A Little Bit Lydia: Budapest: The unexpectedly beautiful city

One of my good friends is off to Budapest soon and asked me if I had ever been... to which I replied "YES!!!" and got all excited! Back when I was 18 (you're going to have to re-wind a few years here(!!!), I hope you don't mind) I did an inter-railing-Euro-trip in my GAP year, travelling to 15 different European cities across 9 different countries. I had some of the best times of my life on that trip, it was incredible. I'd never realised just how vastly different each European country is - and each city too! Each city was a total surprise. Reliving some of my memories inspired me to do a ~~very~~ belated travel post on Budapest, one of my favourite cities from the trip. This is for you, Kat, I hope it gives you some travel inspiration! xx

We arrived into Budapest by train, after having been in Poland for nearly a week. If you've ever been to Warsaw you may agree with me when I say that it's a rather bleak city. Don't get me wrong - I loved Poland in general, especially Krakow which is unbelievably beautiful but Warsaw wasn't my cup of tea at all. It felt like a lot of the architecture hadn't changed since World War II and for some reason it just felt rather grey and depressing. Obviously this is a personal opinion... and I'm sure there are parts of the city we didn't discover. Never the less, our experience in Warsaw made me somewhat negative about Eastern Europe. These were places I had never been before and I guess I was foolish to assume that they would all be alike.

And so my expectations of Budapest were not particularly high. Infact, I'll be honest in saying that I was a teeny bit frightened about arriving into Budapest. It was one of the furthest places from home we were travelling to and one of the few places we were going where you couldn't rely on people knowing English. And as for the currency, the Hungarian Forint, well that was a whole different ball game! To put it simply I was worried about feeling very foreign. But, as soon as we arrived, all of my worries and negative expectations were totally overridden because I was overwhelmed and awestruck by how incredibly beautiful and regal-looking the city is. Budapest is stunning!

We checked into our hostel and got settled. Of course, like any other European city, Budapest has some gorgeous hotels but as we were backpacking on a tight budget, we chose to stay in hostels. {If you're someone who hasn't done much travelling, the word 'hostel' may instantly fill you with dread but it really needn't. Hostels have improved vastly over the past thirty years or so and most are super good value, offering all of the amenities that a cheap hotel would such as wifi, breakfast, towels etc. We stayed in some bloody fantastic hostels on our Euro trip!} Our hostel in Budapest was called Home Made Hostel and was exactly what it said on the tin: home made! It is located very centrally, on one of Budapest's main streets, a few minutes from Oktogon metro station. It was really convenient being within easy walking distance from all of the city's major attractions and sights. The hostel itself is situated in a large, grand, historic building and has been decorated rustically, with old, second-hand furniture, large patterned rugs, comfy sofas and grand stairwells. It had a very vintage feel to it but because it was quite small it also felt really cosy. Our room was pretty quirky, with furniture hanging off the walls... quite bizarre, but it definitely made for an unforgettable experience! Anyway, I won't go into much more detail about the hostel, but I'd thoroughly recommend it if you're looking for somewhere pretty basic to stay in Budapest - it's won several awards and has some good reviews online.

It was then time to EXPLORE!!

We headed straight to the River Danube, aka "The International Waterway", which runs right through the centre of the city and flows out as far as Ukraine, Germany and Austria. Budapest used to be two cities: Buda, on the west side of the river and Pest on the east. It wasn't until 1873 that these two cities unified. There's some interesting history for you! Anyway, the river is basically like a massive version of the River Thames. Most of Budapest's main sights are situated alongside the river. I couldn't believe how vast the river was which sounds rather weird I know, but it is so wide and impressive. You can pay to go on various river cruises and night walking tours alongside the river. Being typical backpackers on a tight budget we sat and ate strawberries in the Spring sunshine, watching the boats go by and soaking up the atmosphere.

{Wow, I look young!}

From here we walked over the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, as pictured above, (one of the city's most famous bridges crossing the Danube). The walk across offered great views across the city. Once we reached the other side, we then began the climb up to Castle Hill, where Buda Castle is situated, as well as The Royal Palace, The Budapest History Museum and the National Library. If you don't fancy the steep walk up, you can pay a small fee to take the Funicular, which is a small tram which takes about three minutes or so to ascend to Castle Hill.

I'd thoroughly recommend walking though - there's something so special about walking around European cities and the architecture in Budapest is spectacular; a mixture of Baroque, Neoclassical and Art Nouveau. It felt like everywhere we went, we'd spot another impressive building! I couldn't help but have my dad's voice inside my head... "crikey, isn't that magnificent?!" Haha. If you're into old, grand buildings, Budapest will not disappoint.

The walk up to Castle Hill was stunning. It is one of Budapest's gems for sure. Steep, medieval cobbled streets allowed us to get higher and higher above with each step, offering the most fantastic views across the Danube and the city. Lots of photo opportunities!

Such tranquil, beautiful views. Budapest is so romantic.

When we were finally at the top, we were wowed once again by the beautiful medieval architecture. I'm no expert in European history so I won't bore you and pretend that I know much about it but I will happily admit that I was really struck by the intricate, medieval stonework and all the castle turrets. It was like something out of a fairy tale.

It was the sort of place you could spend ages walking around with little agenda, just admiring the surroundings and the views. Within the castle complex, there were Hungarian men dressed in medieval attire, holding birds of prey so you could get your typical touristy photos!

We then reached Buda Castle, once home to various Hungarian Kings. This 13th century palace was destroyed by fire during the second world war and was rebuilt, very majestically of course, and is now one of Budapest's most iconic spots. If you're walking along the River Danube at night you can see it all lit up, high up on the horizon.

After a full on afternoon of walking, we were knackered and headed back to the hostel for some dinner and a good sleep. One thing I wont attempt to rave about is Hungarian food. I've no doubt that if you're willing to spend a load of money on eating out in fancy restaurants, then Budapest will feed you well. But as I've mentioned before, we were on backpackers budgets. A lot of the food was a little bit stodgy for my liking... typical Eastern European dumplings and meat dishes which really isn't to my taste and I was vegetarian at the time which made things even harder. I think we ended up eating chips in Burger King a couple of times out of pure desperation!!! Gosh I'd never do that now haha. That's backpacking for you I guess!

The next morning we headed straight back out for another day of sightseeing. After a breakfast of yummy pastries we decided to visit the famous parliament building {or the 'Orszaghaz' I should say!} which just so happens to be the second biggest parliament in the world. You can't really go to Budapest and not visit it, I guess it would be like going to London and not getting a photo beside Big Ben... it would be a bit crazy, right?! The exterior of the building is incredible and is a spectacle in itself. We opted not to take the tours inside, but they have great reviews and are apparently very well organised.

Budapest is sometimes referred to as 'The City of Spas' as there are more thermal water springs in Budapest than anywhere else in the world. It's like a huge version of Bath, Somerset! For years, Budapest has been renowned for it's grand, public thermal baths which are very popular with the locals and of course, the tourists.

We chose to visit the Széchenyi Baths, which just so happens to be one of the largest spa complexes in Europe, with 15 indoor baths and 3 outdoor pools. You can also opt to purchase additional treatments such as massages etc. We'd heard nothing but good things and we were super impressed. It was amazing! The baths were absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed the most relaxing evening, swimming in the warm pools as it got dark.