There are certain places in the world I’ve visited and lost my heart to, even after a very short visit. Until recently the most instant city love affairs have been with Amsterdam, Stockholm and Barcelona, I’ve come away from these places saying I want to live there. After our first time in Barcelona JF and I seriously considered what we’d have to do to move there including learning Catalan. It didn’t happen, but that’s not to say it won’t…never say never. Now though I have a new place on the list: I’ve fallen head over heals in love with Budapest. After only 24 hours in this beautiful, vibrant city I know it has so much to give to me and I want to devour it!
But for now I’ve only got those 24 hours’ experience to go on so here’s a small introduction to why I fell in love. While on holiday in Vienna we decided to pop over to Budapest, because we could. Simple as that! I’ll never tire of visiting new places and hopefully I’m instilling this in my boys, who age 8 and 14 still happily sightsee with us. We were doing a houseswap in Vienna so accommodation was free and when I realised Budapest was only 3 hours’ drive away we decided to go for the weekend.
We booked an apartment in the heart of the city arriving at lunchtime. Living in the countryside as we do (and living with 3 boys who couldn’t give a damn about shopping) I was delighted to find our place was right next to a shopping centre. Ironically it was the boys who ended up benefitting from this as they got new shoes – much cheaper than in France – rather than me! But this isn’t about shopping in Budapest, it’s about walking and taking the metros and trams, and eating the cakes and drinking coffee, it’s about indulging in hearty meaty dishes washed down with enormous beers. It’s about getting lost in the side streets after exploring the more well-known sights and it’s most definitely about luxuriating in the fabulously ornate thermal baths that Budapest is so famous for.
Our first day was overcast with threatening rain but with so little time we knew we had to get out exploring straight away. First things first – metro tickets. We’d read that Budapest has the most extensive public transport system of any European city and being the country bumpkins that we are we love trying out new metros and tram systems. So we headed directly to the nearest metro station and negotiated the minefield that is communicating in Hungarian!
I don’t think I’ve been anywhere, or not in a very long time, perhaps the last time was Mongolia and Finland in 1994, where I didn’t have a single word of vocabulary. I speak a smattering (a really tiny smattering but some words nonetheless) of Russian, Czech and Bulgarian so even if I can’t understand much, when in Slavic countries I can pick out numbers, know how to say the basics like hello, thank you etc. Nearly everyone knows a couple of Arabic words, don’t they? Shukran and inshallah were 2 words I used and understood in Morocco and Tunisia in recent years…Living in Europe I just know some Italian, Spanish and Portuguese words, even some Greek and Turkish. I learnt German at school and there are enough similar words in Dutch to understand a bit of that too. I can say a few words in Hindi, Mandarin, Bahasa, Thai and still remember a fair bit of Vietnamese…I can count and say “I love you” in Icelandic (who knows this might come in handy this summer when we go to Iceland!) and understand a wincy bit of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian…you get the picture, but Hungarian…? Not a word! Nothing, ничего, nada, nichts, rien! But I digress un peu so after a lot of miming, pointing and smiling we got 24 hour all-transport passes for around 3€ (if I remember well) and realised we needed to find out fast how to say thank you (as a bare minimum).
The Metro reminded me of the years I spent in Prague in the early 1980s, and so did other elements of Budapest, particularly the trams. I have such precious and unique memories from living behind the Iron Curtain as a Western teenager, that it was inevitable I’d fall for Budapest even before I’d really started. But it wasn’t just nostalgia that charmed me.
Budapest is a beautiful city with no less than 5 UNESCO World Heritage sites, straddling the mighty Danube, with the ancient city of Buda on one side and the more recent Pest on the other. Physically you can’t help but love it though it was still so much more than nostalgia and architecture… In the short 24 hours we were there I fell under the spell of its cafés, restaurants, street food and its (almost) unique ruin bars. And as already mentioned we all completely adored the thermal baths. For my family our morning spent luxuriating in jacuzzis, saunas and whirlpools, hopping between icy waters and piping hot tubs, lounging in the soft spring sunshine in an outdoor pool naturally heated to 38°c was the icing on the cake.
So there you have it; some of the reasons I fell in love and I’ll continue with details of our Budapest sojourn in another post. Please be sure to check back here to read about what we saw and what we did, what we ate and where we bathed. Oh and by the way, we found out how to say “thank you” – köszönöm, obvious huh?
Have you been to Budapest? What were your impressions?
