Day 136: Budapest Walking Tour

In nearly five months of traveling, I had not once done a walking tour. Perhaps that is forgivable given that a lot of cities I've visited in Asia are not places you can see much of just by foot.

At 2:30pm I found a group of people waiting in Vorosmarty Square for a free Budapest "general" walking tour. They also offer communism and Jewish District walks, for more targeted interests.

The tour lasts two and a half hours and eventually ends at Fisherman's Bastion on the Buda side of Budapest. It hits many of the main touristy sites, but others like Hero's Square or the Parliamentary Building are too far out of the way to be economical to visit.

I made a few friends while on the tour. Becky from the U.K., Patrick from Canada, Mia from New Jersey, and Deeksha from India.

Patrick, myself, Deeksha, Becky

After the tour was over we had cakes at a nearby pastry cafe recommended to us by the tour guide, then walked to Gellért Hill (minus Mia) to share a bottle of wine and watch the sunset.

Above the Chain Bridge, on our way to Gellért Hill

Atop Gellért Hill

Some randos in the foreground

Olé!

After the sun set we made our way back down to earth. Deeksha had to move her stuff to a new hostel and Patrick went with her. Becky and I sat down at a bar in a park in the center of the city center, where 3 of the 4 major metro lines meet.

Patrick later joined us. Deeksha went with others from her hostel to a boat party. After Fröccsterasz we walked a few steps to Akvárium Klub, also known as "the hole" because it had originally been planned as the location of a new national theatre, but after a different political party took office, the architect was layed off and the location moved elsewhere -- leaving a massive hole in the middle of the city. Eventually that hole was turned into a park with a water feature in the center. They even put a bar underneath the pool where you can watch the water slosh above you.

We turned in relatively early for the night at 12am. I then went out with some others from the hostel to a ruin pub called Szimpla. Ruin pubs are pubs situated in old residential buildings that eventually became too dilapidated for people to live in them any longer. So entrepreneurial spirits would buy the buildings, do the minimum necessary renovations, and turn them into massive pubs. The interior decorations are usually really quirky and creative. We were out somewhat late, and I didn't get back to the hostel until 4 the next morning.