“Straddling the Danube River, with the Buda Hills to the west and the Great Plain to the east, Budapest is a gem of a city”

Posted October 20, 2016 1 Comment by frenchiegoneexploring

It was rather unfortunate to have to leave Krakow without Heidi’s backpack. After many phone calls and emails with different interlocutors, we had to accept that the people at the Kraków airport were useless, Lufthansa and Condor unwilling to help and it would take some more follow up to get this damn backpack back. In the meantime, we couldn’t wait for the luggage to turn up; With only two weeks for this adventure, it was time to travel to our next destination. We decided to head directly to Budapest and skip Bratislava to fully enjoy our Budapesti city break and to recover from a nasty flu that took me down. We had no choice but slow down and stay two nights in Budapest. We hoped that staying an extra night would help to speed up my recovery.

The bus dropped us at a subway station, which was very convenient to reach our hostel in the center. This helped us to discover Budapest even tho we only had a day and that most of the time, I was feverish and on bed rest. If like us, you only have a day and an evening in Budapest, have fun:

Getting lost wandering through the city in the morning, (still) drunk people watching can be very entertaining – this city definitely knows how to party. If you are an early riser, there is not much more you can do as the city seems to wake up around 10 anyway…
Sampling delicious local dishes at Frici Papa, lovely staff and a fabulicous goulash! Budapest was our culinary highlight!
Taking pictures of the city by night! The iconic Szechenyi Chain Bridge, the parliament and the St. Stephen basilica are absolutely breathtaking once the sun has set
Riding the subway – I could do this all day long! I simply love subway rides. Don’t forget to punch your subway ticket tho or you will have to deal with intransigeant controllers who are pretty tough on first time subway offenders, tourist or no!

I don’t always agree with Lonely Planet but this time, I must admit that they were spot on with that above quote. We fell in love with Budapest’s buildings, its romantically illuminated bridges and its delicious yet affordable gastronomy. Budapest was indeed a true gem! We will be back! Next stop: Zagreb!

Happy trails and remember: Carpe Diem!