day seventeen . 17 may

budapest, hungary

not knowing much of a place prior to coming has its advantages. for one, there are no expectations. which means no chance of being disappointed. and that was what budapest was for me.

coming from prague – a little jaded and perhaps, cynical, all I thought of hungary’s capital was a place for us to visit before heading over to greece. but wrong was i, for this place is no wallflower. its unique charm captivated me from the very moment i laid eyes on the parliament house, which i later discovered, is one of the most beautiful places in the city.

parliament house

budapest is actually made up of 2 parts. the hilly buda side lies on the left of the danube river which runs through the entire city. it is where the castle, fisherman bastion and gellert hill is found. less populated, it reflects the city’s history and all things old. on the right of the river, you find the flat land of pest. pest is the heart of the city, where you find buildings and shopping streets, all things young and new.

hilly buda

our hostel is a cozy apartment tucked away in the corner of balassi street, right next to the parliament. upon arrival, we were greeted warmly by the owner, andrew, who also happens to be a hungarian literature teacher at a local elementary school. he made us feel at home almost immediately, serving us tea and spending almost an hour telling us where to go and what to do in budapest. his love for the city got us all excited and ready to go.

our cozy hostel room (:

however, it was also his kind warning that made us realize that we might experience visa entry problems at some of the non-EU eastern european countries. this led us to spending the rest of the morning calling up embassies and finding alternative routes. we found out that entry into macedonia requires a visa, and that got us worried. in the end, we decided on taking a train to sofia, bulgaria and find a connecting train to thessaloniki, greece, when we are there, as greece train system was not covered under the DB website, and we could not buy the tickets in hungary.

by the time we finally got our butts out of the hostel, it was already close to 2pm (we arrived in the hostel at around 8ish) we walked along the famous danube river and went on the shopping street, vaci utca, where we saw performances and weekend market stalls.

weekend concert

the streets, instead of being filled with tourists, were littered with locals just hanging out on a sunny saturday afternoon. the whole atmosphere of the place was just perfect, and a refreshing change from the busy and body-packed streets of praha. (ok. I shall stop bitching)

at the end of the street, we arrived in the grand market hall, a two-storey market which reminds me very much of the upgraded version of chinatown market. on the 1st floor, you can find stalls selling food products such as spices, meat, bread and the 2nd floor, shops selling sovenirs and quick bites. it resembles the hamburg fish market in terms of its architecture and the general feel, with high and well-ventilated roofs, giving the place a roomy feeling, especially when the sunlight shines in from the panels in the ceiling.

grand market hall

hungary's greatest export - paprika!

a pity by the time we got there, it was close to 3pm and almost everything was closed. we established contact with david via a public phone and when he found us eventually, it was so nice to see him again! huifen commented that he looks different – cleaner and more well-groomed. well, it is only later that we discovered the reason for that. he’s got himself a girlfriend!

anyways, we agreed on meeting at 6pm to go over to his place where his gf wants to cook for us (awwww…)

so we walked down to the national museum, where there was a weekend flea market behind the museum and a stage in front with live band performances (how perfect can a place get? Ha)

outside the national musuem

imagine a flea market NOT for tourist. it was stripped off of all pretenses. so yes. no fridge magnets, picturesque postcards, or other cheesy sovenuirs. instead, you get unpretentious stalls selling 1st day stamps, local pastries, traditional hungarian costumes for kids and quirky ornaments for homes.

one particular stall in the corner had a guy taking photographs using the old school camera and developing them on the spot, so customers can pay to have their picture taken and bring home the photos.

On a grassy patch to the right of the museum, there was a mini show for kids going on, and all the children were given paper helmet and swords which they could use to battle against one another.

we bought ourselves a coke and just sat on the steps outside the entrance to watch the performance. turned out the museum was free for the day, so we just popped in for a while to take a quick look.

as we walked on, we got to see the famous great synagogue, which is the largest in europe and 2nd largest synagogue in the world. it was indeed a sight to behold from the outside. the intricate design of the holy place was a sharp contrast to the dilapidated backdrop of the neighbourhood it resided in.

world's 2nd largest synagogue

david stays at a HUGE apartment with 30 other students from his school. the building is so old that it would have probably been en bloc 20 years ago, if it had been in singapore. but i somehow found the façade of the building very captivating.

that night, he and his girlfriend made leuta for us. we also found out that his roommate, thomas, will be going over to nus for exchange in spring next year. he knows some smu people as he was over in whu last semester.

dinner was very very good. A simple dish of tomatos, parprikas, sausages, add in a dash of parprika powder, and you get authentic hungarian fare which is really satisfying.

preparing for dinner!

david's gf, david and thomas!

hungarian food!

despite having examinations the following week, david still took time off to bring us up the citadell that night.

posh hotel we saw on our way up the citadel

although it was a pity that the cave museum was not open that night, the view from the top of gellert hill was already worth the climb. the night view of budapest from the hilly buda was a sight to behold. easily one of the most beautiful night view i have seen to far. the climb was similar to that of the fort canning.