We're about halfway through our third day in Ljubljana right now, just taking a break back at the room. Tomorrow we might spend the day at the coastal resort town of Piran where it's supposed to be nice, although Rick Steves doesn't cover it in this guidebook so we'll be without our safety net which is a little bit nerve-wracking.
Sunday May 1st: On our second day in Budapest we planned on crossing the bridges over to the Buda side, but not before we did some homework. We were leaving the next day and although we had our train tickets in hand we had yet to book a room for our stay in Ljubljana. I went through the recommendations and cast a wide net sending requests for rooms via email to 7 different hotels, b&bs, and pensions. I figured we'd check back around lunchtime to see if we got any bites. We'd decided to just get one room for the rest of the trip since we would be flying out of Ljubljana and do day trips to Lake Bled or anywhere else we wanted to check out.
After breakfast our first priority was attempting to see the grand marketplace again, but when we got there it was still closed. We hadn't checked the signs the other day or we would have realized it didn't open on Sundays. At least we were near one of the bridges over to the Buda side, so we walked across and I took a couple snapshots of the Liberation Monument at the top of the Citadella along the way. To us the statue holding a palm leaf symbolizing peace looked like a taco so we called it the taco monument.
As we climbed the hill toward the Citadella we passed by a stand selling "hot corn" as a refreshing snack. We wandered a bit off the path and discovered the Cave Church, basically a church inside a partially man-made cave. We both thought it was pretty neat.
Outside we continued our hike up the hill. The weather was still quite nice and we were sweating by the time we got to the top. We finally got a good look at the statues on Liberation Monument and could tell it was actually a palm frond and not a taco as we had assumed. Behind the monument was the fortress or citadella. We walked the perimeter and took some panoramic shots across the river looking back at the Pest side. From there we could see some sort of activity along the bridges and wondered what it might be. It looked like they were closing them down to car traffic and putting up barricades. I didn't think much of it at the time.
As we hiked back down the hill on the other side, continuing on toward the castle we started to hear some sort of announcement on a loudspeaker echoing across the Danube, but it was in Hungarian so we still had no clue what was going on. Later as we lost sight of the river in the dense trees our peaceful nature hike was shattered by the sounds of the ear-splitting whine of car engines carrying across the water and echoing throughout the park. When we reached the next vantage point at Philosophers Monument we could see that there was a car race underway as a handful of tiny race cars zipped back and forth across the bridge and up the street on the near side, making a L-shaped loop. People crowded the railings and the bridges and the street-sides to watch the race. We just wanted to keep pushing through to get to the castle because we were on a schedule.
We eventually found our way through to the Buda castle and climbed up through the back gate. The castle itself was rather unimpressive but it did offer some grand views of the Chain Bridge. After the castle we planned on heading back across the Chain Bridge, but when we got there it seemed the race was still going and it was almost impossible to push through the sea of people crowding around to watch. We moved at a glacial pace through narrow fenced off corridors only to find when we got to the bridge that they had gated it off and were only allowing traffic coming over to Buda and would not let us pass the other direction. Kat was starting to get annoyed from being jostled about in such a large and crushing crowd for so long so I pushed a path through to where we could get some breathing room. We reached the riverside under the bridge and walked away from the crowds, not really knowing where to go. I was hungry and my foot was one giant blister at this point so I was getting a little snippy as well. We both thought it would be a good time to get some lunch and go to the Szechenyi Baths to relax, the only problem was that they were on the other side of the river and the closest non-closed bridge looked to be miles away.
About halfway to the far bridge Kat spotted a metro stop. I checked the map and indeed there was a metro 2 line stop right there that would carry us under the river. We gratefully got on board and rode it all the way back to Andrassy ut. Food was the first priority so we headed into the Ruin Pub district and finally found a Hummus Bar to get some beers, a falafel sandwich, a hummus plate, and some free wifi. The food was good, but I had to remind the guy like three times to bring us our beers. While I waited impatiently I checked my email and saw that I had many responses at least 3 options of hotels to choose from that could satisfy our requests. The best deal of the group was Slamic B&B so I accepted their offer and got it all squared away.
After lunch we pressed on, blisters and all, to the closest metro station along line 1 that would take us to Heroes Square. A few stops later we were there and I took a few pics of the sculptures in the square. Just beyond Heroes Square is the City Park where they have a zoo, a circus, a replica Transylvanian castle on a lake, and the Szechenyi Baths. Kat had read up on the process at the baths so we went in the poolside entrance, got our wrist bands and assigned cabin, rented our towels, and went in search of the changing cabin. It was a tiny little room we had to share, but we could at least leave our stuff in there while we were bathing. Kat got in her modest one-piece suit and I put on my tiny speedo and strutted out into the public baths.
We warmed up in the medical baths first, which are basically a series of hot tubs kept at different temperatures and with various different minerals mixed in that make them smell like feet. Our bodies needed the soak and we started to let some of the stress and tension melt away from our muscles. Kat and I traded calf and foot massages as we luxuriated in the baths. When we started to get a little dizzy from the heat we went out to the outdoor baths, which are still warm, but not overly so, and floated around for a bit longer. We watched people playing chess in the water, standing under the spouts, and generally having a good time until our fingers and toes began to prune. Before we left we wanted to hit the sauna as well. Neither of us could handle the stuffy heat for too long so soon we were showering, drying off, and getting dressed again. After I returned the towels, got my deposit back, and fed our wristbands into the return slot we headed back outside, feeling refreshed and a tad sleepy.
Before we retired for a nap at the room we decided it was high time to get a glass of wine at DiVino's wine bar. We took the metro again as close as it could get us, because we were pretty much done with walking by now. The last couple of times we had passed by it had been closed, but this time we were in luck and we snagged a table along our favorite square, St. Istvan's Square. After we each had a glass we decided it was nap time and headed back to the room, taking the metro again of course.
After our much needed mid-afternoon nap it was getting quite late and already past dinner time. I put on my fancy duds again and we started to head out only to find that a sudden rainstorm had appeared. We weren't prepared for that, but the front desk was able to lend us a large umbrella. We decided on a restaurant right nearby the Opera House and huddled together for the short walk through the rain.
We had a great meal at Klassz and the waiter was very fun and friendly. I had a stuffed duck breast and Kat had a braised pork chop from a special hairy pot bellied Hungarian pig. Both were delicious. We followed it up with crepe suzette with ice cream, an espresso for me because I was falling asleep at the table, and a shot of strong Hungarian apricot liquor for Kat. We finished up and by the time we walked home the rain had stopped. It was a great last night in Budapest.
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