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I only had 24h in Budapest myself when I visited while Interrailing and have wanted to go back since. It narrowly lost out to Ljubljana earlier this year.. so maybe next year? Your post is tempting me even more. Thanks for joining up with #citytripping
I have really fond memories of Budapest so you have taken me right back! My friend and I nipped across from Prague and found it a relaxed and fascinating city to visit – we thoroughly enjoyed it…although have to say I didn’t love the food. I’m very impressed with your language skills Phoebe! Thanks for linking to #citytripping
Thank you Rebecca!
You should Lisa, it’s family friendly and ever so beautiful. All kids will love the baths!
That sounds like a good travel anecdote now, some time after the event though I guess at the time it was awkward! Hungarian really is a hard language!
I was quite taken with Budapest too – pre-kid days for me. I travelled with one of my house mates only to discover the awkwardness of not understanding a word that was explained to us at the communal baths and being given one shared change room (he was male…) but some fascinating and beautiful architecture, crisp clear days, yep loved it #citytripping
Budapest looks and sounds amazing! It has never been a place I have considered for a city break but I would now:) #CityTripping
I’ve never been but have it on my list – my sister has been and loved it. Your photos are brilliant #citytripping
-6° is too cold! But I bet it was beautiful in winter too. All the more reason to eat goulash and go to the thermal baths!
We have just revisited Budapest and I agree with you Phoebe it is a place to fall in love with. But by golly it can get cold there. -6 when we visited. Good excuse to buy fake fur hats!
The baths look great & I love the architecture – so grandiose! Like I said, I really need to get to Budapest soon, I’m clearly missing out 🙂
Thanks Frank, I’m getting more at ease with posting photos of them on the blog.
ha ha very clever Richard
Everything I’ve heard from everyone is that Budapest is amazing – can’t wait to experience it for myself! Thanks for linking up to the #SundayTraveler!
My husband’s been to Budapest and really liked it. We’re yet to go as a family though so it’s nice to read what you thought of the city
Ahhhhhh what fun. I was there during cold weather, but this looks way cooler! Thanks for linking up with #SundayTraveler
I agree – beautifully written. But surely you did have one word? Goulash!
Lovely post, Phoebe! Trully enjoyed reading it. Your boys are adorable (I think it’s the first time I’ve seen their photos on your blog). Seems like you really had a great family time in Budapest.
Beautifully written and what a lovely city it is! I have not been to Budapest but intend to visit it soon.
Yay, I’m so glad you loved Budapest. I agree that Hungarian is pretty impossible. Even learning it for a year, I barely made any headway. The only language it is somewhat close to is Finnish, and even that is a distant relative. You can shorten köszönöm to just köszi as well so it’s not as formal. Hopefully next time you visit, I’ll be there!
Budapest looks like such a fun, beautiful, and vibrant city! I’m so glad to hear that people like it so much. I can’t wait to get there myself this summer! I’m worried about not knowing ANY words in Hungarian too… I guess I better at least learn “thank you” and how to get metro tickets! 🙂
Oh that looks ace. It is somewhere I have never been
A beautiful city, how I would love to experience a thermal bath 🙂
Ah, so you are one of us who left our hearts in Budapest! I’ve got bitten by the “bug” so bad that I ended up by buying an apartment there ! Love your post.
I love Budapest too. You made me travel back in time to my first visit there, and how much I loved it. Thanks!
Thanks Dave, I’m actually guilty of not liking Tokaj but we found other wines that I liked very much!
Great recap of Budapest! I went there several years ago and had the same sentiments as you. Such fantastic food, sights & people. I loved all of the paprika flavoring and made sure to enjoy a glass of Tokaj wine at the end of each dinner while there.
szà Âvesen! (That’s what Google translate tells me “you’re welcome” is! I hope it’s right.)
I’m glad to have inspiored you Debbie! Thanks for your kind words.
🙂
Thanks Catherine too!
Thanks Jenny, you make me happy 🙂
Budapest is on my ten places to go before I’m fifty list, these photographs capture it beautifully and I am so jealous! köszönöm for a great post!
It is so beautiful! It reminds me a little bit of Italy with all those lovely buildings. I would never have thought to visit before but might add this to my bucket list!!
Oh my look at all the beautiful buildings, I can see why it is easy to fall in love with the place.
Wow. It’s so beautiful and definitely makes me want to visit
I have never thought about travelling to Budapest… but after this post there is definitely going to be a pin going in our world map of places we must visit! And yes, completely with Catherine and Jenny- such a well expressed post.
What stunning pictures! I would love to visit x
I agree with Jenny. Yes I have been to Budapest a long time ago, in the eighties. Even then the food was delicious and of course the city was very beautiful.
You write beautifully making me want to find out more, and the photos are lovely.