Dubbed the Pearl of the Danube, the Paris of the East, and even the Capital of Spas and Thermal Baths, Budapest, the wonderfully beautiful capital city of Hungary, certainly lives up to its nicknames.

But if not for the friends I’d just made in France who wanted to travel around Central and Eastern Europe during our term break, I probably would have missed out on this gem. Each armed with just a small cabin luggage, we kicked off our budget-friendly whirlwind tour with two days in Budapest.

 

DAY 1

Landing in Budapest and exploring the city was a thrilling experience. It wasn’t just because it was my first time in a new city. I didn’t have enough time to do much research prior to the trip aside from settling the basics, so I knew next to nothing about the city – a little unnerving since my usual practice is to get everything planned and sorted well before time.

To add to my unpreparedness, I couldn’t pick out anything from the language at all. Though I can usually make out the gist of things in countries that speak Romance languages, Hungarian is completely different from its neighboring countries, making the task of deciphering practically impossible without Google Translate. It was a little intimidating, and I had no idea what the next 48 hours would be like.

Our first task was to navigate to our Airbnb, but along the way, we were led by our noses to a tiny bakery hidden in the neighboring residential district. The smell of buttery, freshly-baked pastries was heavenly and incredibly inviting. I couldn’t resist the temptation to go in, so we made a quick stop to get some handmade pastries.

I picked out what looked like a chocolate bun, and it was so good. Fresh from the oven, it was warm to the touch with a solid, crisp crust; flaky and buttery with generous layers of rich, dark chocolate in every bite. Looking at the photo, I’m reminded again of how delicious it was.

After depositing our luggage, we made our way back to the city for dinner, crossing the long Széchenyi Chain Bridge that links Buda and Pest. In April, the wind was still relentless and bitterly cold, but halfway across the bridge, we had no choice but to push on.

We eventually ended up at Restaurant Kheiron – slightly pricier than the average bistro I believe, but with great ambiance and enough seats for our group of girls. I had one of the local signatures of beef goulash with Hungarian nokedli dumplings (I googled; eaten alone they’re a bit like plain, starchy pasta), which turned out to be great.

We passed by the Hungarian Parliament Building on our way back to our Airbnb. An unmissable landmark on the bank of the Danube, the largest building in Hungary is a stunning piece of Neo-Gothic architecture.

While we’d already seen it briefly in the day, I personally prefer the night view of the Parliament Building. At night, the entire structure is lit up with bright, white lights, making it visible from afar, and when the river is calm, it mirrors the building above. What an incredible sight to behold.

DAY 2

The next morning, we excitedly made our way to the much-photographed Széchenyi thermal baths, heading straight for the outdoor area. It felt a little unreal to actually be walking in a place I’d only seen in photos and never expected to be able to visit in person.

While the Széchenyi thermal baths did make for some pretty nice photos, it felt more like an outdoor heated public pool that hadn’t been maintained in a while despite the admission fees than a thermal bath.

In the winter, it was so cold outside that we were reluctant to step into the mildly heated water, and running back indoors after felt like running in a refrigerator.  Still, it was a really fun once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We passed the nearby Heroes’ Square, a large square with many statues of important Hungarian national leaders, on our way to the Fisherman’s Bastion.

Located on Castle Hill, the Fisherman’s Bastion is a great place to get a good view of the city from above. Built in the Neo-Romanesque architecture style as a viewing terrace to celebrate the 1000th birthday (wow) of the Hungarian state, the Fisherman’s Bastion resembles a castle from a fairytale. It’s an impressive monument, with the seven towers representing the seven Hungarian chieftains who led their tribes to settle in Hungary.

Another interesting note: the Bastion was built around the existing Matthias Church to complement it and bring out its beauty. More history here if you’re interested. With so many landmarks in one place, Castle Hill is beautiful, and truly a must-visit when in Budapest.

Our next destination was the Great Market Hall, conveniently located in the center of the city. It’s a huge indoor market packed with stalls selling local food, fresh produce, and souvenirs, which also makes it a good place to pick up some paprika that Hungary is famous for. We wandered around and tried some snacks, including this poppy seed scone.

