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| Budapest Train Station |
Another thing that I love about Europe is their train
system. What an easy way to travel! You can get anywhere by train for a pretty
reasonable price. We took the train from
Prague to Budapest and it was such a smooth process. We only bought our train tickets the day
before and we could pick and choose what time we wanted to leave as there were
about 3 different train times during the day. I don't always suggest purchasing your tickets last minute like this. It does vary by what line your travelling, especially during peak season like the summer, but it worked out well for this trip and the time of year.
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| Prague Train Station |
We decided to head out late morning which worked out quite well. It was a 7 hour train ride from Prague to Budapest
but it went by very quickly. As
long as you have a good book or a good chatting buddy, you’re good to go. I would however recommend that you bring
snacks with you. The food they offered was
pretty limited (mainly chocolate bars) so
you may want to bring something a little more substantial. We were starving once we arrived in Budapest
and quickly bought the first bag of chips we could see at the station to
satisfy our growling bellies. Also a
good tip is to try and pack as lightly as possible when doing train
travel. I, of course, had a massive bag
with me which made it interesting to find a place to store on some of the
trains. It all ended up working out but
I would have preferred if I had a smaller suitecase or backpack for the train
travel. I wasn't
the only one with a
large suite case but I think the Europeans were looking at me like I was an
idiot for packing so much. You would
think that I would learn how to pack lighter with all the travelling
that I’ve
done. But nooo…I just don’t seem to
learn. I do have to say that it is a lot
easier to pack a smaller suite case when travelling to a hot destination. I blame it all on the bulky sweaters that I
had to bring! I am however very glad that
I did bring them all because it was so freaking cold!
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| Our cute "little" room in the Cosmopolitan Hotel |
We arrived at our hotel in Budapest after a cab ride from
the train station. Our hotel, The Cosmopolitan Fashion Hotel, was in a
great spot but the entrance was off a side street which we weren’t
expecting. The hotel is definitely on
the basic side and kind of had a "very nice hostel" feel to it. We got to our room and opened the door and we
were not sure if we should laugh or cry.
The room was sooo tiny that we could barely fit our luggage in it. I spent about 5 mins in it and finally said
“this is ridiculous” and then made my way to the front desk to ask if there is
a larger room. Unfortunately there
wasn’t. We were late to arrive that day
and all of the other rooms were occupied.
So we had to stick it out in the tiny space. We did notice that there were some larger
rooms but I guess it’s just the luck of the draw to when you check is as all
of the rooms are the same price. The
price was definitely right though. It
was well under $100 so you couldn't
beat that.
We knew that we weren’t going to be spending much time in our room so
spending a pretty penny on a fancy hotel was not a priority for us on this leg of the trip. Other than the size of the room,
the hotel was good. It was clean and the
décor was funky with pink and purple accents.
The room definitely had “character” which is what we were going for. It was your no frills hotel,
cheap and cheerful, with a clean place to hang your hat. So all in all, we were content.
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| On the Hop On Hop Off Bus with our styling headsets |
In Budapest we did the hop on hop off bus tour and it worked out
quite well for us because when we bought the pass, you got a second day for
free. It really allowed for us to get to
various parts of the city that we probably wouldn’t have made it to if we were to
go around and explore it on our own. It
was money well spent! We did see some
pretty amazing sights. It’s just unfortunate that there was not an ray of sunlight
that came through the clouds. Even with no
sun we still managed to have fun!
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| Heroes Square & the Millennial Monument |
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| Vajdahunyad Castle (there's a tongue twister for ya!) |
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| Vajdahunyad Castle
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I just couldn't take enough pictures of this place. Such a beautiful place in a great setting in City Park
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| Vajdahunyad Castle |
On the Buda side, you'll find Castle Hill where you will see...well...castles (hehe) and the likes. It's also a great place to capture some amazing views of the Pest side.
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| Matthias Church |
This was actually a pretty cool church. It was originally built in the early Gothic style but it was constantly being rebuilt to enlarge it and was eventually built in the Neo-Gothic style.
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| Inside Matthias Church |
I love the above photo! One of the many stunning stained glass windows in the Matthias Church.
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| Fisherman's Bastion |
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| Fisherman's Bastion |
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| Fisherman's Bastion |
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| The Royal Palace |
The Royal Palace is home to the Hungarian National Gallery (which we went to). We somehow passed as students (bless them!) and we got into the gallery for free!
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| In front of the Royal Palace with great views of Pest behind us |
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| View of Budapest from the Citadell |
I am a sucker for desserts and this seemed to be a dessert/snack that we found all over Budapest. This is me before I demolish my Kurto Kalacs - chimney cake covered in cinnamon and sugar. Yummy, warm, doughnut like goodness.
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| The Christmas market at dusk |
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| St. Stephen's Basilica & Square |
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| A view down the street of St. Stephen's Basilica |
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| The Chain Bridge |
We were lucky enough to catch the first couple of days of
the Christmas market while we were there.
We were both very excited as Christmas is one of our
favourite times of the year. All of the
decorations, scents, lights etc...Europeans just make it so magical. At the markets, you'll find local artizans
selling handmade everything. From jewellery
, pottery, food, toys, decorations and there is so much to see and
buy. I would have to say that the most popular places
were the food and schnapps stalls. Every
type of meat and sausage you could think of and pretty much every flavour of
schnapps. Mulled wine was also the
popular thing to consume while walking through the market. Oh and you can’t forget the various bakeries
that were there. The first purchase that
we made at the market was strudel! Quite
yummy! I had a sour cherry strudel and
it was to die for.
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| The 1st weekend of the Christmas Market in Budapest. |
Lots of different hand made items to see and may different traditional dishes to sample
Look at this stall packed with beautiful wreaths and garland made of oranges and limes. They had such a lovely clove scent. If Christmas had a scent, this would be it!
Another fun thing that we stumbled upon was the Budapest Ice
Bar. It was about 20 steps from our
hotel and we only found on our last night there. It was a totally fun and a great little way
to end our stay in Budapest.
If you do find yourself in Budapest, definitely check out
the Four Seasons hotel while you are there.
Absolutely stunning! What a way
to spoil yourself for a night or two stay.
Lovely!
If My Passport Could Talk...
"Another beautiful European country down...Bring on the river cruise!"
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