We got up at 7 am and decided to head down to our hotel breakfast. And it was not bad, not bad at all! Right off the bat we knew it was different because there were some sparkling wine bottles on ice next to the coffee machine – I’ve never seen that before in a standard hotel breakfast buffet.
But they also had lots of eggs, breads and cheeses, and even some homemade yogurts with some jam lurking at the bottom – yum!
Our plan for Budapest was to do a little bit of minor sightseeing, as we had already covered most of the dramatic spots on our previous visit. The more we looked around this time the more surprised I was that I managed to get all over the city with a big head bandage. This time there was no head injury in Budapest.
Our first stop was the big market hall across from our hotel. We’ve been to these kinds of places in other countries (like Lithuania) and it is fun to see the spices, meats, veggies and cheese that local people have to cook with. Downstairs we found several stands with old ladies selling pickle jars. The pickles were arranged in the jars to make little smiling characters – clever idea and probably all over Instagram by now.
From there we walked to the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library on the border of the Jewish district. It wasn’t open quite yet, so we explored deeper in the Jewish district and came across the Dohány Street Synagogue – a massive structure out of nowhere. We were interested in visiting – we visit so many cathedrals and it is rare to find such a big synagogue in our travels – but judging by all the tour groups queuing up it might have been a long wait. I was shocked to see the price for a ticket – most cathedrals are free and some charge a couple of euros, but the price here was about 13 euros per person. It seemed high for a quick peek inside.
Since we were still a little early for things to open we made our own little pilgrimage to the site of my head injury, the Budapest Marriott. Ah, here is where I walked through the lobby with the paramedics! Oh, I remember getting in the ambulance over here! It was nice to be in the same spot while not bleeding.
Again the weather was starting to heat up, and so we slowly made our way back to the library to cool down and take a look inside. We had to wait in a short line to buy visitor one-day tickets, and as the library is a popular tourist destination the process was easy. We took an elevator to the fourth floor to walk through the “Palace Rooms”. Originally the whole library was a palace, and the upper floors were preserved as they were (with some library books added in) to see the historical context of the building. It was certainly impressive to walk through, and we were there early enough that it was just us and a few students studying at the tables.
After I had hoped to pop into a Ruin Bar nearby, but despite Google’s information it was closed when we arrived. To kill a little time before lunch we instead went down the street and stopped in a little breakfast cafe. We sat at a counter bar and sipped Hungarian sparkling wine, near artwork featuring Jason Momoa.
Besides the sparkling I drank lots of water and even some banana juice to keep my energy up. I was feeling much better since all that sleep back in Salzburg, the more we walked the better I felt.
Around noon we moved from the cafe to Ghetto Goulash, to have some more paprika dishes for lunch. There was a line forming already when we arrived but the staff were happy to seat us outside at a comfortable table. The location and ambiance were great – it felt like a lunch place for locals rather than tourists, and we ordered a couple glasses of kekfrankos while we waited for our food. This time the wine was a little better, but still not meeting the mental bar that we had set. Maybe we were romanticizing the memory of the wine a little?
Our dishes arrived, beef in tomato sauce with egg barley and lamb paprika with egg noodles. They were served simply and both were excellent. We commented that all the paprika dishes we’ve had so far had less tomato base in the sauce than we’d imagined. The recipes we make at home often have a lot of tomato paste so it seems a bit more authentic to tone down the tomato flavor.
The food had good flavor, it was a nice atmosphere, and we really enjoyed our lunch. The staff brought the bill and I noticed for the first time that since we arrived in Budapest nobody has asked us about our tip amount. Later I researched that more and more restaurants just add a service charge to the bill so it is more streamlined. I don’t like tipping at all, but this system at least took a lot of the awkwardness and stress of the tipping custom.
On our way back to the hotel we popped into a convenience store to look for drinkable yogurt. I bought what I thought was vanilla flavored yogurt but got vanilla milk. It was good, though! While navigating the shop we inadvertently stood in front of some staff trying to pass with a cart – we didn’t notice but the staff just sort of shut down instead of saying something, and it was a little surprising. The cashier was totally dead inside – I felt bad for their situation. We found a lot of people that looked unhappy in their jobs this trip.
We found our hotel again, thanks to a big Thai Massage place that advertised across the street. It was a useful signpost for our navigation. Our hotel room had been cleaned so we could really relax and sip vanilla milk and escape the heat of the afternoon for a while. While researching things to bring back from Budapest I stumbled upon the idea to bring tubes of paprika paste back to Japan.
Since the market was right across the street from our hotel we went over and scored a couple to pack in our suitcase. The staff asked me if I wanted the receipt – I said no, and then he handed me the two big tubes, no bag. Kuniko laughed because I had misheard… he asked if I wanted a bag. So anyway, Kuniko had to carry around two big tubes of paprika paste the rest of the day. What a nice wife!
We walked around through town, passing areas that we sort of remembered from before. As the weather cooled it was easier to traverse the city, and every now and then we found something familiar. We were looking for one particular restaurant cafe where we had the best chicken paprika ever – but either it went out business or we mis-remembered the location.
But near St. Stephen’s Basilica we found a place that we had visited before called “0.75 L” – and so we decided to eat there for dinner and see how it was. We ordered some goulash – beef with vegetables, and also a burrata salad to go with the obligatory chicken paprika. More wine and beer – another kekfrankos but still not what we were hoping for. The food here was really good – a little salty but overall a tasty experience.
Right on the plaza in front of the Basilica is a great place to people watch. While we enjoyed our meal we watched our zen-like waitress handle orders from various customers, most using different languages. Two American guys had lots of questions and their order became like a negotiation. Our waitress patiently listened and delivered all the food like a pro.
After dinner we walked to the river, and started across the bridge to maybe take some pictures of the parliament building as it got dark. It was getting dark quickly though, and we were surprised to feel rain coming down. Photo trip cancelled! We instead ran for cover back on the Pest side, and hailed a taxi back to our place.
It was another hot and sweaty day – almost every travel day has been hot. One of the reasons for going to this area was to avoid the brutal heat but I guess it is just about everywhere. Maybe in the future we need to travel to the southern hemisphere for our summer holidays.
