Sunday, April 12, 2015

Semana Santa; Budapest


This year for Spring break, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Budapest for 4 days with my roommate, Megan, and her brother and sister-in-law.  We stayed at an apartment near the river on the “Pest” side of “Budapest” and did loooootttsss of walking.  And also ate way too much good food!  







Hungarian dishes are quite heavy and have pasta noodles, or potatoes, lots or meat and lots of Paprika.  Also good beers!   Hungarian people are also very proud of their culture and language, as we discovered on our walking tour.  Both World Wars knocked Hungary down as a country and they were in political turmoil up until the 1950’s.  Their country has suffered lots of hardships, and they are getting back on their feet slowly but surely.  They are part of the European union, but they still use their own currency.  Which is extremelyyyyyy confusing.  The exchange was 300 forints to 1 euro, and we had to check and double check our math throughout the week.  Needless to say, I used more math those few days than I have since college…




 

The city is split into Buda and Pest, but the river Danube that runs between it.  Buda, is the older part of the city with a huge castle and cathedral nestled into the hills while Pest is the flat, newer area with Parliament and the new political powers.  It has a good mix of old Turkish influence and Eastern European buildings.  Turkish food and baths have remained, and we thoroughly enjoyed the food.  


We also got to go to one of the most famous Turkish Baths while we were there, which was a very relaxing and unique experience!  The old building had about 7 different pools with hot, cold and lukewarm temperatures, as well as a few saunas, wet and dry.  The weather was really cold while we were there, so it was crazy being in a heated pool outside with steam coming off of it!  We just changed into our bathing suits (thankfully everyone was wearing them!  Proper protocol...) and hopped around from pool to sauna, to pool to sauna and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  



Budapest had some of the coolest bars I've ever been to...very unique and a bit trippy as well....






Budapest offered such a unique experience, I would definitely recommend checking it out if you get the opportunity.....

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