It took us quite some time after Little A was born before we brought her with us to one of our favorite parts of Europe – the central eastern part. After two trips to Italy in a short time, we were finally on our way to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. There we boarded a Norwegian flight to the capital of Hungary – Budapest. Budapest was only one of the three capitals that we were going to visit during our trip.
We have been to Budapest several times in the past. While living in Bratislava it was one of our favorite cities to go to for a weekend away. The first time was in 2012. That was even before we got together and it has been a reoccurring destination ever since. Our last visit was in 2016 when we took a short trip from Bratislava to spend 6 hours in Budapest.
Arriving at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport
The airport in Budapest is quite far from the city, but there are luckily affordable busses to take into the city center. While we were waiting for the bus we ran into an old friend of mine. A Chinese guy from the time I was studying in Linköping. It turned out that he, his wife and their son were going to spend a weekend in Budapest and we had been on the same flight from Stockholm. Sometimes the world is small indeed!
We ended up in different parts of the bus, but it only took us a few messages to decide to get some lunch together once we arrived in the center. That is how we ended up having company while enjoying traditional Hungarian food. It was really nice to once more eat proper goulash. When in Hungary… one must eat this dish!
A Bit of Bad Luck with Our Accommodation
We were about to find out that sometimes unexpected things happen. After lunch, we headed in the direction of our booked accommodation. We had booked an apartment via booking.com and gave the ownera call to check when we could check in. He told us that it was just to come and a guy there would help us. As we arrived at the address there was no sign of the place nor the guy. My calls were blocked when trying to call the owner again. We got through once more when calling from Susann’s phone. However, it was to no avail. No guy showed up and she was then also unable to call him again. Apparently, Booking.com had the same problem and half an hour late they told us that we could rebook.
It was very annoying to spend the time waiting. After all, we hadn’t so much time to re-discover the Hungarian capital. We really hope that the place got blacklisted because it was not decent behaviour on the part of the owner. Well, when traveling frequently, you will eventually end up with some bad experiences.
An Evening in Lovely Budapest
As we were planning on continuing to Bratislava the next morning, we only had one evening in Budapest. Once we were in the flat, Little A had her afternoon nap and I walked alone to the Budapest-Nyugati train station. I was quite uncertain whether I had gone to the correct station. Previously we used to take the train from the much larger Budapest-Keleti train station. But it was the right one and I soon had our tickets for the morning train.
For the evening we just wanted to have a relaxing walk and then find something nice to eat. We walked through the center and down to the Danube. Sometimes it feels like nothing has changed. That feeling is quite a lot stronger when it starts to get dark and you don’t see the small details. On the way, we saw some of the main attractions of the Hungarian capital. These include Andrássy Út, Deák Ferenc tér, and the amazing view to the other side of the river.
We made it to Széchenyi Lánchíd – the chain bridge – before Little A told us that she had had enough of the sightseeing. She is probably still too small to really appreciate Budapest. She did, however, enjoy the pasta we gave her at the restaurant where we stopped for a late dinner on the way back. All in all, just walking around in Budapest is still a delight. However, we were at this time mostly looking forward to returning to Bratislava the following day.
We are looking forward to visit this beautiful city sometime soon again. After all, we want Little A to experience it. In the meantime, we keep exploring Europe. Next up: Bratislava.
I do love Budapest, particularly the architecture in the city. I had chance to explore the city for three days only, so I could not see that much. Walking around was what I love the most, especially around chain bridge. It gave different sight during the day and night. Really sorry about your accommodation experience. I can understand how annoyed you were. Sitting at the hotel or whatever it is, is always something that we really want after having the long journey. Especially with the little one like yours.
Budapest has been one of our favorite cities to visit and we did so a lot while living in Bratislava. It hasn’t been as much as we would have liked since that, so it was nice with a short visit. As you say, the best thing to do in Budapest is just to walk around and enjoy it. The view over the Danube from the Chain Bridge is one of the most picturesque in Europe. 🙂
Luckily we got a fast solution in regards to the accommodation, it is never fun but problems eventually occur when traveling a lot. It was especially nice as we were on familiar grounds. Would have been harder if it was our first visit to the country/city. 🙂