Hungary: Budapest

Before I even left on my solo backpacking trip I had brought up the idea of my brother joining me at some point for a sibling trip. After talking about it for a while and then making some plans, we were finally able to make it happen. After my brother's college year ended he flew out to Europe and met me in Budapest and he and I spent a few days exploring the city together before our dad joined us.

After spending most of the day in Brasov, Romania I headed to the bus station for my overnight bus to Budapest. When I arrived, the bus was already there and since the bus didn’t start its journey in Brasov, once I got there the bus left. It was nice being able to leave right away. The bus itself was really nice as it was new, clean, and my seat had a ton of leg room, enough where for part of the journey I sat on the ground and rested my head on the seat. I realized when texting my family about the bus just how low my standards and expectations are for transportation as even the fact that the bus was clean was a really big plus for me. Getting to Budapest was a thirteen hour overnight journey and it was a very long ride. I was able to get a very small bit of rest along the way but it was very sporadic and disturbed by the lights being turned on or the bus making a stop. Arriving at the bus station in Budapest was really nice since it was all familiar from my first time visiting Budapest back in August. I made my way to my hostel and arrived during breakfast time so I was able to get a free hostel breakfast. I then hung out in the common area the rest of the morning and afternoon making plans and organizing photos and videos until I could check in. That evening I headed to the airport to meet my brother, Grant, after his flight landed and then he and I began our sibling trip in Budapest. I hadn’t seen him since I left on my trip back in August. Once he and I made it into the city he dropped his bags off at the hostel and we headed out for a late dinner.

On our first day together in Budapest, we started the day with a free walking tour of the city so that he could learn a bit about the city and see some of the main sights. Our original walking tour guide had to cancel, so we were put into another group which then ended up being a massive walking tour, which wasn’t ideal but we made the most of it. After the tour ended we went to a supermarket to get some sandwiches for lunch and by the time we got outside we saw that it was torrential down-pouring. We made our way back to our hostel in the rain and even with an umbrella I got soaked. When back at the hostel we enjoyed a nice relaxed supermarket lunch and hung out there drying off, visiting, and making plans for the rest of our day. Since it was forecasted to rain more we decided to go to the House of Terror Museum which was only a block away. The House of Terror Museum is a museum containing exhibits about the Nazi and communist regimes in Hungary as the building had been a headquarters building during both regimes. It was very interesting learning more about the dark history of the building and the regimes. Since the audio guides were expensive to rent, to save some money Grant and I shared one audio guide. While it was good for saving money, it gave a number of people a laugh as I was stuck playing follow the leader since Grant had the audio guide and he amused himself by moving around just to be annoying. After spending a few hours going through the House of Terror Museum we headed up the street further to Heroes’ Square and then into a large park that had a castle in it. It was really nice walking around the square and park, especially since the rain had passed. After walking around for a bit we headed to find a place for dinner. Grant wasn’t thrilled with how late we started looking for a place for dinner since we had to walk for a while. It was a fun first day together on our sibling trip.

On our second day we had another tour booked; this time it was a food tour. Since the tour wasn’t until 1:00 pm we spent the morning walking around Budapest and I was able to show him some areas that our tour didn’t cover and I shared some of the info I had learned on the walking tour I took back in August. After seeing a few different areas we headed to the meet up point for our food tour. It was a really fun tour where we were able to try a bunch of different foods and explore new areas of Budapest. On the tour we were able to try Langos, a fried dough topped with traditionally sour cream and cheese but you could also get it with other toppings; Retes, Hungarian strudel which has a thinner flakier outside with more filling; two different sausages, one with Hungarian paprika and another which was liver and rice; Chimney cakes; and finally five different Hungarian cakes. All of the food was delicious. We ended up trying a lot of food and by the end of the tour we were stuffed. What I really enjoyed about the desserts was that they were sweet, but not overwhelmingly sweet. The savory foods were all so different that I couldn’t pick a favorite. Overall it was a really fun tour and we had an amazing guide and a great group, which was small. After the tour ended we wandered around the Jewish Quarter for a while before eventually heading back to the hostel for the night.

We decided, on our third day, to head over to the Buda side of the river, which we hadn’t explored yet. We started at the Fisherman’s Bastion. The Buda side is built on a hill and the Fisherman’s Bastion is at the top of it and has amazing views overlooking the Pest side and the Parliament Building. We ended up walking around the Bastion area, which also had a church and other viewpoints, for a while before eventually heading over to the other side of the hill and walking along a path with views of the non-touristy side of Budapest. After walking around for a bit we got another supermarket lunch before going back to the Fisherman’s Bastion to join a free walking tour of the Buda side. On the free walking tour we were able to learn more about the Fisherman’s Bastion, see really old historic building remnants, and then we walked over to explore the Buda Castle. When I had been in Budapest in August I never ended up exploring the Buda side, so I really enjoyed being able to see a new area and learn more about the different sights. After the tour we stayed and explored more of the Buda Castle area before making our way back down to the river and walking along the river and ending across from the Parliament Building. We then got on the metro and headed back over to the Jewish Quarter to walk around and find dinner.

On our fourth day, we started by visiting the Dohany Street Synagogue, which is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest synagogue in the World. It was really interesting and cool to visit, however for the price of the tickets I wouldn’t say it was worth it. That afternoon we went on yet another free walking tour; this time it was a walking tour of Communist Budapest. We were able to see some new areas of the city and learn more about what Budapest was like during the communist era and what people’s lives were like at that time. It was very interesting to learn more about that time and to hear stories about what it was like from our tour guide who grew up during the last decade or so of communism. The tour was really good and we had a great tour guide. After our tour we headed back to our hostel and packed our bags since our dad had arrived and we were switching to the accommodation he had booked. Once we met up with our dad we then all headed out for dinner and to walk around some that evening. It was a lot of fun catching up with my dad again since I hadn’t seen him in about nine months.

The next day was Grant’s and my fifth day in Budapest. The three of us started the morning with yet another free walking tour; this one was a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter that went in depth on what life was like in Budapest during World War II and during the Nazi rule. It was a very informative tour and we had a great tour guide. After the tour, since our dad had never been to Budapest before, we did a highlight tour of the city where we were able to walk around and hit all of the main sights of the city for him to see. Going all over both sides of the city was a lot of walking and we covered a lot of ground but we were able to give my dad a good, quick overview of the city. After walking all over the city, we had time to have a nice relaxed dinner before going to our scheduled evening river cruise. The evening river cruise was great; the views of the city are so beautiful from the river at night as all of the buildings are lit up in a golden glow. Riding down the river was so nice and relaxing and I really enjoyed sharing the experience with my dad and brother. It was a fabulous ending to Grant’s and my time in Budapest and the short time we had with our dad in the city before the three of us headed out of Budapest the next morning.

I really enjoyed not only doing a sibling trip with my brother but also showing him around a city that I enjoyed the first time I was there. It was also a lot of fun being able to have our dad join us for some of the time we had in Budapest. During the week I was able to see new places, go on a food tour, and learn more about the history of the city through the various free walking tours.

“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.”

- Anonymous