Side Trip: Budapest

Last year, my mother and I took a great trip to visit some of Eastern Europe's Jewels; Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. I had no idea that I would be, once again, visiting one of these jewels this year, with Vin!

But as it happens, there is no direct train service from Northern Romania, to Zagreb, Croatia, so we had to make a pit stop in Budapest. Since Vin has never been here, and I really enjoyed myself here last year, we decided to extend our pit stop into a 6 day stay over, and I am so glad that we did.

After the relative isolation of Maramures, Romania, it was wonderful to be in a vibrant and beautiful city again. Budapest is oft overlooked by travelers, in favor of neighboring and more famous cities like Prague, but I find Budapest a wonderful alternative to some of these more expensive cities.

Although we didn't see everything, we did pack a lot into 6 days! Here are some of my favorite highlights...

*Visiting some of Budapest's Art Deco Masterpieces: Gresham Palace, Gellert Spa and The Applied Arts Museum

*Enjoying lunch and wandering around the Central Market

*Bathing at Gellert and Rudas Historic Thermal Baths

*The views of Buda and Castle Hill in the early evening

* Enjoying some amazing coffee at Gerbeaud and The New York Palace, two of the most famous cafe's in the world!

* Photographing the castle at City Park and finding the bust of Bela Legosi

*Discovering the Communist statues at Memento Park

Have no doubt, there is a lot to do and see here, and we didn't even get to scratch the surface! But all and all, Budapest is a beautiful walking city, worth much more than simply a day trip stop-over to Prague. I hope you get a chance to explore it too!