Continental #7 - Budapest

Fisherman's Bastion; the last time I came here was in 2014

At this point I've lost track of how many times I've visited Budapest. Sometimes travel has a tendency of blurring lines and memories. For me, this time was no different.

I spent a week in Budapest but one entry is all I have to show for it. I was very happy here, and I enjoyed my time there, and at the end nothing changed how I felt about Budapest. It has and always shall be, my Budapest. Budapest is one of those cities that you can't resist coming back to; not just because of wizzair, but because it's so beautiful. As my Budapest friend said, Budapest is different every month, and there are so many different shades of Budapest. The city's quite large and there's so much to discover and explore. What was different about this time's Budapest, to me? It was very Baroque, and straight lined, and there were a lot of roads, and kebab places. It was an easy city to walk in, but it was also very stuffy and a little hot, and I really do prefer Budapest in the winter months. In the spring and summer months it is dusty and can get extremely stuffy, and I don't like that too much. But, irregardless - it was Budapest before me and will be Budapest after me, and I don't think I have ever loved any European city as I loved Budapest, nor shall I ever love as I love Budapest. I found Budapest when I was younger and more impressionable. Maybe I would have liked Prague as well if I'd had the chance to come back again and again; but I doubt it. Budapest is so much larger, more sprawling, more baroque, more magnificent, and it's the stuff that dreams are made of.

Buda Palace

"Oh, he invaded Bosnia. I don't think I like this city after all."

The apartment we rented

St Stephen's Basilica

Cuba libre and I got a free shot here

Nepliget bus station, oh the tears and tantrums. This bus station is very new, when I was here before it was always the old, ratty, Communist version. Good going, Budapest

Nyugati train station. "There are loads more crazy people here than there are in Sarajevo."

"Sh sh sh, the way they talk is sh sh sh."

Outside of the first apartment we stayed at

Kebabs

He was obsessed over this poster

The apartment we stayed in

Budapest, part I

I hopped onto a Regiojet express as I mentioned, and bussed it to Budapest, going by Bratislava. On the way I met a lovely Norwegian girl, and we talked without pause from Slovakia from Hungary, which made the journey go by much faster. I remembered wondering if I had already used up my 'amazing people' quota by meeting her. As we talked, I watched the Slovakian, and then Hungarian countryside roll away beneath the regiojet, and happily thought: Yes, I'm back.

Budapest was my first stop, and I'd chosen to go there, or come back, for three reasons: a) there was a simply amazing cocktail bar that served the best strawberry coladas I'd ever tasted; b) there was a 14 EUR flight that I wanted to catch from Ferihegy airport to Skavsta; and c) I really liked the city. 2 years ago I wrote that Budapest and Prague were the most beautiful cities I'd ever been to in Europe, and that if I had the chance I would come back. Prague; not so much, but Budapest, a thousand times over.

I got off at the Stadion stop and took the metro to Ferenciek tere, where my hostel was located. When I got off, I - I'll never forget this - I kind of gaped around the square, and then spent about ten minutes drinking in my surroundings happily. Europe once more; my very first European city after two years, then, and the feeling was so profound that for some time I was speechless. Budapest was the same, but somewhat different, and I thought to myself, well - I'll have to visit some more cities again, because you have a different experience of the city every time you go, it seems.

I located my hostel and checked in, then went out. I didn't have much of a plan; I thought I'd stroll upon the banks of the Danube and go to the cocktail bar again (of course), go to some restaurants for their famous goulash which I'd missed, and then meet up with Beniamin, the Hungarian boy I'd met two years ago in Gdansk. Travel after all is about making yourself happy; and I like to take it easy. For me, being back in Europe was enough. No fancy trips; no sweaty hikes up Gellert Hill. My favourite building as always was the Hungarian Parliament, which in my own opinion is probably the best-looking work of architecture in this part of the world.

Strolling on the Pest side of the Danube.

I decided to cross the river, and I mused upon the Danube, which was rather more turquoise than the murky brown I'd remembered it being back in 2014.

And of course, this is what I came for.

But then of course the sun had to go in.