All The Best of Budapest

It has always been a dream of mine to go to Eastern Europe. To diverge from more typical study abroad excursions (see posts about London and Paris) Matalin and I booked a student tour to Budapest, Hungary – where we found out that Hungary is actually considered Central Europe. Well, close enough.

Fast Fun Facts:

• Budapest was originally two separate cities: Buda and Pest separated by the river. 
• Hungarian is used in films to sound like gibberish
• Hungary has a surprisingly high olympic medals per person ratio (3rd in the world – What?! It’s true)
• Similarly, Hungary is also 3rd in the world for alcohol consumption (Ireland is 15th, the U.S. is 57th-ish)
• BUT You don’t clink your glasses in Hungary because that’s what their Austrian invaders did after executions.

The tour placed us in RETOX PARTY HOSTEL. Hmmm. The description online boasted that not only is it common to see guests and staff alike drinking until they puke, it is actively encouraged at Retox. Troubling.

The first thing Matty and I did arriving at said hostel? Read our books and took a nap. Budapest didn’t know what had hit it. That’s alright, we knew that we couldn’t keep up our crazy napping ways but allowed ourselves time to recover after leaving Galway at 4 AM that morning.

The tour didn’t start until the next day but Matty and I met up with our sarcastic and very cool tour guide named Bogi (a nickname for the Hungarian word for Buttercup). Badass Bogi took us to a pub called Instant that was converted from an old apartment building (known as a ruin pub). The pubs are still laid out like homes but instead of a living room, there’s a dance floor. Some of the rooms are filled with couches and some are filled with foosball tables. The decorators of these ruin pubs, I would guess, are strong proponents of an herb that’s illegal in 49 U.S. states. A string of wooden rabbits littered the ceiling.  A mural of an owl with a mustache and human arms wearing a dress watched Matty, Bogi and I we ate delicious potato chip things, watched a game of handball, drank Hungarian beer (for $2.50) and tried to understand the accents of a British/Portuguese Stag (Bachelor) Party that invaded the pub.

Friday we saw took a walking tour of the city. One of the stops was at the Basilica. Studying abroad, you see a lot of old churches. The Basilica in Budapest was the most beautiful that I’ve seen so far. PLUS it holds (watch for the pun) all of the fun of housing a holy petrified hand.

The Holy Right Hand of King Saint Stephen

WHAT? More importantly, WHY? Nevertheless, I saw it. Meanwhile, some  Californian girls in my tour group opted to skip the beautiful historic church to go get Starbucks after drinking coffee literally 10 minutes beforehand (Woah, again with the puns). Hmmm.

We explored the city some more, took pretty pictures,

bought traditional Hungarian Secret Boxes (no, I will not show you the magic to opening it – unless you ask really nicely) and hid from the downpour because where ever I go, IT’S ALWAYS RAINING/SNOWING/HAILING. I should be studied.

The perfect solution was to skip directly to the famous Szechenyi thermal baths – which are in fact giant outdoor hottubs.

Friday night we went to more ruin pubs including my new favorite pub, Szimpla. Take the decorations at the last ruin pub, add lights, mysterious buttons, two old cars in the back and amplify it by Amsterdam. An entrance sign made of forks, a giant tree made of old wooden chairs, a bathtub couch and a pommel horse all looked oddly at home among other Szimpla decorations.

Saturday Bogi took us to Budapest’s Grand Market where Matty and I skillfully scoped out things that were fried and covered in Nutella. I think we have a gift. Instead of indulging in the Hungarian food or the experience of exploring the hundreds of stalls of fresh food and crafts brought in by locals, some of the girls in the tour were like totally wayyy too hungry and wasted the whole morning at an American-style breakfast place glued to their iPhones. Hmmm.

After the market, we took a tram and a bus up into the Buda hills to go caving. Caving was easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. This was intense caving. A lot of the group pictured a leisurely walk through the cave but we were fitted with jumpsuits (I’m using the term “fitted” as loosely as my jumpsuit hung) and helmets with lamps and we ducked and shimmied and slid and army crawled over and under rocks through the muddy cave. Our tour guide, who looked exactly like one of the actors from the movie EuroTrip, would point out tiny crevasses and convince us to shimmy through. At one point there were two ways to get to the next “room”. He asked if we were adventurous or not. Adventurous people went through the minuscule hole on the floor instead of climbing over the adjacent rock. At one point I did mention that my adventurous self’s butt was definitely bigger than the opening he expected us to climb through. Turns out, I was right. I found that out as I was trying to become dislodged from the cave. It took some shimmying, pulling and a Hungarian tour guide with broken english constantly repeating “Moove yer bum” for five excruciatingly slow minutes. 

Freedom at last

I emerged from the cave with limbs and bum in tact and Matty and I celebrated with some victory dances in our comically ill fitting muddy jumpsuits.

Ravenous after my near death experience, we ate at a cool restaurant Bogi recommended where you each order from a computer built into your tabletop.

That night, Matty and I braved a Budapest Spa-rty. Every Saturday night from March until June, one of the thermal baths closes to the public and opens for a giant Magical Bath Party with lasers, drinks and DJs. It was exactly as crazy and fun as you’re imagining.

The next day we went home and went back to napping and reading books.

Actually, the next day Bogi took us to a magical sweet shop where we ate pie and macaroons for breakfast, to the world’s largest synagogue and to a farmer’s market back at my favorite pub Szimpla.

We took at cab 45 minutes to the airport (for $4 a piece – Yay Budapest) and were standing in a ridiculously long line to unnecessarily have our passports checked by RyanAir employees when… I was struck with the flu – a flu that endured through the hour minimum passport line, through waiting for our gate to be posted, through security, through the plane ride, through the Dublin airport, through the three hour bumpy bus ride back to Galway, through my one day of recuperation at home before leaving again, through turning in my final papers, through the bus back to Dublin, through the flight to Amsterdam, through the train ride the wrong direction from Amsterdam to Utrecht – but that’s another story.