Budapest Day Two

Today we awoke to a sunny day which would be good for sight seeing. Although it was still very cold with a high of 2 degrees today.

Firstly we headed towards the Dohány Street Synagogue which is nearly our hotel. We hopped a tram to save some walking, and were there within a about 10 minutes. Ths synagogue is a beautiful building, and tours were available with no long queues, so we paid for tickets and went inside. Within 10 minutes an English spoken tour began. It covered an introduction to the history of Jews, then specifically the history in Hungary and here in Budapest, including the Budapest Ghetto which is tragic beyond words, and then the history of how the synagogue fits into this history. Actually it is not just a single building, it is a collection of buildings joined with gardens and memorials. Our tour guide was very nice and explained things very well.

After this we had plans to visit Fishermans Bastion which is up on the hill on the other side of the river. To get there we had to walk to a particular bus, this route took us past many of the same Christmas Markets and streets we had seen last night. Once on the bus, we took the ride over the bridge and up the hill. I had done my homework and knew that the bus could drop us off at the top of the hill, or further down below the Fishermans Bastion which would require some uphill walking. Unfortunately even knowing this, I had us get off the wrong stop, at the bottom of some steps. Whoops.

The climb up there was 112 steps (I counted them) and my watch registered that as 8 flights of steps, about right I support. Once there, we were greeted with an amazing wall along which are long rows of arches that overlook the river.

Here we got our first view of the Hungarian Parliament building, a site to behold, very commanding overlooking the river.

Fisherman's Bastion is quite a large structure. There is a second wall above with better views of the river, you have to pay to enter there, the equivalent of NZ$5. I wanted to go up, and there was a person taking tickets, but no queue. A sign said to purchase tickets nearby, and there I saw a large queue, or buy them online via a QR Code. I took the quick option, grabbed my mobile phone and within minutes bought a ticket and entered. No queue for me!

Here's more photos from up top.

There were also Christmas Markets here and they were very busy. We went to find the bus to head down, but instead of going back the same way we caught the same bus in the same direction to see where it took us. It took us to a major tram / bus terminal and nearby was a MediaMarkt sign. MediaMarkt is a large consumer electronics chain a bit like our Noel Leeming but much larger stores. We'd first been introduced to them by my Dad when he was working in Kiel, Germany. We had visited that exact same store on our Baltic Sea cruise. Anyhow, we tried to find Media Markt but took a wrong turn and found a food market that sold fresh produce but also had lunch vendors.

We found a fish vendor so sat there, Helen had Fish & Chips while I had a filled roll and pastry from the shop next door. Fed, we continued to try to find MediaMarkt. It turns out the mall (Mammut) is huge and separated across two buildings with a connection across the street. We found a kitchen supplies shop and spent time in there.

We were booked for a 3pm river cruise and suddenly realised we need to make our way there so we aren't late. We left the mall and had to take two trams on the way. On this route we saw Parliament twice, once while crossing the river and then the second tram drove right past around the "other" side of the building (I don't know which is the front). We found our river boat in good time and sat until ready for boarding.

The cruise up and down the river took an hour. We got to see and hear about most of the major sites. Although funny how many of the landmarks are really just hotels. I spent most of the time outside at the front of the boat for the best view, but it was only 1 degree, and with the wind chill factor so cold I could barely feel my fingers.

On the river cruise they mentioned the biggest markets in Budapest, they were only a short tram ride away from the boat terminal, so we went there. This is a huge building, in fact a building with a roof inside another larger building, with two stories of fresh produce, arts and crafts, souvenirs galore, and plenty of food. The food look amazing but was very expensive considering there really wasn't anywhere to sit and eat. We figured our money was better spent at a proper restaurant and left hungry.

By now it was properly dark. We decided to catch the same tram(s) back to Mummut to find MediaMarkt.

On the way we got off the tram by the river, so I could take a nice night photo of Hungarian Parliament. OK no more mention of it, I've ticked this box!

We eventually did find MediaMarkt, but didn't buy anything, also Helen bought some clothes at a nice shop in the mall.

We then decided to head back to see if New York Cafe had a huge queue outside. To our surprise it was only about 10 people long so we decided to have dinner there. Firstly we went back to our hotel nearly, got changed into something nicer, and returned. By now there was no queue outside, although once inside we still had a short queue with about a half hour wait. Note in our remaining time in Budapest, the queue was outside and so long we estimate people would be waiting 2-3 hours for a table.

As it was dinner time, we opted to order dinner rather than just coffee and cake which is the norm for most diners. The food menu is mainly things like burgers, toasted sandwiches, high tea so not a huge selection. We each ordered the burger which came with burger, fries, chocolate dessert and a home made lemonade drink. We also ordered some alcoholic drinks and later Helen had a hot chocolate. The food and drinks were lovely, the decor amazing, the service of high standard, and most importantly the staff did not rush us to leave despite the high demand the tables. Most enjoyable!

We went to bed content with a great day. Thanks Budapest, you've redeemed yourself from yesterday.