Day 1 in Budapest
The view from our first night's apartment.
Our day was destined to be slightly fragmented and scattered. We began knowing that we needed to check out of our apartment by 11 am. We were only in it for a single night because we arrived so late into Budapest last night. We had booked an airbnb apartment closer to downtown and we just needed a stop gap apartment for one night. We arose took advantage of the free breakfast that came with our room.
This is where the fun began though. We had a decision of walking a little over a mile to a train station to put our luggage into storage lockers or keep it all with us until we could check in to our new apartment at 2. We originally decided on lockers but after a little time decided we didn't like the idea of walking a mile out of our way twice so we kept it all with us.
Inside Market Hall.
We proceeded to walk to Market Hall and to the waterfront. We spent an hour wandering through market hall and looking at all the meats, cheeses and fruits and vegetables.
Delectable looking fruits and vegetables.
I have to say that we're quite fond of markets, so spending time wandering the various stalls was quite enjoyable. We decided that we would be back the next day to grab some fruit and some bread. From Market Hall we walk straight up Vaci Utca until we hit Erzsebet Plaza. This was the time where we took about 20 minutes and just relaxed watching two bro's practice their liquor bottle tossing, kids playing soccer and a guy go in circles on a segway.
Kids playing soccer.
After getting into our airbnb and settling in for about a half hour we made our way to St. Stephen's Basilica where we walked through the interior and made our way up the stairs to the top of the dome.
Parliament from the top of St. Stephen's Basilica.
It was a hazy day and while you could see for quite a ways there was a slight fog or filter over the city. At a brisk 80 degrees it was still beautiful looking out over the city and being able to see all the different buildings.
Parliament.
Next up was Parliament by way of Liberty Square. We wandering around the outside of parliament, stopping sporadically for an orange or some water all while enjoying the architecture and spotless grounds. After Parliament we made our way down the waterfront to the Chain Bridge and across where we walked up and over until we were at Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion.
The Chain Bridge.
Both Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion are beautiful and fit together perfectly. The bastion is behind the church and lays out looking over the Budapest, giving you breathtaking views of the Chain Bridge, Parliament and St. Stephen's Basilica.
Parliament as seen from the Fisherman's Bastion.
From this view it looks as though parliament is a painting against a real city backdrop, it was quite remarkable.
From the Bastion we made our way down and found a small place for dinner by the waterfront. We all enjoying our dinner, perhaps quite a bit more than usual because we hadn't eaten in so long and had done a bit of walking by that point. After dinner we walked along the waterfront to the Chain Bridge and made our way slowly back to our apartment. In the end we walked a little over 12 miles and did a good chunk of what we had set out to do for the day but we now have much more to get to over the next two days.
Distance walked: 12.31 miles
The Chain Bridge at Night.
