Budapest, Hungary

Boat tour!

I hit the ground running in Budapest, arriving around 8 pm and, upon arrival at my hostel, being greeted with something like "There's a boat tour with drinks leaving in 5 minutes, you should come!" How could I say no to that? So they walked us down to the river, stopping at a couple hostels on the way to pick up more people, and then we got on a beautiful yacht which took us up and down the Danube for a couple of hours. It was really a unique introduction to Budapest, as all of the buildings were so beautiful lit up on the river in the evening.

Parliament

I made friends!

For my only full day in Budapest, I decided it was best to take a walking tour and hit all the main sights and learn a little about the city. If you didn't know (I didn't), the name Budapest comes from the 1800s when the town on one side of the river (Buda) was united with the town on the other side (Pest). We saw the main sights on the Pest side (where I was staying and the majority of things are happening) and then crossed the famous chain bridge to the Buda side which is a little more historic. The church on that side was my favorite building because of the brightly colored ceramic tiles and their pattern along the rooftop of the church.

Famous 1st bridge to connect both sides of the river 

Buda from the Pest side

Pest from the Buda side

Church in Buda

I loved these tiles

The tour lasted a good 3 hours, and we ended on the Buda side, so by the time I looked around more and made my was back to Pest it was mid afternoon. I stopped and got a beef stew for lunch, as our tour guide said any type of stew is a typical Hungarian dish (it was yummy).

Fisherman's warf - Buda

Check out Pest behind me

Architecture in Buda

Some nice beef soup

In the afternoon I just spent a little more time wandering. I made it up to this large park with a museum that's part of an old building that essentially resembles a castle. I didn't go in the museum but walking around the exterior was certainly interesting.

I loved this architecture

My second evening I went out on another hostel sponsored event to an open mic night. Again, it was really fun and I was able to hear some really good (and not so good) local and foreign talent. I purposely tried to stay in more social hostels over the course of my trip so that I could meet more people, and it certainly worked out well in Budapest. I met so many really cool and interesting travelers (even some Argentinians who let me speak Spanish with them) and I wouldn't have changed any of it! Next stop: Bratislava, Slovakia.