2 Go Hungary Photos

Hungary is the birthplace of Harry Houdini and Joseph Pulitzer, as well as millions of other warm, friendly and loyal people. Hungary was one of the Soviet Block countries that gained its independence in 1990. This lovely country was our introduction to Eastern Europe.

We spent our time in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and the nearby town of Szentendre. Budapest was created in 1873 when Buda joined with her sister city Pest which lies on the other side of the Danube River. Back then the new city was called Pest-Buda.

Buda still houses the remains of its medieval castle which sits upon Castle Hill. The Castle District is a charming area with elegant castle towers and simple, yet colorful store fronts. You are looking at the Fisherman's Bastion where we stood to take in spectacular views of Pest across the river.

Our view from atop the Fisherman's Bastion included the old roof tops of Buda, the Danube River and one of the many bridges joining Buda with Pest.

St. Stephen is the Patron Saint of Budapest. One can worship the saint's actual hand at the aptly named St. Stephen's Basilica. This hand was stolen from Budapest during Nazi occupation. However, the USA managed to get hold of it and they "handed" it over to Hungary after the war.

The gothic tower of Matthias church dominates Castle Hill and can be seen from all over the city.

We also visited the Great Synagogue which is the largest functioning synagogue in Europe. As you can see, the name is very appropriate for this beautiful place of worship.

After spending time at the Great Synagogue and the Jewish Museum, we headed over to the Carmel Restaurant which specializes in Central European meals. Rich enjoyed this delicious plate of goose liver and dumplings. He also tried his first bowl of matzo ball soup and found it to be quite tasty. And while this was a very nice restaurant (table cloths, cloth napkins, nice china and silverware, and servers in vests and bow-ties), it was wonderfully inexpensive--which is typical of this city, and one of the great joys of traveling here. Our entire meal with tip was roughly $12usd.

Here, a smart drunk has chosen a phone stall to protect his head before passing out in the metro station. The two Hungarian men on the phones next to him are not phased at all. We returned to this metro station several hours later to find this same drunk sleeping in the same position, undisturbed. This is nothing compared to other major cities, but it is still very interesting to watch.

The metro stations in Budapest have not been renovated in years, thereby maintaining a sort of worn-out old fashioned charm. Of course, the metro system in Budapest is the oldest in all of Europe, thereby explaining some of the elegant decay.

Hungary was under Communist rule for decades, and thereby closed off to mass tourism. Since its independence, Hungary has been slow to catch up to the needs of the rising number of tourists. Hotels are very difficult to find. The few hotels that exist cater to the higher budget traveler. We were left with no other choice but to stay in a room of a Hungarian home. Kelly was very excited at the sound of this prospect. However, when we arrived at Marta's home, Kelly's enthusiasm was replaced by disgust. Marta's home (including our room) was filled with junk, dust, and a musty odor that permeated the air. The shared bathroom had dirty cloths and towels hanging all over the place. Our "double bed" was barely large enough to be called a "single bed". Under normal circumstances, we would have high-tailed it out of this dump. However, we were tired and we still looked forward to getting to know the eccentric and masculine Hungarian woman. Marta did not like us, however. We think that this dislike for us began when Kelly accidentally called her "Martin". She tried to lock us out once and she yelled at us several times. After two days, we had enough and decided to pay the extra money for a posh hotel. She shared the desire for us to leave and essentially kicked us out. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Continue for more photographs of the interesting city of Budapest

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