THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
After riding on the bus from the airport to central Budapest, we walked a couple of streets to our hotel the Grand Budapest Hotel. We must admit we felt like we were in the Wes Anderson movie of the same name. The Iberostar Grand Budapest was perfectly located for our weekend to explore this grand city.
We arrived late in the day and when we had dropped our bags off in our room we headed out to get a feel of the city as darkness started to fall.
The next morning we got up and headed to the Széchenyi Chain Bridge across the Danube to the Buda side of the city. We spent the morning exploring Buda Castle and Fishermans Bastion.
The stone of Fishermans Bastion lit up in the morning light and the views across the river were perfect. We walked down the river until we reached the the Margaret Bridge. The bridge is really interesting as it has an angle in it at the middle and connects both sides of the river and also Margaret Island. We walked around the Hungarian parliament building before heading to get lunch.
After some lunch we walked along the Pest side of the river as the sun was setting over the Chain Bridge. We walked as the sun set over the city and eventually headed back to our hotel where we had a massage booked. After a very good massage and some yummy dinner, we went back to our room to get some rest before an early start the next day.
After breakfast we caught the tram to Széchenyi Thermal Baths, which are the largest medicinal baths in Europe. They are fed by two thermal springs and the water is warm and relaxing. There is a large outdoor area and the steam rises into the cool air. On a cold day you can see the steam from a good distance away. There is a small lazy river section and we acted like big kids going as fast as we could. We got several funny looks and decided to then explore indoors as there are many different pools and steam rooms to enjoy. We arrived early and apart from a few locals we had the place mostly to ourselves. Budapest is famous for its many thermal pools and the unique architecture that makes them so remarkable.
Eventually (it was hard to leave the lovely warm water) we left Széchenyi Thermal Baths and headed right across the city and over the river to another thermal baths called Gellért Thermal Bath. These baths are actually part of a hotel and we wanted to explore them because of their famous mosaic tiles. When we arrived at the Gellért Thermal Baths there was quite a long queue to get in and was much more popular than the previous baths. The interior was incredibly beautiful and there was a feeling of a grand past about the place.
We walked to St. Stephen's Basilica and quietly walked around the grand church as the sun was setting, golden light poured in through stain glass windows and the entire place felt extremely majestic.
Our final (full) day had arrived and we set out to explore the large central market hall. We also planned to visit Szimpla Kert which is located in the Jewish quarter and is a network of pubs and street food vendors built into and created from old ruins. It is a fascinating place to see, very colourful and unique. There are also many antique shops dotted around that we searched through. We also visited Heroes square which felt vast and very much like an old parade square.
During the evening we headed to all the Christmas markets that were popping up around the city ready for the holidays. Hungary is famous for Chimney cakes. We had first experienced one of these in the Czech Republic a few years ago and were very excited to our hands on some. They are tubes of dough roasted over coals and covered in cinnamon or other toppings of your choosing. They can also be filled with all sorts. We went for the classic cinnamon chimney cake as we think its the best.
We felt that we barely scratched the service of this massive city. We loved exploring the streets and learning a little of the history and culture. We recommend using the public transport including the tram, metro and buses as much as you can as the city is very big, we tried to walk around most places our legs quickly tired and we really enjoyed using these different modes of transport. Budapest we will back someday…
