No, this post has nothing to do with Charles Dickens, and besides he wrote about two cities.

This story begins just about 2 weeks ago.  Mike and I hopped on a plane to Budapest, Hungary.  I don’t know why I’ve always wanted to go to Budapest, but I have, so we did.

The weather was very cooperative (until the last day), and getting there was super easy.

Our fun began with the ride from the airport. Our driver (I’m sure a native) was not at all afraid to drive fast or to drive fast in tight spaces. My husband said, “He drives with the confidence of a man who has never hit anyone.”  And thankfully, that streak was not broken during our ride.

We arrived at our hotel (unharmed) and were greeted by the best view. I’m not making that up…the gentleman who showed us to our room said it was the best view in the hotel. I thought he was just saying something…but then we saw this…

We turned the chairs to face the window, almost immediately

The view from our left window

The view from our center window, looking right

Oh yeah, here’s where the “three cities” come in. A long time ago, Budapest was made up of three cities: Buda, Pest and Old Buda (Óbuda). At some point the powers-that-be, decided to combine all three and call it Budapest. Go figure! The Danube River divides Buda and Pest, and people still refer to the Buda side or the Pest side.

At least that’s what our tour guide told us. 🙂  Akos took us on a 4-hour walking tour of the city, on our first full day in town. We did get on the train a few times, and the bus, but mostly it was a walking tour. Mostly.

Akos our guide, gives Mike an overview of the city and the tour

The train stop for Heroes Square

The Yellow Line subway is one of the oldest in the world (and the smallest, according to Mike).

We started our tour in Heroes’ Square. This is a massive square in the center of town that’s dedicated to the heroes of Budapest and all of Hungary. The statues that represent these heroes are located inside a set of curved colonnades that sit near the back of the square…behind a huge column.

Heroes’ Square

Heroes’ Square is right down the street from City Park and the City Park Ice Rink. In the summer, this ice rink is a lake. But in the winter, it’s turned into the largest open-air ice rink in Europe.

We decided not to go skating, but we did visit the Vajdahunyad Castle just on the other side of the ice rink.

Vajdahunyad Castle

There is a statue on the castle grounds of an unknown writer who was believed to be the person who chronicled history for the Hungarian King Bela. But because there were so many King Belas, it’s hard to find out which king employed the chronicler, or who he was, so he remains anonymous.

It’s believed that if you touch the pen of the anonymous writer, you will have good luck

We visited the thermal baths next. Budapest has the world’s largest thermal cave system…so thermal bath houses are big business. Some 2 million people visit their thermal bath houses each year.

Szechenyi Bath and Spa

Akos took us to the Opera house… modeled after the Opera House in Vienna, Austria and then to St. Stephen’s Basilica.  We crossed the Chain Bridge (the first bridge built to cross the Danube). We also visited Matthias Church, which is located at the top of a steep hill (public transportation to the rescue), in the Buda Castle district. It’s a big white church with a decorative tile roof and a gothic spire.  A terrace called the Fisherman’s Bastion, that has seven towers, surrounds the Church. The Bastion has the appearance of a fairy tale castle.

Opera House

St. Stephen’s Basilica

The Chain Bridge (from the Buda Side)

Matthias Church

Fisherman’s Bastion

Our last stop with Akos was the synagogue in the Jewish Quarter. The Dohány Street Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe and the third largest in the world.

The Dohány Street Synagogue

The next day, Mike and I were on our own. But because we spent the previous day with Akos (a great guide, and a nice person), we felt like we knew how to find everything. We were all over the place visiting some of the sites we missed the day before. And also visiting some of the places we saw the day before…only this time we took a closer look.

But before we did any more sightseeing, Mike had a surprise: a visit to a flea market. That’s right…I was going to a flea market in another country and I was going to buy the best, kitschiest thing you could imagine. So, what did Budapest have to offer? You guessed it…nothing! It’s just like any other flea market, in any other city. We saw lots and lots of junk and lots and lots of people.

Bolhapiac Flea Market

We took a walk back through City Park and back to Heroes’ Square. Two buildings flank the square: the Museum of Fine Art on the left, and the Hall of Art on the right. We visited the Museum of Fine Art…

We revisited the Opera House. This time we went inside for a group tour. We actually shouldn’t have bothered. Akos told us all we needed to know about the Opera House the day before. I took a few extra pictures, but I wasn’t that excited about it.

But I was excited about a tea shop Mike found. 1000 Tea is a small out of the way place, that’s pretty easy to miss if you’re not looking. I loved it. I’m not sure if they had 1000 teas…but they definitely had a lot of exotic choices.

The Parliament Building is the biggest building in Hungary, and the third largest Parliament Building in the world. We never actually made it to the building…choosing to admire it from afar.

Parliament Building

It started raining before we reached our hotel room that night. And the rain was still around the next morning for our final day in Budapest. But hey, that didn’t stop us. We made our way over to one of the Universities in town, but we couldn’t find the bookstore, so we headed to the next University in town. We were distracted by this huge building next to the school, so we went inside. It’s a good thing we did…this building housed the Central Market Hall…a place we actually wanted to see. They have everything in this place. You can buy food, souvenirs, clothes…everything.

This is where the Central Market Hall is housed. We actually found it the night before.

This is the inside of the Central Market Hall. Pretty impressive.

We finally found Corvinus University of Budapest, and then we headed to the Cave/Rock Church (Sziklatemplom). It’s a church built inside of Gellért Hill.

Corvinus University of Budapest

Outside the Cave Church

Inside the Cave Church. The cave system was formed by thermal springs, so the church is always at a constant temperature.

We made our way back to our hotel, and waited for our driver. Wondering if we were in for another exciting ride to the airport. We were not disappointed. But we made it the airport, and back to Stuttgart safely.  And yes, we’d do it all over again.