A must-try food that you can easily find all around Budapest is lángos – flat, fried dough served with your choice of toppings. I chose sour cream and grated cheese. Eaten hot, it’s crispy, chewy, and dense (sort of like youtiao), with a tinge of tanginess from the sour cream. Simple comfort food that I can see myself eating again and again.

Two of us then split from the group and headed to Szimpla Kert in the Jewish Quarter. Housed in an old factory, Szimpla Kert is the first ‘ruin pub’ to open in Budapest, and definitely one of the most iconic. I really wanted to fit Szimpla Kert into our schedule because I’d never been to a ‘ruin pub’ before, and I wanted to see for myself what it was.

It turns out that the term ‘ruin pub’ came about because of the founders of Szimpla Kert, and it refers to drinking holes established in old buildings saved from being demolished, spruced up with an assortment of odds and ends. Szimpla Kert started out as a place for people in the community get a cheap drink in a nice and chill environment and is now a popular tourist destination. Definitely my kind of place.

To me, the beauty of the ruin pub is that it’s unpretentious and full of character. I love that the owners found beauty out of ashes, and I love what it set out to achieve. Every corner holds a strange little surprise. An old grainy poster at the top of the wall. A large, weird-looking green and pink figure that’s probably a kangaroo. Scratched up wooden tables with crates and empty kegs as seats on the ground floor. Layers of graffiti and old stickers covered the walls, and mirrors of all sizes were hidden all over the place.

Upstairs, the potted plants in the middle look like they’ve been thrown together without much thought. Nothing matches, yet somehow, the state of disarray works, and it’s quaint and charming. Sunlight filters in through the translucent ceiling, washing everything below in a soft, natural light. It’s almost as if the building itself encourages you to come as you are, quirks and all, to a community that welcomes you with open arms.

Though we only had time to stop for a quick drink in the afternoon, I imagine that the pub can only become more beautiful when it fills up with people at night. I wish I could have spent more time there.

A while later, I met up with an old friend who happened to be in Budapest at the same time. We caught up over hot chocolate in a tiny, almost stiflingly hot upper deck seating area of the Azték Choxolat! cafe, and walked over to St Stephen’s Basilica before dinner. After that, I regrouped with the rest and we packed up for our next destination.

Budapest felt like a dream that I’d love to revisit. In hindsight, perhaps that feeling of being thrust into a completely new environment more puzzling than any I’d been to before was why I was so awestruck and inspired by my short but memorable time in the city. Because I could no longer rely on what I knew, I had no expectations at all. I was game to try anything, and I wanted to discover for myself what I liked and disliked without all the labels that might have otherwise deterred me from trying it.

It was a completely different perspective on life from what I’d grown up with. Back home, we’d always stick to the same routine, eating the same items on the menu from the same few stalls. It’s convenient and easy; you know what you’re paying for. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Why try something new and take a risk when there’s the tried and tested to fall back on, right? But over time you develop expectations, and even the slightest deviance from the norm leaves you upset and disappointed. There’s an entire world of possibilities just outside your comfort zone, waiting to be discovered.

And so in Budapest, more so than in any other place I’d been to, I asked myself ‘why not?’ and sought out new experiences. It doesn’t have to be anything extreme if you don’t want it to be. All it takes is for you to decide to break out of your routine and try something off your own beaten path, even if it’s something small, even if that’s normal for someone else.

With that perspective shift, even the simplest of actions like ordering food was bathed in a new light, and I drank in every moment and experience with child-like delight. In Budapest, I had the chance to shed off all the cynicism of adulthood and relive what it would have been like to experience the world as a wide-eyed, fresh-faced kid. For that, I’m grateful. After all, traveling isn’t just about seeing new places but seeing them with new eyes. I hope I carry this with me even at home when I find myself slipping back to my old habits.

“The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is.”

– Marcel Proust

If I’ve missed out on any of your favorite food/sights/places in Budapest, let me know in the comments below! For more adventures in Western Europe, why not start with A Leap of Courage: Solo Tripping to Lisbon, Portugal (Part 1)?