Back to Budapest

After my whirlwind trip through Prague, Bratislava, and Budapest in 2015, Joe surmised that, since I had returned safely from my trip, that it was safe enough for him to go. So one year later, we spent the next October 23, 2016 in Budapest, after a week in Prague. We did not stop in Bratislava this go-round. Below is a combination of my facebook posts and current (2018) reflections on that trip.

Learning Hungarian 

I like to think that I write here from a place of honesty, so I’ll share this part with everyone as well. We planned our trip to Budapest almost as soon as I returned from my solo trip in October 2015. I had a solid year to prepare for the next trip, so I decided that I would learn some Hungarian. This has generally been considered a bad idea. 

I fought with it. I tried. I spent hours and signed up for every online course I could find. I printed things out and filled out worksheets, hoping that the act of physically writing things down would help cement them in my brain. But try as I might, I was an abject failure at this. I’m not super used to failing at things, especially languages, so this was definitely a blow to the ego. But no amount of self-directed study was going to help me get through the double umlauts. 

For me, the primary problem with learning was that the Hungarian language is not related to German or Latin. So almost none of the words have cognates in any language I am even passingly familiar with. Every single word required rote memorization. Pronunciation and spelling are so complex that, unless I could find a recording of a word, I wasn’t ever even sure if I was pronouncing it correctly. So sometimes I was just memorizing strings of letters. It did not go well. 

These days, I am around a lot of spoken Hungarian. It seems a bit more approachable, as the other people who speak it are actually humans and not super-advanced alien life forms. So I feel like I should have the aptitude to learn at least some Hungarian, myself being also human. My Hungarian dance class held a weekend-long series of classes with a pair of instructors from Hungary who spoke no English. For 9 hours of class, they directed us (only a few of us don’t understand Hungarian), yelling and gesturing and trying to get the point across. Music and dance are excellent facilitators of communication, so many things could be demonstrated without understanding the words. But in the end, after an entire weekend immersion class, I can count to 8, and I know left and right. I just need someone yelling at me in Hungarian for about 3 hours a day. So there’s hope yet.  

Arriving in Budapest

We took the overnight train to get from Prague to Budapest. The train takes about 6 hours if you go during the day, but they slow it down to take about 9 hours so you can get a full night’s sleep. This seems great in concept: traveling while sleeping means you don’t miss a day of adventuring, and you don’t have to pay for a hotel room. But the reality of sleeping on the train leaves much to be desired. While I didn’t have much trouble sleeping on the overnight train last year, this time, Joe and I are sharing a room and we have had a hell of a time with jet lag for the last few days and the train just seems like 1 thing too many. We almost never get to sleep. The beds are perpendicular to the direction of the train, so the slow rocking of the train car is just tipping you back and forth, head up, heels up, rocking and rocking. Joe was not at all happy, and was pretty motion sick the rest of the next day. 

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First day in Budapest

We arrived not-at-all well-rested, but it was 8 a.m. and our hotel room would not be ready for another 6 or 8 hours. We dropped off our bags and had to just get out there. We started off by visiting one of the nicest (and one of the most ridiculously expensive) bakeries in Budapest. I think we definitely paid the tourist tax here. We went to the Cafe Gerbaud and had a slice of the famous Dobos Torte for second breakfast, which is 7 layers of cake with chocolate frosting and a hard caramel layer on top. Joe had a Gerbaud Torte, which was cake layered with apricot jam and topped with dark chocolate. 

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We then walked over to the Parliament building to see the coolest building in the world and to get an idea of what was being set up for the celebration. We stopped into a local restaurant for lunch, where I enjoyed a nice steak with foie gras on top. After a little more walking through town, we made it to our hotel and were able to check into our room.

Hotel

We stayed in the Marriott Autograph collection hotel, a bit outside of town. It’s a solid 2 mile walk, but a short metro ride into town. Because Joe is a platinum member, they gave us an amazing corner room with 2 balconies, including a balcony in the bathroom. The room was huge; everything was marble and tile; there were fancy bath salts and robes. It was just a luxurious experience.

