Mom oversees everything. They are SO incredibly welcoming, helpful, kind and generous. They treated us to a glass of Prosecco the night before when we stopped in to confirm our reservation and they again treated us to a trio of delicious desserts for our Anniversary/birthday celebrations. This restaurant shows the true meaning of treating the customer like family - absolutely, hands-down, THE best customer service I have ever seen in all our travels. We started off with more Prosecco and then had another bottle of wine. By the end of the meal, Craig was a little tipsy and I thought it was hilarious. He also got a little sentimental and said some incredibly sweet words to me for our anniversary that had us both tearing up right there in the restaurant! It was an amazing day spent with my amazing husband. He also purchased tickets to a ballet performance of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew on the new stage of the Bolshoi Theatre! Thank you baby! Can't wait!
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| Craig liked Santos' big pepper grinder! Dining here was a fantastic experience we will always remember from our trip in Prague. |
Another memorable dinner (actually lunch) was at Brasileiro! It's rated #74, but I think it should be higher than that! It is a Brazilian churrascaria, which means it is an "all you can eat" situation with a salad bar and some side dishes that they provide and then waiters bring around several different types and cuts of meat on a skewer which they cut off and and you grab with little tongs or they slide it off directly on your plate. It is done
Rodízio style, which means you pay a fixed price and the waiters bring samples of food to each customer at several times throughout the meal until the customer signals they are done. In this case, we had a coaster that was red on one side and green on the other. Craig's was kept on the "green" side for an hour and a half! That's a LOT of eating! He was in heaven with all the fabulous meats.
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| One incredibly happy camper! |
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| This is one end of the historical St. Charles Bridge. Construction started in 1357 and wasn't completed until the beginning of the 15th Century. It is a gorgeous, pedestrian only, stone bridge that crosses the Vltava River and until 1841 was the only way to cross and connect Prague Castle and Old Town. It's difficult to capture the beauty of this bridge in a single photo because it is very large and was always filled with tourists when we were there (September/October being the busy tourist season for Prague). I like the picture below because it looks creepy, but in a beautiful way. The picture below is of the opposite end of the bridge from the picture taken with Craig in it. It is also taken in Winter with nobody on it (from the internet). |
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And last, but not least, my adventure as a hamster! We kept walking by this place where you could go into a clear, plastic ball and then walk on the water. We had seen them in Stockholm also and I wanted to do it there, but didn't, so I made a point of doing it here....actually, not far from where the above picture was taken. Here are a few shots of me in the hamster ball or "water zorbing" as they call it. Cost was 8 Euros for 10 minutes. At first I thought "that's not very long", but after trying over and over to run at full speed (that was the advice of the guy running it gave me - perhaps he lied to me to make it more entertaining for Craig???) inside a plastic globe on water - trust me - 10 minutes was long enough! My only regret is I didn't try to do do cartwheels - I may have had more success. Near the end I was doing somersaults just to make the ball move a little further than I was able to on my feet! It was hard work - a mini workout really and it's fun! I think it's just as fun for loved ones on shore watching because I heard a LOT of laughing coming out of Craig!
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| Me carefully getting to the water...I didn't want to do an immediate face plant like the girl in front of me when my ball touched the water! |
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| No face plants, but plenty of falling on my butt! |
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| I'm doing it! I'm actually running on water! |
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| This is the best I could do for Craig as far as "standing" up for a picture. |
