Life abroad in Kraków: Budapest

The next morning, I moved out of the hostel and went out to meet my first couchsurfing host. We met in the morning in front of the Opera house and I moved into my own room. He is a student from Turkey, studying finance in Budapest. He has lived in Budapest for about six months We got acquainted over tea and then I headed out for lunch with a native Hungarian I had met in the hostel. I tried some Hungarian food, Hungarian tea and then went to a famous candy shop, 'sugar' for dessert. After dessert I headed home and went out with my hosts for a few rounds of black absinth, before hitting the hay.

My Couchsurfing Hosts with their favorite poison:

Black Absinthe

Sugar

Jiim with our treats from Sugar

Monday morning I woke up early and headed to Parliament where I got a ticket for the morning tour. It turned out to be the only one for the day since Parliament was going to be in session all afternoon. It was cool because I got to watch them set-up.

The Dome

Main meeting hall

Just a regular hallway

I did some wandering around Freedom Square and the surrounding area and then met-up with Piotr for lunch. Hungarian food, at my request. We walked into the restaurant and Piotr asked what I wanted. I looked at him like he was crazy. The menu was all in Hungarian and the food I could see was completely unfamiliar. He laughed, studied the menu for a minute and then said, 'I know. You're going to try....' (something in Hungarian) - 'and I'm going to have....' - (more Hungarian) - 'which you have to taste as well.' I said, 'sounds good,' having no idea what I was agreeing to. I tried a delicious soup, spicy pork paprikas with a special type of Hungarian pasta that looks like potato chunks or cottage cheese, and a type of meat-filled crepe with sauce. It was sooooo yummy and VERY filling. From then on, whenever we went to a restaurant he would tell me what he was going to order for me, ask if that sounded ok - as if I would have any idea what it meant - and then proceed to order. His selections were always delicious and I got to try a whole range of different Hungarian food and drinks.

Deliciousness

After lunch we went to Margaret Island, which is in the center of the Danube. It is mostly park and woodland with a small aviary and some medieval ruins. In the summer it is a popular place to walk around, jog on the spongey track the surrounds the island or picnic. You can rent colorful pedal cars, that look just like paddle boats and can pedal your way around the island or just walk. We walked around for awhile. I loved the ruins of the Margaret Church. They were beautiful. The little aviary was also really cool. They had all kinds of peacocks, hawks and exotic looking ducks. Then we headed to the high point on the west side of the Danube for a different view of the city.

HUGE statue

Bridge to the island

Birds

Church Ruins

More Ruins

View from the bridge

Afterwards we crossed back over to Pest and went to the Cave Church. The cave in Gellért Hill has served many functions over the years, and currently you can go and see a series of chapels it houses. It was very interesting to listen to the history and see the simple chapels in the caverns. There was a Polish chapel in the cave with a huge Polish Eagle hanging accompanied by a Hungarian symbol to signify unity between the two nations. I also really enjoyed the newest chapel which was adorned by ornate wood carvings.

Backlit Polish Eagle

Some of the Wood Carvings

One of the Views from Gellért Hill

After the Cave Church, we climbed to the top of Gellért Hill and took pictures of the city. It was a very steep climb. Then we made our way down and headed to St. Stephen's Basilica. Unfortunately, the Basilica was closed for a private event, but we did get to go to the top of the Basilica. From the top of the dome you could see a 360 degree view of the city. It was fantastic. Afterwards, I was too exhausted to go out with Piotr and his friends. I went home and had cake with Oguz, and then when he went out to the bars, I crashed.