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We were so tired the first day that we spent a couple hours at the hotel’s spa and went swimming in the underground swimming pool before relaxing in the steam room. The spa had a cool cave decor, and everything was dark. 

We even stayed in the hotel to have dinner at the New York Palace Cafe, an extravagant cafe famed for its opulent decor. 

Spa day 

We began our second day in Budapest by relaxing at the Gellert spa. There are several spas, but Szechnyi and Gellert are the most popular. Since I had done Szechnyi last year, we decided to start with Gellert. Gellert was definitely a little more ‘old Hollywood’ in decor and quality. It felt like one of those places that used to be the fanciest of its time, but that time was likely decades ago. It was by no means bad, just dated. It was, of course, freezing outside, and we enjoyed the steamy outdoor baths quite a lot. They had waterfalls and jets that sprayed hot water through the cold air, making huge steamy clouds. But going indoors was slightly less pleasant. I can only imagine how difficult it is to keep an operation as large and elaborate as this running, so I get that it’s challenging. But there was definitely a very pervasive odor to the indoor bathing halls. Somewhere, somehow, the waste water was not being treated and removed properly. 

After lounging in the hot water, we went upstairs for a private couples massage, which was delightful. There is a huge downstairs area of stall after stall of massage tables, but we sprung for the private room for this trip and it was perfectly quiet and serene. 

After the spa, we walked around downtown in the rain before meeting up for our afternoon Danube River cruise. We cruised under all 6 bridges while sipping cocktails and periodically dashing out into the drizzling cold rain to take some photos. It was a nice, warm place to hang out and see the sights of the city. 

Onyx Restaurant

When Joe and I travel together, I don’t have to feel guilty about booking things that are a little more extravagant. But when I signed up for this, I had no idea just how extravagant our night would be. Onyx is a very fancy restaurant in Budapest, offering set 6 or 10 course menus in very posh black-and-white damask setting. It’s modern and local. 

We decided on the 6 course tasting menu. This is definitely a thing normal humans do: eat 6 different foods in one sitting. Of course. I also had the 6-course wine pairing, and enjoyed some exquisite local wines. 

Little did we know that we would actually end up with fully 10 different courses. I can’t imagine what would have happened if we had ordered the 10 course meal! We were seated at our table and I was given a velvet stool upon which to lay my purse, and we were immediately greeted with a tray of ‘snacks from the chef’, which consisted of a veal cracklin’, flavored foam (so fancy), and potato fritters with mushrooms. Then they bring out the bread selection. About a dozen different varieties of bread from paprika/sausage bread, rye bread, beer bread, sweet rolls, puff pastries, baguettes. Then there are 3 spreads for the bread: a pumpkin seed ricotta cheese spread (green), homemade butter, and a veal liver spread. Next was the amuse bouche, which was a cauliflower soup and a salsify salad with rye croutons. I’ve never known anywhere where the amuse bouche was the 3rd thing to hit the table. We are in for a long night

At this point, they bring out the entire reason we (meaning I) picked this place: Water Buffalo tartar. I like to try all the different animals, whenever available. And water buffalo is not one I have ever checked off. +2 for *raw* water buffalo. Novelty aside, holy cow this was an amazing dish. The tartar was served on a bed of yogurt, and while it was raw, I think the water buffalo was smoked because it had a delicious smokey flavor. On top of that are 3 rolls of sliced mushrooms wrapped around an egg yolk cream. Now, I **hate** egg yolks, and I don’t care for mushrooms. But this…this was amazing. Then it was sprinkled with some greenery and smoked onion powder, because smoked onion powder is totally a thing that exists.

The next dish, second course, was foie gras 3 ways. On the left is a terrine of goose liver in a grape gelée. Next is a sliced liver with some salty roasted nuts. Then on the right is shaved goose liver. Again, I usually only eat goose liver if it is seared, and hate it when it’s cold. But this….seriously, this was so delicious (and so heavy/fatty/filling) that it could have been the end of the meal and we would be full. 

