Day 9 – Budapest

Danube River and the Chain Bridge

We woke to bright sunshine in Budapest (note: this is roughly pronounced Budya-peescht, although not everyone puts in the “y”). The temperature climbed into the low 70s, so it was very pleasant today. Hungary is south from the Czech Republic so the climate is a little milder here and they claim to be blocked from bad Russian weather by the Carpathian Mountains. Not sure about that but maybe. 

Today was a really full day of touring and we did two separate tours. We had a city tour in the morning and an evening tour of Budapest by night followed by folk dancing and traditional Hungarian music which is heavily influenced by the gypsies. The three hour city tour was very comprehensive and we learned another ton of facts about the city. Of course everything is beginning to blur together a little.

Central Market Hall With One Whole Aisle of Spices

After the city tour, we started riding the public transportation of the town. We took a tram ride down to the Central Market Hall (Hungarian "Nagycsarnok") dating back to 1896. They sold lace products and clothing on the top floor and food products on the ground floor. We had Lángos for lunch, a type of fried dough with sour cream and cheese on top which all the Hungarians rave about, but honestly neither one of us cared for it. After lunch we took a Danube River cruise which was the second part of our city tour. The views were nice but the cruise itself was a little long.

Folk Dancers with Wine Flasks on Their Heads

In the evening we went into the hills of Buda for a dinner with traditional folk dancing complete with costumes, a lot of knee slapping and girls dancing with flasks of wine on their heads. Jeanne even got into the act as you can see in the picture. It was really a blast and the food was great. Several tour groups were there but our particular tour group was just us and two other women from the US. That left us with a half empty table and a lot of extra wine on the table and it was flowing. This was after we started with a round of Pálinka, a very strong fruit brandy, and so one of the US women was really feeling no pain when we left. All in all it was a pretty entertaining evening.    

Jeanne Getting into the Act

Some things you might not know about Budapest. One, the Danube isn’t really blue. It’s the same green as any other river. Two, the tour guides like to point our similarities between Prague and Budapest – cities divided by a river with a castle district on the hills to the west of the river and a larger portion of the city to the east of the river. To us, the comparison ends there. They are cities distinctly different with their own characteristics. Three, the most popular US president in Budapest is Ronald Reagan. They have a statue of him in downtown Pest. The reason is that they credit him with the policies that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union and the eventual full independence of the country in 1991. You have to remember that the country was occupied for centuries – Ottomans, Hapsburgs, Germans and Soviets – and they have only really been free for the past 24 years.