Budapest, Hungary Part 1

Tricia T
Sep 24, 2016
3 min read

Before I start writing about how amazing Budapest is, I want to write a little bit about my bus journey from Vienna to Budapest. After I said goodbye to my friend Yan, I hopped on a bus which goes directly from Vienna to Budapest. The ride took 3 hours and costed around 16 Euros. During the ride, I made a friend with the girl that sat next to me. She was very nice, she offered me biscuits and candies while we just chatted with each other so the 3 hours journey wouldn’t be so boring. She was really kind and thoughtful, I would have never met such a kind stranger if I weren’t traveling alone. This is another benefit of traveling, seeing the world with your own eyes. The media nowadays are so negative, with all the terror attacks in different parts of Europe, makes people fear to go travel or talk to strangers. But when you really step outside and see the world with your own eyes, you will then notice the places are not as bad as what the media portrayed. There are still goodness in this world.

Anyway,back to the topic of this week, Budapest, one my favourite cities in Europe. A fun fact about Budapest that some of you might not know, is that Budapest is composed of two different cities, Buda and Pest. It was united as a capital in 1873, and even until now, these two parts are separated by the bridges. After I arrived in Budapest, my friend Peter showed me around some parts of the city. We first took the metro Line 1, which is the oldest metro line in Budapest. The metro cart and the stations are still running now since 1896. I felt like I was time traveling when I was inside, it’s pretty cool!

I stayed in the city for 3 days and it was clearly not enough. Budapest is a big city, and there are a lot of attractions, which is why there are 2 parts for the Budapest entry. Since it’s summer, the weather was quite hot and sunny all the time, which I enjoyed a lot because of the lack of sun in Sweden. Another thing that I enjoyed was the amazing bridges, the famous Széchenyi Chain bridge, Margaret bridge, and my favourite: the Liberty bridge. It is my favourite bridge because it really is quite “liberal”. How? Because you see people just climb up and sit around the bridge, drinking and chilling. This kind of life style and the “almost” crossing the line freedom is pretty awesome. So I decided to go out of my comfort zone and climb the bridge at night. It really was a crazy idea, even when I think about it today but I am so glad I did it. It was scary even though it is quite easy to climb. Every little step to me is a big step out of my comfort zone, and thanks to Peter, I made it all the way up there. We sat up there just gazing the night view of Buda, it’s so quiet and peaceful. I do not dare to look down so I just kept my head up high and I saw some stars shining for me. After walking like a grandma for I don’t know how long, I made it back to the ground. I felt like a stone was just lifted from my heart, and I was incredibly happy because I did something that I feared and I conquered it! I felt so alive and excited, I really enjoy pushing boundaries and living life a little more.

If you like bars or clubs, then I urge you to visit is the Szimpla Kert Ruin Bar. It is by far the best bar that I have ever been to. Even if you don’t drink, it is still worth a visit. Why? Because they have the coolest decoration and style ever. They use ruins, antiques, recycled materials to decorate the entire place. There are old theme park attraction pieces, rusty furnitures, graffiti walls, different art displays etc which gives you a really good atmosphere while sipping a glass of cold beer. There is also a “wishing tank” where you write 3 wishes on a paper and put it inside the fish tank. There are just so many different things you can do and observe in the bar, which makes you never want to leave.

On a hot day in Budapest, what can be "cooler" than to dip your feet into a fountain and chill with your friends? I have dip my feet in seas, oceans, lakes, and even fish tanks with fish inside eating off your dead skin, but not a public fountain with everyone else! Another "feet" opening experience for me and I love it.