Budapest
I have been wanting to go to Budapest for a while now, but it seems everyone has already gone there so I just kept it in the back of my mind. When my Mom was over recently we decided to go on a weekend trip, after a long slightly painfull search session; we could not decide on a UK destination and most flights were expensive I found a reasonable priced ticket to go to Budapest.
My mom did a lot of travelling when she was younger and Budapest was a place she was never able to go because as a South African citizen she was not able to enter Hungary (I can’t exactly find out why this is, but possibly because of Apartheid… further research is needed). So Friday after work we jetted off. We landed quite late so we just headed to our apartment and went to sleep so we could be bright and ready for the next 2 days.
my mom being my model for me - what a sport
Walking Tours have gotten really good these days, and you can find free walking tours almost anywhere you go. The tour we did was led by Hungarians which was great, we were filled with facts in the 2.5hrs we walked around the city. A city filled with so much history and the guides are passionate about this history which make them really interesting to listen too. The most simplest of things I did not know, that Budapest was once divided into 3 parts - Buda, Old Buda and Pest, and in 1872 they were united into one city. I’m just pretty glad they had names that made sense when you joined them... haha. We ended the tour at Fishermans Bastion, on the Buda side, also known as the Castle district where we took in the views of Pest over the Danube and had some gulyás soup to escape the cold.
I have never seen so many love locks
As the sun fell I was pretty glad to be in the castle district as it was all lit up and absolutely stunning. There was so much fog which was a pity as all photos onto the pest side would have an odd colour to the sky thanks to the light reflection.
On the way to the Jewish district to have dinner, we passed a cute little market down the street and if our feet weren’t so sore we probably would have eaten there, but now we had something to do on Sunday. After dinner and drinks I saw the time and asked Mom what time she thought it was to which she replied at least 10, possibly 10:30 which was when I laughed and explained it was only 8:30 – rock ‘n roll we are. Before heading back we stopped at a bar so Mom could get some Honey Palinka (a Hungarian spirit.. it was to cure Moms cold – obviously)
Fun Fact The world's largest panorama photograph was created in (and of) Budapest in 2010.
Sunday we woke to a great sunny day, and as we walked around we had to take all our layers off as we were not expecting it to be this warm. There was more walking to see the Houses of Parliament and walking along the Danube back we came across a memorial called the ‘shoes of the Danube’ which did not seem to be in our guide book but was quite a powerful memorial which was put up in 2005 It honors the Jews who were killed by militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away, often tied together to save on bullets. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank. It is quite a powerful image.
We then headed to the market where we had some potato pancakes and snapped up a Chimney cake covered in chocolate, which is just so delicious.
Unfortunately is was then off to the airport where we had to return to London after a wonderful trip.
0 comments:
Post a Comment