Budapest

When traveling with dad a nice hotel is usually just around the corner and in this case a castle. Okay, so that may be a bit of an exaggeration since our hotel was built in and around the remains of an old 17th century Gothic chapel. This chapel, now the Hilton hotel, sits at the top of Castle Hill and is surrounded by the old castles walls. So the way I see it, I stayed in what felt like a castle and it was luxurious. We spent six days in Budapest visiting its main sights as well as driving to a few cities outside of Budapest.

Budapest is quite large and is divided up into two sides Buda and Pest and in between them is the Danube River. Since the weather was nice we thought a boat cruise down the river would be a good way to get our bearings and learn more about the city. After about an hour we stopped at Margit Island and took a stroll through this amazing car free park. Margit Island is named after King Bela IV’s daughter who became a nun after the King won his battle against the Mongols invasion in
1241. The King vowed to make his daughter a nun if God would help him defeat this battle. They of course came out undefeated and the King sent his daughter to this island where once sat a convent. The island is named after her and is now a big park for visitors and Hungarians to escape from the city and relax.

Although the boat cruise was nice there was still so much more to see so we joined a guided walking tour and explored the city sites. First stop, Heroes’ Square where 14 of Hungary’s most prominent figures stand. Just behind the square is Millenaris Park and from here we walked to Hungary’s Opera House, which is supposed to have the best acoustics ever. A walk through the Parliament building is a must and then of course we had to visit St. Stephen’s Basilica. St. Stephen is Hungary’s first King who was given his title and crown by the Roman Pope in exchange for converting his country to Roman Catholic. After our grand tour of Pest we hopped on a bus and head to visit Buda. Buda is most famous for its view of Pest, the skyline that will never change since a law was written that nothing can be taller then the Parliament and St. Stephen’s Basilica. After admiring the beautiful skyline we then walked the short distance back to our castle (hotel).

As I mentioned earlier we did do a small bit of sight seeing around Hungary. One day we drove to the town of Eger where we toured Eger Castle and wine tasted at the Valley of Beautiful Women. The castle was average but the wine was excellent. Eger produces a lot of Hungary’s red wines and in this valley sits roughly 200 cellars. Most of the cellars are all in a row so we simply went from one cellar to the next. Well not exactly, we only wine tasted at three of them but did walk away with eight bottles of wine. Another day we drove up and around the Danube Bend stopping in Szentendre and Esztergrom. Szentendre is a small town and there isn’t much to see but it was a nice break to stretch our legs. We simply walked around the town and along the river before we got back into our car and headed to St. Stephen’s birthplace, Esztergrom. Esztergrom is the birthplace of St. King Stephen, as well as, the first Royal Court of Hungary and Hungary’s largest cathedral. This neoclassical cathedral was built in the 11th century and is massive. It dominates the whole town and quite honestly is a bit excessive and goofy looking in comparison to the rest of town but hey, they are proud of it. Across the river from Esztergrom is the country of Slovakia and before realizing it we drove across Maria Valeria Bridge and saw a sign welcoming us to Slovakia. Completely shocked, we did a little drive around town, took pictures of Esztergrom and then drove back over the bridge to Hungary and head back to Budapest.