THE SWEET LIFE: Budapest, Hungary: Part 1

We ventured off to Budapest, Hungary on Mother's Day. Arriving in the late afternoon, we found ourselves in a nice apartment located right in the heart of the city, about a ten minute walk to the Chain Bridge and the second longest river in Europe, the Danube. That first evening, we set out and found a small market down the street where locals were selling souvenirs, food, and drinks.

Evening 1

We had a great apartment on the Pest side.

You can see the dome at St. Stephen's Cathedral

Great market where we got a small hand made dress for my Goddaughter and most importantly, sampled the local food and beer.

The boys posing with their souvenirs (small wooden puppets on springs)

Loved the small pizzas we had.

They were made in this wood burning stove

The beer in Budapest was very similar to Budweiser. The biggest and most ubiquitious beer was Dreher.

Loved the kurtoskalac cakes. They are like funnel cakes made by rolling over the open flame. It's a Transylvanian delicacy. They add vanilla or powdered sugar for extra flavoring.

View of Castle Hill from the Pest side of the River (which we stayed on). Budapest used to be two distinct cities, Buda on the side of the river with the Castle (pictured above) and Pest, which is a much more flat area. Up until the Chain Bridge was built, there were no ways to cross the river unless you took a boat. Eventually, the two cities merged becoming the city we now know as Budapest.

Day 2

In the morning of our second day, we walked about 15 minutes to a cafe that was highly recommended in our guide book. It was called Centrál Kávéház. What an elegant cafe to enjoy a nice breakfast & start our day in Budapest.

Nice canopy covered street

Centrál Kávéház

What a beautiful cafe....look at the medallion detail at the chandeliers.

We both chose the Hungarian breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs mixed with Hungarian sausage and a side plate of veggies. The coffee was strong and delicious.

Central bar

Gorgeous

With our 2nd cup of coffee, we ordered 2 Dobos cakes to share between the 4 of us. Hungary is well-known for their cakes and there were many to choose from. Dobos is a five-layer sponge cake that alternates between chocolate and buttercream layers and is topped with a hard layer of caramel.

Who can say no to this?

After a good hardy meal, we began our walking tour for the day.

View of Buda as we cross one of the many bridges.

Castle Hill

Danube River which is cresting now as I type this and causing flooding in much of Central and Eastern Europe.

View of Gellert Hill

(if we had more days, we would have enjoyed climbing to the top of this hill. There is a citadel on top.)

Beautifully detailed groin vault

Funicular up to Castle Hill

Cable Car

View of the Chain Bridge from the funicular

View toward Pest

Chain Bridge/Danube River

The stunning Gothic Revival Parliament Building

Located on the Pest side

The Chain Bridge

At the end of WWII in 1945, German troops blew up all the bridges in Budapest including the Chain Bridge. Nearly all of it was destroyed with only a few pillars remaining intact. Construction to rebuild the bridge began in 1947.

Habsburg Gate at Castle Hill

Archaeologists can date the earliest settlements in Budapest back to 500,000 BC. The Illyrians and Celts inhabited the land, followed by the Romans. The Romans stayed for a only a few centuries, but they built the first public baths. After the Romans, several tribes took over the land.

Around the 9th century, the Magyars arrived. These were the ancestors of the current Hungarians. The first king was a Magyar, St. Stephen.

In the 13th century, the Mongols invaded and destroyed Buda & Pest. They burned crops and are to blame for the massacre that killed so many of the people. When the leader of the Mongols died, they left to go back to Asia.

As a result of all the invasions, King Bela IV decided to build a fortress on Buda Hill. The Royal Palace on Castle Hill quickly developed by the king and his successors. It became a cultural center.

Later between the 16th and 17th centuries, the Turks invaded & occupied the palace and ruled Budapest for over a century. The Turks brought coffee to Budapest and also introduced paprika into many of the foods.

In the late 17th century, the Austrian Habsburgs took over the hill and ruled the land. This seige left the castle hill area in ruins. During the Habsburgs ruling, the castle hill area was rebuilt. WW2 again left it in ruins.

In 1949, the Communist took over Budapest, and in 1956 the people of Budapest rebelled against the communist dictatorship. Within days, the Soviet troops ended the rebellion. Thousands of people died, were executed or fled the land. Bullet scars from the 1956 rebellion can still be seen on the buildings.

From 1956-1989, the land was ruled by the Soviet leader, János Kádár. He was a loyal leader to the Soviet Union. However, his ruling was known as "goulash communism" because during his leadership he allowed much cultural and economic freedom. This was unheard of in many of the other Eastern European countries. As a result, Budapest felt a cultural and economic resurgence with small businesses booming in the 1980s.

The first free elections occurred in 1990 and the people elected a radical conservative government. By 1991, the Soviets had left Hungary. Hungary joined NATO in 1998 and has been a member of the EU since 2005.