A crazy day of exploring the capital city of Hungary!
Budapest was not part of my original plan (neither was Bratislava, my next stop). When I trying to figure out how many days to spend in each area, I noticed that both Budapest and Bratislava were super close to Vienna and very easy to get to from each other. Due to the change of plans, I would only have a day in each city. Let me make this clear. Budapest is not a city you want to spend only one day in. I ended up walking about 14.5 miles (23 km) around Budapest like a crazy person from not long after sunrise until after sunset. I didn’t even visit a single museum. I just did what I do best though, wander.
Jana Irving There is a whole lot of neo-Gothic going on here.
Jana Irving Interesting matching buildings.
Jana Irving Mother Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. Hungarian words are hard, so I’m just going to stick with the English translations.
Jana Irving I had to go up to a bridge to get a photo of the front of the church, which also gave me a good view of Buda Castle across the river.
Jana Irving Back to the church. It was very colorful.
Jana Irving I don’t understand that yellow color. It was all over Zagreb, Croatia, too.
Jana Irving Weird lamp/fountain thing called the Lions Fountain.
Jana Irving Skipping ahead (or otherwise this post will be 100 photos long) to the 19th century St. Stephen’s Basilica.
Jana Irving It is so wonderfully 19th century inside.
Jana Irving Giving off some St. Peter’s Basilica vibes.
Jana Irving So much gold leaf.
Jana Irving Didn’t take long to find a Soviet monument.
Jana Irving The Hungarian Parliament Building is the largest building in Hungary. Gorgeous and massive. It’s even more Neo-Gothic on the inside, but unfortunately, I didn’t have time for a tour.
Jana Irving A partially cleaned buildings. The difference is amazing.
Jana Irving Time to cross the river on the very yellow Margit Bridge.
Jana Irving It’s quite a fancy bridge.
Jana Irving There’s that Parliament Building again.
Jana Irving I love the steeples on Hungarian churches.
Jana Irving Buda Castle is located high above the surrounding city. After climbing a bunch of stairs, I came across more stairs. I probably didn’t go up at the right spot.
Jana Irving The 19th century Fisherman’s Bastion and top Instagram spot.
Jana Irving I saw so many people posing for photos wearing impractical shoes. Not surprised.
Jana Irving The gorgeous Matthias Church. It was originally built in the 14th century but rehabbed in the 19th century. They did a fantastic job.
Jana Irving So therefore, the church is full on Neo-Gothic on the inside.
Jana Irving It’s a bit extra.
Jana Irving It’s probably a bit overdone, but I love it.
Jana Irving Neo-Gothic is never subtle.
Jana Irving Crowds swarming the Fisherman’s Bastion.
Jana Irving I explored a bit more of the plateau. A few streets are very cute and very quiet. It was nice.
Jana Irving Only this tower is left of St. Mary Magdalene.
Jana Irving So many cute buildings up here.
Jana Irving Bold but it works.
Jana Irving Budapest’s famous Chain Bridge. It was closed to pedestrians because of construction.
Jana Irving Gate to Buda Castle.
Jana Irving The not very castley Buda Castle. This Baroque palace replaced the original medieval castle in the 18th century. The palace sustained a lot of damage during WWII. The parts that did survive often were destroyed by the communists, leaving mostly a shell of a building.
Jana Irving They did reconstruct some of the remaining medieval features though.
Jana Irving Hunting scenes on a fountain, complete with doggos.
Jana Irving The current Hungarian Parliament is rebuilding much of the buildings pulled down after WWII. I thought this was just a recently restored building. Nope, from 2019. There is a lot of construction going on. I would love to see it when it’s all done.
Jana Irving It looks like the communists kept this part though.
Jana Irving Golden hour. There are those two matching buildings again. I basically went in a giant circle.
Jana Irving The late 19th century Central Market Hall.
Jana Irving It reminds me of a train station.
Jana Irving Very cute St. George, a Serbian Orthodox church.
Jana Irving Quieter streets.
Jana Irving The University Church. It looks like sherbet.
Jana Irving Back again to where I started.
Jana Irving My last stop was the Dohány Street Synagogue. Unfortunately, it was already closed.
I saw much more than what I showed here. My crazy day of wandering allowed me to see a lot of Budapest. However, I felt a bit too rushed (even for me) and wish I had more time to spend in certain areas. So, take my advice, plan for spending more than one day in Budapest.
Check out my next update where I explore Bratislava, Slovakia!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure in Zurich!
