December 31 - January 4
It's all about first impressions. The biting cold when we got off the train and the walk through the disheveled part of town to our rental wasn't the best start to a new city, but we warmed up to it pretty quickly. Not literally. Budapest was FREEZING! But people, like a lot of places in Europe, are still out and about.
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| We were lucky to see some holiday festival booths on its last days. |
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| Mostly serving hot food and hot mulled wine. |
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| More hot mulled wine to keep our hands warm while we scarfed down some pork. |
We arrived on New Year's Eve, so after a little exploring, we rested before our mystery wine tasting New Year's Eve Party. I say "mystery", because we signed up for a wine tasting in a wine cave but weren't sure if we were going to get fed much and if we were going to a legit place. We booked online with not a lot of information. We were pleasantly surprised to receive a nice, several course meal in an intimate space with very nice hosts! We saw fireworks from a great view over the city and left feeling very satisfied.
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| Our friend joined us from Spain |
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| The plaza near our wine cave |
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It was a relatively early night, getting home around 4am, so we were able to see some sights the next day, including the antique, still functioning metro stop and the market. Later, we checked out a couple of Budapest's famous ruin pubs, after a homemade meal of Chicken and Galuska (like gnocchi) . A ruin pub is a bar that at one time was completely abandoned and has been gutted and renovated in a very eclectic, funky way. Definitely for the hipsters, but we loved it as well.
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| More sauerkraut! Yum! |
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| The market |
Fogas haz, is one of the ruin pubs we saw, and probably one of the best in Budapest. Usually we wear ourselves out during the day, walking and exploring, that we don't enjoy the night life as much as we should. But I was really looking forward to these and they didn't disappoint. Something unique and artistic on every square centimeter of wall, floor, ceiling, bar, etc. I would recommend the ruin pubs to anyone visiting Budapest.
The next day we caught a Hop-On Hop-Off Bus so we could stay warm while seeing some sights. Our pass included a boat ride along the Danube River as well.
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| The Parliament by boat! |
Later we hit the Gellert Turkish Baths for a soak in natural thermal spring water. We couldn't take pictures inside, but here are a few I stole from the internet. If I give them credit, it's not illegal, right?
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| The spas are open late, so this was the view on the way home. |
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| Random basilica built into the rock - also on the way home. |
On our last day, we still had some hours left on the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus, so we used it for transportation to a few more sights.
Part of our Hop-on Hop-off Bus included free goulash at the Citadel on the top of Gellert Hill across the river. There, we ran into some Italian friends we had met the day before. People love to practice their English with us.
So, that's Budapest! A fun, cold last stop for our Christmas vacation.
