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“..a beautiful vantage point to see both Buda and Pest and the Danube.” |
July 8 (Sunday)
After catching an early Alitalia flight from Rome to Vienna, we picked up our rental car at Avis, which is located inside the airport. We drove from Vienna to Budapest in 2 1/2 hours on a very nice & smooth highway and found our hotel, Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal easily with the help of our portable GPS which we brought with us. We chose this hotel after reading the fantastic reviews on TripAdvisor.com.
After check in (they served us some champagne as we filled in the paperwork), we settled in to room# 2309, an interior room with a view of the atrium. The concierge gave us a map and a great recommendation for dinner. After a drink, we walked for about 15 minutes and found Vendeclo A Zsakbamacskahoz, translated it means " Cat in Sack". As it was 8 p.m. on a Sunday, we were the first guests of the evening (this is not a tourist place & is off the beaten track). Our waiter was very informative helping us with choices (as we don't know too much about Hungarian food). www.zsakbamacska.hu
After choosing a 2005 Hungarian Pinot Noir, we chose appetizers of vegetable & sauces and pate with "dried prune" sauce- very good! I had a cold soup and Gary had a fabulous Hungarian Goulash Soup (not stew) to which he added much spice from the small dish of hot paprika sauce provided. Our entrees were Tenderloin Budapest Style and Chicken Paprika with egg spaetzel.
We finished the meal with some Hungarian after dinner drinks, Unicum and Agardi Kokeny and espresso. Gary at this point said that this was the best meal he's had on this trip and that's a great compliment after all the wonderful food we had in Rome.
July 9 (Monday)
Today we did what every first time visitor to Budapest should do, we visited Castle Hill. We walked the two blocks to Oktogon Metro Station and took the metro to the end of the M1 (yellow) line. We then walked the short distance to "Chain Bridge" Szechenyi and across the Danube and took the funicular up to the top of the hill. We checked out the many statues, got great views & pictures from Fishermans Bastion and went inside Mattais Church. We stopped at The House of Hungarian Wines, an absolute must if you like wine and are curious about the Hungarian varieties and regions. For an equivalent of about $20 you are given a small wine glass and are allowed to try up to 50 wines (they have over 700 there). They then give you a small map to the cellars & the adventure begins.
As we were interested in Tokaji wines to purchase as a gift for our relatives in Slovakia, the fact that they had a cellar master really helped.
We headed back to the hotel via the same route, using the stairs back down the hill rather than the funicular carrying seven bottles of Tokaji wine.
We had purchased a three day ticket that covers the metro, bus and trams so we are set for the duration.... It's a good thing we did buy the ticket, as there are people checking tickets randomly on the trains and at the station exits. We walked to about two blocks from our hotel to a plaza of about one block or so which consists entirely of sidewalk cafe and restaurants. we had planned to eat at Menza (which is recommended in the D&G guidebook) but they were full so we ate at another place there called Karma. They had many different types of food, Hungarian, Indian, Italian and others. After our large meal last night we decided to order to only one course, our tummies need a break! I ordered a duck breast marinated in cherries with a cabbage and onion side. It was perfect with the Cuvee that was ordered and the espresso.
July 10 (Tuesday)
The weather has not cooperated today.... the promised rain had materialized and it was forcast to last all day. We decided that this would be the day to go to the House of Terror. We picked up some hotel umbrellas and proceeded to walk about two blocks to the Oktogon and then we turned right and walked about one more block to Andrassy ut 60 (60 Andrassy St).
The House of Terror (Terror Haza) is a museum now but it was originally called the House of Loyalty and was the party headquarters for the Hungarian Nazis. Then later it became the headquarters for the communist "terror organizations", the AVO and the AVH. The museum seems to be memorial to the victims of those times. From the first room to the last over three floors, the horrible actions of the victimizers over the Hungarian people is portrayed. This is certainly something one should do when they come to Budapest for the first time to give a very thorough background to the recent history here. Detailed information is available in the guide sheets placed in every room (also in English)....
As it was after 1:30, we walked down the two blocks to the Liszt Ferenc Ter (the square where we had dinner last night) and stopped for lunch at Menza, a restaurant highly recommended by our D&G guidebook that was fully booked when we were here last night. I ordered Grilled Vegetables with Melted Cheese while Gary had Smoked Grilled Ewe Cheese with Salad. We followed that with Hungarian Veal Stew with Spaetzle (Borjupaprikas Galuskaval) for me and Roasted Pork Slice with Greek Salad ( Flecen sertes tarjabol). The book is right as the food was very good.
Before heading back to the hotel for a rest, we decided to go check St Stephen Basilica. We caught the M1 Metro for two stops and arrived less than a block from the basilica. ( Oh, yes, we were very glad that we had our three day metro pass with us as this time they checked for our tickets. I understand that they will fine you on the spot for 5000 ft ( $25) or if you pay later, it's 10,00 ft ($50).
We got a ticket to climb the main tower of the church to get some nice view and picture of Pest and in the distance, Buda. Then we saw the main basilica and the small chapel next door which has the relic on display. It is St Stephen's right hand ( he died in the year 1038 AD!!!).
By now, the rain had stopped so we were hoping that it might stay dry for the rest of the day. It was also cooler so I actually was wearing my very lightest of jackets.
One of the activities to do in Budapest that had been recommended to us by a couple of different friends is the night cruise on the Danube here to see the gorgeous lights. Once back to the hotel we booked tickets for tonight's last cruise at 10 p.m.
We took the Metro down to near the river and stopped to have dinner at a very pleasant looking cafe, Fresco Vigado Restaurant and Cafe. I ordered two of the Hungarian Specialties, Stuffed Cabbage- Vecses Style and Kecskemet Apricot Pudding.
Our destination was Pier 7 for the Danube Legend, our evening sightseeing boat. They advertise that the tour is offered in 30 languages! the three hostesses did indeed do the introductions in at least 15... www.legenda.hu
The boat left promptly at 10 p.m. and we cruised south past the Royal Palace, Gellert Hill/Citadel, the old and gorgeous Gellert Hotel and then returned and went north to Margaret Island. As the boat turned to head south towrds the dock again, the view was incredible. Gary is going to try to get back here tomorrow night on the Margaret bridge to take a shot of the beautiful lights. I would highly recommend a night cruise on the Danube to anyone that visits.... though we would stay away from the dinner cruises.
By the time the cruise was over, unfortunately, we needed to catch a taxi to the hotel as the metro was closed. That was very costly, it only took 10 minutes but cost 6000 ft ( $30).
July 11 (Wednesday)
Statue Park was our next sightseeing goal and as it was too far away to take the metro, we decided to use our rental car and the GPS to get us there. It was fairly easy to locate and took a little over 20 minutes to get there.
As noted on the brochure we picked up there, Statue Park is "Gigantic Monuments from the age of Communist Dictatorship". It is a unique collection of former public statues that used to be in public places in Budapest. At the fall of Communism instead of destroying the statues, which most other countries had done, Budapest was able to establish this park and place them in one spot as a memorial to the times. It is now considered a museum in Budapest and is a tourist destination for the Hungarian people and for foreign visitors.
As we drove back towards city center, we decided to drive up to Citadel Hill and check out where the restaurant is that we have reservations at tonight. While at the top we realized that this is also a beautiful vantage point to see both Buda and Pest and the Danube. This will be a very nice panorama picture. Also while there we grabbed a quick lunch at a small cafe before heading back.
(to be continued)
previous travel blog entry
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