Aaaaaand we’re back with another travel blog (not surprising)! This weekend around, my friends Ashley, Lilly, CT, my partner Kae, and myself went to Budapest, Hungary. This was an exciting trip for us all, one that was filled with many amazing excursions and a few too many glasses of Prosecco (sorry mom).
Sightseeing in Budapest
As per usual, sightseeing is a must in every city that we go to. Here’s some of the cool places we saw!
Országház/Hungarian Parliament
I have seen a few Parliament buildings during my time here in Europe, from the Austrian Parliament in Vienna to the Bavarian Parliament in Munich, but the Hungarian Parliament building has to be the most magnificent of them all. In previous weeks, I’ve had many friends go to Budapest and they spoke greatly about how beautiful this building was, and truthfully pictures do not do this building justice because it was amazing. We were able to see the building from the front side as well as from the river Danube. I don’t think any other building, let alone Parliament building, would be as eye-catching as this one.
Buda Castle
Europe with their castles huh? I’m not really complaining, castles are awesome, and that includes the Buda Castle. We decided on not going inside the actual castle solely because we weren’t feeling it, so we walked around the complex of it for a bit and look in awe at how amazing the castle was (and get icked out when we saw construction). I’d imagine that the inside is beautiful as well, and maybe someday I’ll go back and check it out, but the outside of the Buda Castle, much like the outside of the Prague Castle, was truly marvelous.
Museums in Budapest
I’m not gonna repeat myself and say museums are cool… wait, I just did. Anyways, here’s some of the cool museums we went to in Budapest!
Cat Museum Budapest
Cats are cool, and Budapest seems to like them! Why else would there be a museum of them? The Cat Museum was a pretty cool one that was in a small little building and housed about ten or so cats, from breeded cats to adopted and rescued ones. Aside from the cats, there was alot of cat-themed artwork (appropriately) and fact cards about cats, so it’s safe to say I had quite an educational experience 😉
Light Art Museum
The only way I could describe the Light Art Museum in Budapest is like this: it’s like a glorified Home Depot lighting section (Home Depot being a hardware store in the US). This museum just had cool lights and were designed in unique ways that you’d otherwise not really see elsewhere. Some of the lights hurt my eyes, other lights graced them, it honestly depended on how long I looked at them. By the end of it, we felt like we went through something wild, but it was just lights, but they were lights that were 100% worth it.
Other fun Budapest excursions
Szimpla Kert
Szimpla Kert was a really cool place in Budapest. Essentially, this place had many bars inside of it and different rooms with amazing artwork/art pieces, a garden, a market, and even some street food vendors. This was a suggestion that my friend CT’s other friend suggested to go to, specifically in the daytime since tourists love to go in the evening, but this was a place that really didn’t disappoint. It honestly reminded me a lot of Randyland in Pittsburgh, which is an art gallery of sorts with all sorts of random art pieces like Szimpla Kert. We didn’t get any drinks here, but we did have some overpriced goulash soup from the street food vendors which was quite tasty.
Széchenyi Thermal Bath
Budapest is known for its thermal baths, and the Széchenyi Thermal Bath is one of the most known ones. I can’t swim, but the feeling of sitting in a rather hot pool in breezy weather felt very nice. As nice as it was, I’m not sure if I would go back again, simply because it’s not something that I could do constantly. When I explained to Ivana, the operations coordinator at Foreigners, about my trip to the Thermal Bath, she told me I was tourist trapped and spent too much money, which is true. It was a nice time, though I think it’s a one-and-done for me.
Prosecco Cruise
Budapest is split by the river Danube, and river cruises happen to go around everyday. My friends and I decided that we should make the most of the city by going on a Prosecco Cruise. This was a cruise that took us around the Danube for about an hour and a half with enough Prosecco to fill up the river. We had a few too many glasses, and was probably the most drunk that I had ever been, because when you’re offered unlimited Prosecco, you really can’t say no (I was trying to get my money’s worth). Personally, I’d go on the cruise again, it was a great time and seeing all the sights we had seen from the middle of the river was truly a fun experience.
What’s next?
These last few weeks have dried my wallet out, so we’ll take a little break for now (let’s see how long that lasts). I wanted to visit Sweden to see some of my friends but unfortunately, plans didn’t work out the way I thought they would, and that’s okay because I can prioritize other trips! We’re still thinking of going to Poland for a weekend excursion and I still want to go somewhere for my birthday (again, May 4th, I expect birthday wishes).
Shameless plug for my previous travel blogs in case you haven’t read them!:
See you soon!
