Hungry in Hungary!

Sorry for the corny joke, haha :)

I went to Budapest, Hungary the weekend of February 25-28 and it was incredible! Not only is everything cheap there, but there isn't a lot to do besides see the landscape, the castles and go to Turkish bath houses! Which made it quite the relaxing weekend! Not to mention, I finally got to watch the Olympics before everything was over! It was a school organized trip so we had to bus down to Rome to fly into Budapest. Basically, all Thursday we were traveling from 4pm-1am until we were finally in our hostel {which we actually got lost trying to find, haha}. So Friday morning we went on a bike tour of Budapest... except it was raining... but it was still fun nonetheless! The River Danube divides Budapest into two sections: the west side is called "Buda" and means the hilly side; and the east side is called "Pest" meaning the flat land. We saw most of the Pest side which is the larger part of the city.

We also went to what is called Heroes' Square, which is one of many memorials of WWII in Budapest.

For lunch that day we had traditional goulash soup, some sort of pasta and spicy meat. I'm still not exactly sure what was in everything, but it was sooooo delicious! We also had Czech beer that really well with our meal and didn't overpower the savory dishes.

What has surprised me the most traveling around Europe has been my willingness to try different types of food, especially when it comes to traditional dishes of that country! Because of course, desserts are always delicious in everywhere!

Later that night my friends and I walked over to the Buda side where the Castle district is, but we only went up to see the Buda Castle. It was really amazing at night, because you can see all of Budapest lit up at the top of the hill where the castle is. The famous bridge in Budapest is called the Chain Bridge which connects the Buda Castle and Parliament.

Saturday we went to the Fine Art Museum where they had a Degas, Picasso, Renoir and Monet exhibit which was sooo amazing! It was kind of a small exhibit, but I got to see the painting of the Dancer at the Photographers that I have a print of at home!

Afterwards, we went to the famous Széchenyi Medicinal Bath that was built in the early 1900s and is one of the largest in Europe. There are 3 large outdoor baths and it numerous indoor baths; all ranging in different temperatures. There was also some sort of mint bath and mint saunas that were absolutely amazing! We ended up staying at the baths for 5 hours, so it was a pretty relaxing day!

Our school also organized a boat cruise for the group that night, which was pretty fun seeing more of the city farther down the river than we had gone.

The next day, my friends and I went back up to the Castle district to see the St. Mathias church and the Fisherman's Bastion which overlooks all of Budapest. It was such a gorgeous day that we decided to have a picnic as well!

Another famous viewpoint of Budapest is the Citadel fortress which is atop the Gellért Hill in Buda. So, we got a lot of exercise walking down from the Castle district and back up to the top of Gellért Hill. I believe it's one of the highest points in Budapest and it was certainly another incredible view of the city. There is also a WWII memorial called the Liberty Statue that stands at the end of the fortress. We were lucky that when we got there the sun was just beginning to set behind the statue.

Budapest was a pretty mellow trip for me, which was exactly was I was hoping for! :)