Hungary: A city break in Budapest

Last summer we headed to Budapest for three nights. Which was more than enough time to have a fun city break in Hungary's capital city before we departed for Bratislava. Here's what we got up to:

What to do:
I've shared five fun things to do in Budapest already, but there's a lot more you can do. First up, on the west side of the Danube River - which is the Buda side - that's the castle district. So, yes, there's a castle there - Buda Castle - as well as Matthias Church, Sandor Palace and Fisherman's Bastion. From where you'll see a magnificent view back towards the Pest side of the city but, sticking to this side, make sure you take time to explore the Old Town. It's all rather architecturally stunning, I must say. (Even though when we were there a lot of it was under scaffolding for repairs!)

     

      

There is a funicular which takes you up to the castle district, but we did it a slightly different way and headed to the Citadella on Gellért Hill. Now, Google let us down here because despite it saying it was open, this was all shut for repairs and the Liberty Statue was not at all visible under scaffolding. But it is a good area to explore and from there you can walk back through the park to the castle district. My blogging wasn't as good back in 2010, but there's my post about this bit of Budapest here, if you're interested. And make sure you walk past down the statue of Saint Gerard Sagredo (Gellért in Hungarian) which is where the hill takes its name from.

    

On the Pest side there's the Hungarian Parliament Building - my favourite building in Budapest - as well as St Stephen's Basilica, Heroes' Square (under scaffolding), Vajdahunyad Castle, the Hungarian State Opera House and the Terror Museum. And you'll also find the ruin bars, Szechenyi Baths and Flipper Museum at this side of the river. Mooch and weave your way around Pest - and, yes, it's still architecturally stunning like the Buda side. 

   

I'm going to call out Vajdahunyad Castle, which was built to celebrate the 1000th birthday of the Hungarian state and has such a cool mish-mash of architecture. You'll find the famous Statue of Anonymous there where I messed up in 2010. Back on that trip I posed (see blog), but didn't realise that you need to touch his pen to get good luck of the writerly persuasion. I made sure I did that this time! There's also a super cute miniature sculpture of Dracula around the back of the castle which is worth hunting out - he's there because part of the castle's architecture inspiration hails from Transylvania.

    

City Park is worth a mooch as well, and you'll find in front of the Museum of Ethnography there's a cool landscaped bit of the park with a memorial for the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence, as well as seeng how the building itself blends into the park. We also found another memorial this side of the river by Liberty Square which is quite controversial as the Hungarian government now claim that the Nazis occupied Hungary during World War II when, in fact, they were an ally to them. Hungarians, rightly so, have called out that their government is falsifying history with that claim at the Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation. 

     

Finally, make sure you visit the Terror Museum. This is where the Arrow Cross Party (modelled on the Nazi party) had their HQ in World War II. Then after the war the AVH were there (similar vibe to the Soviet's KGB). Both did atrocious things in this building - and beyond its walls - from 1944 through to 1990. It's important to not forget the bad things that did happen in both World War II and the Cold War, especially when history is trying to be rewritten. 

Anything else?
I've shared where to eat already: Budapest is such a foodie city - and quite cheap! - so you're going to have a great time feasting. We stayed bed and breakfast at Callas House, which is right next to the Hungarian State Opera House so a very central location. Lots of walkable sights nearby, and when we did hop in an Uber/Bolt they cost around £3 to £6. x