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The third course is a roasted carrot with some carrot puree and ginger drops and goat cheese. This was perfectly delicious, but not nearly as decadent as the previous 2. It was quite a relief to have some vegetation.

Next is the soup course, consommé poured over a single rooster ravioli/dumpling/potsticker thing with a slice of mushroom, and the main course was wild boar cheek with hand made dumplings and a cabbage roll on top.

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For a palate cleanser, we have a delicious sorbet on top of a spiced cookie in lavender cream, topped with meringue. The palate cleanser is not one of the courses. We still have 1 more course: dessert. We had a fancy take on the Hungarian Somló cake. Layers of chocolate, sponge cake, candied nuts, and whipped cream.

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6 courses of wine, 6 courses of dinner, plus the amuse bouche, the ‘snack’ from the chef, the bread plate, and the palate cleanser, we are so full and we enjoyed every bite of it. The waiter comes around with the check, and behind him is another waiter, with a covered dish of little assorted dessert bites. He asks us to each pick 2. Then, as if you aren’t dying because you ordered 6 courses and they bring you 10, when they bring back the check for you to sign, they give you a little box with a chocolate and a rum-cake bite so you can not starve to death in the cab on the way back to the hotel.

We absolutely walked out and took the first actual taxi back. There was no way we were going to be walking any distance that night. 

More hot water!

The next morning, we took the bus out to the Szechenyi Baths. It was as amazing as I had promised and we enjoyed an entire morning of roaming the halls, trying the different temperature baths, swimming in the huge outdoor hot tubs, and running in circles with the locals to make currents in the water. And of course we ended our visit with another massage. One can never have too many massages, especially when traveling and walking 8-10 miles a day through town. 

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Lunch

We strolled back from the spa, exploring through Heroes Square, before making our way back to Paprika for lunch. We sit down and order some beer. Then we each order a hearty plate of smokey peppery stew. I had the veal paprikash and Joe had the goulasch stew. Having eaten at several Hungarian restaurants now, I am used to having some paprika paste on the table, not just the powder to sprinkle on top. I asked the waiter if they had the Erős Pista (<<notice that double umlaut on the o). He laughed and explained that Pista is just the Hungarian version of Steve. The flavors of paprika paste are “Strong Steve” or “Sweet Anna” (Edes Anna). I suppose I was just supposed to ask for strong paprika. I sound like a silly person asking for Steve, lol. 

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Exploring more and dinner

After lunch, we wandered through town, stopping at St. Stephen’s Square. I ask Joe a bunch of questions about things because he has all the insider knowledge on Catholicism. We wandered downtown and stopped in all the little souvenir shops before finding a place to have dinner.  We weren’t super hungry because of the huge lunch, so I had a glass of wine with a salad and a seared foie gras appetizer.

Exploring more of Budapest

The next morning, we visited the Great Market Hall and sampled the delicious foods of the farmers market. On the way back, we stumbled upon an open-air street market, where we enjoyed a Kürtös, or chimney cake. We walked to the Danube River, then across it, and then up to the Buda Castle. We explored the castle grounds and stopped at a little cafe at the top of the hill and enjoyed some beer and lunch. On our way back into town, we stumbled on a little basement microbrewery.  We decided to stay a while and try some actual local Hungarian beers. 

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For dinner that evening, we walked through the Jewish quarter. We didn’t actually stop at a Ruin Pub this trip, but we did have dinner at a Jewish restaurant. The food was good, very different from the general Hungarian and Eastern European foods, since meat and dairy can’t be served together. So no cream sauces… which was kind of a relief after 2 weeks of eating heavy stews and sour cream. For dessert, we enjoyed a matzo and poppy seed cake. It had apples and walnuts and a vanilla cream around it.  It was really delicious. But as a person who isn’t used to eating lots of poppy seeds, I found the paste of poppy seeds to be very abrasive, like eating sandpaper. It was a bizarre texture that actually left my tongue burning afterwards.

