Day 21: Budapest (Eric)

Day 21: June 17th, 2019. Today was another fun day in Budapest with only a couple of minor complaints (more on those later). We decided to buy transit passes to just wander and explore the city. The views along the river are spectacular, and there is so much to see. 

As we were wandering, we came across a fountain in a park that had a water display set to music. The coolest part is when we recognized a Hungarian version of “Let It Go” from Frozen. It made us both smile. 

After making it over to the Pest side of the river, we continued to explore taking pictures of some of the more interesting sights along the way, including The Shoes on the Danube Bank. This is a memorial to honor Jews who were killed on the banks of the Danube during World War II. It was a powerful piece of art. 

Of course, the city is filled with numerous other sights, historical statues, and buildings. Here are some of the highlights. 

We started to get a little hungry, and Jenny had read about a place called the Zoo Cafe. Turns out that this really isn’t a place to get decent food, but it was one of the best experiences of this entire trip. The cafe has you sit at a table while animals are brought to you for you to hold and pet. We were visited by a tortoise, a chameleon, a bearded dragon, a guinea pig, a rabbit, and a ball python. There are also a number of cats who freely wander the cafe as well as toucans and other animals in numerous cages scattered around the place. It was truly a unique experience. 

Now onto the aforementioned complaints, the first was dinner. We ate at a place called Riso Restaurante and Terrace. To be fair, there were some positive things about the place. It was situated in a beautiful garden on Castle Hill. Jenny ordered a pizza that was delicious. My complaint came from the lasagna I ordered. It was mushy and tasteless, but I would eat there again, but I definitely wouldn’t get the lasagna. After dinner, we walked around the hill to once again enjoy the amazing views of the surrounding area. 

The final complaint came from our trip to Rudas Baths. Our experience there was not a good one, and we can’t recommend the place. The baths themselves were fairly nice, but the people working there were not terribly friendly nor helpful. Our towels also got stolen while we were in the baths. The whole experience left a bad taste in our mouths and put a little bit of a cloud on an otherwise fabulous trip. 

That’s all for now. We have one more day in Budapest, and I’m still looking forward to it despite the minor issues.