Date visited: July 2004
Post written by Laura
Throwback Thursday!
A short post on Budapest as unfortunately I’m unable to find any travel notes. And the photos are pretty poor too as my then camera was not too great. Hopefully this somewhat negative introduction hasn’t put you off reading the post as Budapest is well worth a visit!
My friend and I had taken an EasyJet flight from Luton and arrived at Budapest Airport which is located approximately 15 miles from the city centre. The first thing we noticed was how huge Budapest felt! We seemed to be driving (by taxi) through the outskirts of the city for ages until we reached our centrally located hotel.
Buda and Pest
Budapest is a city of two halves! Buda sits on one side of the River Danube and Pest on the other. The two halves of the city merged in 1873 to form Budapest which became the second major city in the Austro-Hungarian empire, after Vienna.
It was considered to call the city ‘Pest-buda’ but the authorities decided against this as it would seemingly confuse people when looking at a map with Buda on the left and Pest on the right!
Margaret Island is a 1.6 mile long island in the centre of the Danube and you can reach it easily by walking across one of two bridges or by taking a tram. There is a large park on the island and many people enjoy relaxing with a picnic or a book or going for a run if feeling energetic.
Margaret Bridge is a three-way bridge which connects Pest and Buda and Margaret Island. Wikipedia explains in the early 2000’s the bridge was in a poor state of repair and became life threatening! Restoration happened between 2009 – 2011 and apparently it now looks much more appealing. And thankfully I survived crossing it in 2004!
The Danube is the second largest river in Europe and passes through 4 European capital cities: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade.
Buda is the quieter and hillier part of Budapest and has a more relaxed feel. This is the older part of the city where the oldest historic buildings can be found.
Buda Castle is located on Castle Hill and offers great views of the Danube and the city. The oldest part of the castle is from the 14th century.
Matthias Church, also in Buda is a 14th century church built in Gothic style. The inside contains medieval stone carvings and replicas of the Hungarian crown jewels.
St Stephens Basilica is the most sacred catholic church in Hungary and also one of the largest.
We climbed 314 feet to the top of St Stephens Basilica for panoramic views of the city.
We also went on a boat trip on the Danube which gave us a different perspective of the main sights and buildings of Budapest.
The Parliament Building is 96 meters (315 feet) high and is one of the most famous landmarks of Budapest. This building is located in Pest which is flatter and is more lively than Buda. I remember walking round this building when it started to rain heavily and we had to dash back to our nearby hotel to dry off!
We had two evenings to enjoy the nightlife of Budapest and for one of them we visited a Hungarian restaurant with live traditional music and I’m pretty sure I had Hungarian Goulash which is Hungary’s national dish.
Accommodation
I found the details of my original booking which reminded me I had booked and stayed in the NH Hotel in Pest which was then £95 for a room for 2 nights. I discovered I had booked with Octopustravel.com who were an early online travel agent which no longer exist. The hotel was centrally located in Pest, about 500 m from the Parliament Building and 0.3 miles from Margaret Island.
Summary
I have fond but dim and distant memories of Budapest… I visited nearly 20 years ago! Maybe its time for another visit 🙂
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