Final Day in Budapest

For our final day, October 23, we began with the official festivities. We took the metro from our hotel to downtown, which was a stressful situation with some drama. But once we arrived, we got to observe the procession of the Hussars and the military band playing. Then there were lots of speeches, and the President of Poland was there, as they announced some sort of new partnership between Hungary and Poland. So this year, it was far more political than the previous year, and there was a lot more security around.  They also had built huge temporary stages and scaffolding and closed off a bunch of streets. It felt far less welcoming, and the folk dancers were not there either. So there was no celebratory party in the square afterwards. We enjoyed being part of it either way.

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We walked through town, visiting some monuments, including the Shoes on the Danube and a statue of Ronald Reagan. There is also a Soviet monument hidden away in a park, which is the last remaining one. Apparently, as part of the agreement when Hungary finally gained independence from the USSR, there were certain monuments that they agreed to let stand. 

We found a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant to have lunch and I had a lovely dish of chicken wrapped in cabbage leaves, topped with paprika cream sauce. Then we enjoyed a Hungarian version of bread pudding, labeled as bread noodles in vanilla sauce. 

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From there, we walked through town and collected any souvenirs we wanted to take home with us. Since we had not gotten to do any folk dancing that morning, we decided to go back to the folk dancing show. We happened across a restaurant that wasn’t yet open, so we called it to see if they had any available tables for when they did open in like 15 minutes. Luckily, they answered the phone. Luckily we were able to mostly communicate and they held a table for us for their opening time of 6 p.m. We spent the 15-20 minutes wandering back to the Parliament building and just took some more photos of it in the sunset. We arrived at the restaurant for dinner and this ended up being probably our favorite dinner of the entire week. The food was amazing. The waitress was super friendly and helpful. And there was a live dulcimer player right behind us. He played lots of lovely Hungarian music as well as the 2 songs every Hungarian musician has to play, no matter the instrument: Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody and Gloomy Sunday.  I still, amusingly, think of it as a ‘German’ song, so I always call it “Trauriger Sonntag”, but it is not and that only makes sense to me. He saw that I enjoyed the song and played it a second time later in the evening, so we tipped him well. Our food that night was so good. We enjoyed some dark beers with our dinner, which are hard to find pretty much everywhere. I had a dish of braided pork loin with bacon and nokedli with a creamy paprika sauce. Joe had a beef dish with potatoes, and it was bright red from all of the paprika. For dessert, we had  a very interesting apple pie that was made with like shredded bits of apple instead of slices, pressed together and topped with pastry. And no apple pie is complete without some form of vanilla cream sauce. This was just such a perfect way to end our time in Budapest.

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After dinner, we went to the 8p.m. folk show. This is now my third time seeing this show and I couldn’t be happier.  We’re seated in the front row, of course, and it’s mostly me (and Joe) and small children who are too short to see over the people in front of them who have moved up to the empty front row. For the last dance, which is a very energetic one, the band plays some music and the lead dancer guy claps out a rhythm. Then he holds his hands up to his ear for the audience to replicate the rhythm. Then he claps it again, and so forth until there’s a well-timed call and response with the audience. I am such a huge dork, and since this was the third time I had seen this show, I guess I was really into it. Because we got to the last song, and the guy clapped out the rhythm, and I just clapped it right back on the first time through…. completely alone. He pointed at me and said “Hey!!” and kept on with the show. I think my face turned like 10 colors of red and I never clapped again since that day (ok, maybe that’s a bit much, but I did stop clapping during that show). Joe makes fun of me to this day. I mean, we did have several beers over the course of the day.

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After the folk show, we went for the 10:00 p.m. cocktail cruise. I think we bought the folk show/cocktail cruise as a package. The cruise was just wonderful as there was a band playing and interacting with the audience and taking requests. Meanwhile, when we ventured outside the boat onto the deck, when we were willing to brave the chilly night air, we were rewarded with all of the major buildings up and down the river being lit up with projectors for the October 23 holiday. Giant buildings glowing with the red, white, and green of the Hungarian flag. The fliers called it ‘light painting’, which was an apt name. We ended our time in Budapest with a magnificent evening that was full of delicious food, drinks, and romantic music.