We enjoyed the Budapest boutique hotel (renamed as Charm hotel now) with Jet2 but not flying from the shambles at Birmingham airport. Arrival in Budapest was fine with the 100E bus at HUF 2200,appro 500/£, from an easy to use ticket machine. Public transport is free for EU pensioners of course, Brexit bonus, so but not us. Our hotel was a 10 minute walk from the bus stop on so utca. The airport is reachable non stop by the 100E bus with the BKK app. We didn’t get a budapest card for €69. In all it’s not cheap but it is a capital city so that’s reflected in offerings and prices, so you won’t find bargains, but as long as you avoid being tempted by the £70 carved Santa figurines you’ll get by well enough. A one day travel pass is 2500 HUF so around £6, but there is much you can walk around.
3 full days in the city was just about fine. So taking the 100E express bus to the Kalvin Ter, what did we get up to? The language is unfamiliar but fine for around 13 million people, we learned a few words: Utca is street and Ter is place
Tuesday saw us start with a peruse of the market hall across the street, cross the Liberty bridge and visit the cave church as ‘students’ to get a discount. It has a Polish chapel of course. Then a walk up the hill behind to the inaccessible Citadel and Liberty Statue both being renovated. It was a ‘shorts’ day, ideal for walking the Buda hill as the funicular was closed for the week. Just bad timing I guess.
The chapel was worth a quick visit if only for the Polish connection. The Polish Eagle of course always looks to it’s right – Dexter…
We saw the guards change on Buda Castle Hill which has great views across to Pest and is well worth an explore, we had a look around the curiously ornamented St Matthias church.
Walking back across the chain bridge we had a disappointing cruise along the beautiful Blue Danube. Leaving the hotel for some more walking along Vaci utca and the Ferris wheel at Erzesbet (Elizabeth) Ter, Getting to eat in the evening at Rezkakas – smart and by definition pricey, but we did hear a fiddler show excellent virtuosity playing some pretty good Czardas.
We were rewarded by the “ruin bars” on the walk back through the Jewish quarter
Similarly to Krakow, the words “Jewish Quarter” conjure up a mix of emotions and the history here is little different. We chose not to pay £25 to tour the Great Synagogue, but there were memorials and reminders to be found as one might expect. Walking back from Heroes Square the avenue was bedecked with yellow ribbons and the Shoes Memorial had candles and mementoes to hostages. It was just over a year since Hamas’s attack and you would have thought that the Israeli government’s 40,000+ deaths as retribution had been sated, but it appears not..
Wednesday at 10 is a good time to visit St Stephen’s Basilica as they have a one hour organ demo/recital. If you pay more you sit next to the organist, but unless you are a music buff you get the full experience in the church itself. The church was finished in the 1890s so it’s in fine fettle with a highlight of St Stephen’s hand on display. It’s maybe worth paying for a ticket to go up the tower, but the views look over a fairly plain Pest.
Lots of Eastern European countries assimilated by the Soviet Union were stuffed by the Russians, nasty malevolent leaders that they have, Hungary was no exception with October 25th 1956 a seminal date where an uprising was brutally put down. A memorial exists in the grounds of the parliament building. If you would like a tour of the parliament building you need to book in advance.
On Thursday we started at the Gellert Baths across the bridge. 10500 HUF with a locker – flip flops are required and as flatpack footwear worth bring with you but also bring your own towel (hotel-fare) or you will have to buy one. A swim cap/headwear is mandatory but only if you are going to have a swim (in the not-thermal pool).
We took the Metro line to Heroes Square – another place enjoying a refurb – and then walked in to the disappointing city park, although a vanilla ice smoothy/shake was banging, taking a peek at the Széchenyi Thermal Bath. We were saved an uninspiring park experience by the intriguing design of the museum of Ethnography.
The walk along Andrassy Utca t is a long old way, busy with traffic and uninspiring
Walking back from the park for a view of the old Jewish quarter my favourite find was the Luthier at Paganini Music Kft. on Kiraly utca. There is nothing on at the Liszt Academy opposite, and it’s a long old walk and not really up to much, but we did see a restored portion of the Ghetto wall and found a passageway of restaurants and bars for later in the evening..
As advised by our fiddler at the excellent recommended Rustico restaurant 3 minutes from out hotel we found the music bookshop Rózsavölgyi és Társa Kiadói Kft. on Szervita Ter with loads to choose from. You do hope these places aren’t elbowed out by more coffee shops, but who knows. I guess people should still buy sheet music, or have we moved to ipads now?
Tram #2. Go on off-peak hours… The No 2 Tram (Yellow) is convenient for visits to many attractions. It runs from the Pest side of the Danube. You can visit The Parliament Building, Chain Bridge, The “Shoes”, the Central Market Hall and many other places. The views from the Tram are spectacular and the journey is well worth it if you have time.
A one hour River cruise was frankly rubbish. It was only just about 40 minutes and not worth the bother.
