I love to travel. Since becoming single in 2015 I travel most often alone because I know that even those we love the most may not make great travel companions. However, my girlfriend Lina taught me they can. She flew from Minnesota to the Netherlands and the two of us navigated Budapest, Hungary together. It was a wonderful trip with a good friend in a beautiful city.
She stayed with me in my new (under renovation) home for one night and then we made our way to Amsterdam for an evening where we went on a canal tour and had a great dinner.
We flew to Budapest, ate some goulash, and walked along the Danube river. Wow! I have traveled a bit and yet Budapest tops my list of most beautiful cities at night.
The next day started with a walking tour where we learned about the Hungarian history which is filled with nomads finding a home, being invaded and occupied several times, fighting in wars, and finally finding freedom.
We made our way to their famous central market where we shopped and ate. The food reminded me of some foods I had growing up; goulash, stuffed cabbage, and nut/date filled desserts. We also discovered Palinka, a super strong alcohol.
We walked the city where I could not stop taking photos of the beautiful architecture. I could not resist the cookies at Cookie Beacon, yikes they were good. We went to the top of St. Stephens for a fabulous view.
I wanted to see the Parliament at night so while navigating there we stopped at the “Shoes on the Danube River”, a memorial to honour the Jews that had their shoes removed and were thrown into the freezing Danube river to die during World War II. The history is not easy to hear in Budapest, but important as history often repeats itself if not understood.
We ended the night having drinks on a rooftop, Liz & Chain.
The next day we started with soaks and massages at the Széchenyi Baths. Under Budapest is a large reservoir of thermal baths.
Budapest, pronounced Buda-pesh, has two sides. The Buda, and Pest. We stayed on the Pest side which is more active. On Saturday we went to the Buda side where we joined a tour of the castle area which is very large and being reconstructed following the WWII destruction. The architecture is just stunning. We also got a chimney cake, a sweet for Hungarians.