Day 25 – Tuesday 2nd June

Another good exercise stretch at nearly 10,000 steps. Today was our last day in beautiful Budapest, so we decided to go hard and maximise the use of our 72 hour metro card.

After a lazy start we headed into the city, taking metros to the end of a line T2 past and to the stunning Parliament House near Margaret bridge and island. Whilst I was taking photos, Vern was approached by Indian-Asian (or Pakistani) looking senior couple with native English accents. The conversation was warm and friendly and around transportation, of which Vern was dutifully considered an expert and very brave. Perhaps he should get commission for selling the ‘cards’.

Onwards, we enjoyed a close up view of the Parliament House which is very grand, even in the day light. It is also surrounded by other beautiful buildings that seem the norm in this enchanting city. From the huge statues to the details on figures and wrought iron work we are captivated at every block or square. More and more we are thinking that we would like to come back here and then move on to other smaller towns. Not only are the older buildings grand, the modern art and museums are equally as clever and interesting.

Not far from the museum is the ‘shoe memorial’. It was created to commemorate the shooting of thousands of Jews (and others) including women and babies in 1944-1945 by the fascist Hungarian Arrow cross political party. Victims were rounded up, told to stand by the Danube and face their assassins, were shot, and their bodies fell into the river. Sometimes they tied two together, but shot one, so then the dead person’s weight dragged the other into the freezing Danube and drowned the other person. There is conflicting information about how many were executed, with numbers ranging from 3,500 to 20,000. Simply horrid to think of it regardless how many and a touching memorial.

After the memorial the next stop on our list was the Time out Markets for lunch. It is a similar concept to what we enjoyed in Portugal where notable restaurants have stands in a food hall, and you choose what you want from the stands and can graze courses at your pleasure. Eating is at communal type table arrangements in the centre.

We chose a classic chicken paprika dish with bohemian bread, and a bean, pork and egg casserole. Both were delicious, I think the chicken was sous vide first then finished in pan. I can definitely taste the difference in Hungarian paprika – so nice and flavoursome with no bitterness.

The building is a former ‘palace’ that has been restored beautifully in semi modern finish including very nice clean rest rooms! My kind of place.

Feeling very satisfied we headed back home to rest up and consider if we fit anything else into our day. Our ticket had expired by this stage, so we accepted getting a single ticket somewhere if need be. Following a rest I made the call to go for a soak at the thermal baths.

As mentioned it was debated and at the end of the day I was keen to experience the medicinal properties in the historic spa and leave Budapest with no regrets. Both of us were very happy with the decision and after a short metro, we spent 2 hours pool hopping and totally relaxing. Was it worth the $70 entry fee each? If you love the water, and relaxing then this is a suck it up and just do it. We were very pleased we went.

It was 8pm by the time we emerged into the park with relaxed muscles and low but happy energy. There is also an old castle nearby in the park so we detoured past this on our way back to Paprika for our final meal.

The Budapest castle is reported to have inspired the Dracula castle and myth. It is beautiful and the grounds around it equally so. It seemed wonderfully nuts to have this tranquil historic scenery in the middle of a city. Instead you would expect to see it in the country or along the river somewhere.

Onwards our lax legs took us, past the ethnological museum with its cleaver rooftop gardens to our final meal, where we ordered the correct goose leg topped with foie gras this time! We added a soup – classic chicken and vegetable and both were top class. I really missed being able to share this with my mum and dad, as they would have been delighted to hear about our goose dinner, complete with red cabbage and washed down with plenty of good beer.

It was dark again by the time we emerged to make a very slow walk home. Both our legs were tired but we had no easy option on transport, so walk we did trying not to think of the effort each step took. On the way we noticed a covered garden courtyard part of a restaurant where they had just build around a HUGE tree. It brought a smile to our faces, wondering how old must it be?

Our closing thoughts on Budapest is that we have loved it, and could easily spend more time here. Perhaps we will come back to Hungary and venture into the country?