Heading across the Chain Bridge to the summit of Castle Hill in the morning, Kevin and I avoided the overpriced funicular and enjoyed a spectacular view over Parliament and the Danube. The palace grounds were impressive, but the postcard-perfect views of Budapest were the real highlight. I loved the spires of Parliament juxtaposed against the post-WWII Eastern European-style buildings lining the riverbank, and spent some time taking pictures from atop the hill in “Buda.”
Farther south of the palace, we soaked in more of Budapest’s skyline from the Fisherman’s Bastion, grabbed sandwiches from a local grocery store, and toured Matthias Church, which boasted ornately decorated walls and a beautiful view from upstairs. We also stopped in Budapest’s oldest cafe, Ruszwurm, and ate a delicious Hungarian vanilla cream cake before heading south along the embankment to a “cave church” — literally, a church built into a cave in the mountainside. This was a fascinating little church with a relatively narrow entrance, hollowed out of rock with arches throughout its interior. On our way back to the hostel, we walked back along the embankment and Vaci Utca, rounding out our main sightseeing in the city.
Kevin and I both had Hungarian beef stew at a restaurant in Pest called Menza — our choice of an additional dish varied slightly, with Kevin ordering pickled spicy peppers stuffed with cabbage, while I went for chocolate cake. (To each his own, I guess.) After our early dinner, we walked to Keleti station and took a relatively uneventful night train to Krakow, arriving at 6:30 the following morning. We met a few really nice British and Hungarian students on the train, and all bonded while lamenting our car’s atrocious, non-functional bathroom. (By morning, it was fixed… thank goodness.) Safe and otherwise clean, however, it was a smooth ride without incident, albeit with mediocre sleep overall.
Needless to say, it’s pretty awesome to wake up and be in another country. Time to connect with my Polish ancestry!