Daryl and Jackie's Euro Trip: SUMMARY: Budapest

Our time in Hungary started off on the wrong foot. With delayed trains, bad internet connections, and cold weather it was difficult to settle in. However, we did come to enjoy our time in Budapest.

Hungary has had a hard go of things following their defeat in the First World War. They saw their empire decimated, their country occupied by Nazis, and then spent the latter half of the past century under the yoke of the Soviet Bloc. In 1989 the last Soviet soldier left Hungarian soil and the country began the process of rebuilding. Today the city of Budapest still feels at times worn down. However, this is entirely superficial. Budapest is a sophisticated city, and of all the places we have travelled to, is most similar to Paris with grand cafes and artistic culture.

Our time in Budapest was enjoyable, but does not hold a candle to Berlin.

Things we liked:

The look of the buildings reminded us of Paris
The public baths
Many great restaurants, especially in the Opera district where our apartment was located
The Opera (and seeing the star actors in restaurants)
Mulled wine at the cheese market, it was also sold other places around town
Free wifi at most cafes and even restaurants, which was a relief after not having internet at the apartment and our negative wifi experiences in Germany

Things we didn’t like:

The public transit system has not been updated since the 50’s, buses and trains feel clunky and run down
Taxi drivers and hotel attendants hassle you at the train station; they even try to dupe you into believing you are at the wrong station so they can pick up the fare to take you across town (we were told we were at the wrong station when departing Budapest even though we never told the guy where we were traveling)
Hungarian (the language) is wholly foreign and we could not even guess at the meanings of some signs

Interesting findings:

The public transit system must employ half the city, each station is manned by 5-6 ticket inspectors checking to make sure your pass is valid
Most subway stations have 3-4 escalators, only a random two of which will be operating at a time
There is no beer culture here, Hungarians are all about their sweet white wines
Our guidebook warned us that Budapest’s sights are far flung and that a 72hr transit pass was required. We found ourselves walking from site to site, despite purchasing the pass upon arrival (fail)
Workers in restaurants, at the train station, and other shops are more interested in finishing their conversation with each other than helping you; we saw this multiple times, including ticket inspectors that would not even bother to look down at your ticket as you passed by

And as always, some extra pictures.