Today we took a day trip to Lake Bled and had an amazing time there. I think it might have even edged out Cesky Krumlov for best experience of the trip. I'll eventually get to posting about it though, once I finish my backlog of posts.
Saturday April 30th: I'd say we both really enjoyed Budapest. It feels like an accessible and friendly city despite its large size, the occasionally dingy-looking Metro station, and the reeking puddles of piss in the alleyways. Compared to Vienna, where you feel like you're supposed to be impressed by the grand imperial architecture and city planning, Budapest is truly awe-inspiring with its fanciful monuments dotting the hill on Buda visible from across the river, the massive Chain Bridge, the imposing parliament building, and the grand Heroes Square. It's even more beautiful at night when everything lights up and reflects against the Danube. It has its hidden and more subtle charms as well including the line 1 metro stations, the Cave Church, the amazing baths, and many excellent places to eat and drink wine while people watching. All in all I think it's the total package.
We had two days scheduled for Budapest; one for the Pest side and another for Buda, with nights back in Pest for dinner and drinks. The sites in Budapest are a bit more spread out than even Vienna so in order to preserve our feet and still see everything we wanted to having the travel pass was essential. As I think I already mentioned, our hotel turned out to be a great spot, right near the Opera spot on metro line 1, which had these cute little tiled stations, along Andrassy ut. where there were plenty of options for eating, and close to the Jewish Quarter where there were even more options for food and late night drinks. Leopold Town was also a great area for cafes and wine bars, which was a short walk and an even shorter metro ride away.
Our enjoyment of Budapest was probably helped by the weather while we were there. It was sunny and warm both days so I finally had a chance to wear the shorts I had packed and Kat brought out her skirt and tank tops. After a solid breakfast at the hotel, including Kat's customary do-it-yourself chai latte using her own mix, we started our walking tour of Budapest with the next door Opera House. We then proceeded down Andrassy ut. past Liszt Ference ter, through the Oktogon, and got as far as Terror House. From there it was a straight shot on a tram to the train station where I needed to print our train tickets to Ljubljana. We continued our tour by walking to the impressive Parliament Building near the Danube and spent some time there just checking out all the sculptures and appreciating it as we were instructed to by Rick Steves.
Next we followed the river South, passing the simple yet powerfully moving Holocaust Monument which consisted of 50 pairs of empty bronze shoes lined up along the Danube. Our path then took us away from the river and to a series of gardens and squares dotted with more monuments, sculpture, and statues including one of The Gipper. Kat found another playful water feature, this one would sense you walking through it and shut off to let you pass.
Around lunchtime we reached St. Istvan Square right in the heart of Leopold Town with the distinctive St. Istvan's Basilica overlooking it. In our wanderings this would be a touchstone landmark and we would frequently find ourselves in the area for the many fine restaurants, cafes, and wine bars. We ate our first lunch just behind St. Istvan's. We tried to get into DiVino's, a recommended wine bar, but it wasn't open yet.
After lunch we headed back down to the Danube and walked along until we came to the Legenda Boat Tours dock. Their nighttime river tour had been recommended to us by the family we had met while waiting for the worst yellow internet bus ever so we thought we'd give it a try. We got our discount tickets, thanks to Rick Steves, for the sunset tour around 20:15 and then kept going. We ended up at the great marketplace, but it had just closed. This disappointed Kat because she was looking forward to browsing through the piles of pickles and paprika.
We hoped on a tram and rode it for a few stops until we reached the Jewish Quarter where we wandered the narrow streets and looked for some of the Ruin Pubs we'd heard about. They all seemed a bit too smokey for our tastes though. I guess we've been spoiled by Oregon's non-smoking rules.
By that time we were both a bit worn out and wanted to get back to the room for a break before our evening boat tour. Luckily the hotel was nearby since we'd basically come full-circle and we were almost back where we started. A couple streets over and we were home again. After a power nap we got ourselves spruced up (I was really getting some use out of my jacket) and headed back down to the Danube.
We arrived at the dock early and had to sit down to wait for our boarding time. While we waited we heard a commotion from behind us and watched as two men climbed dripping out of the river and ran off down the canal. It wasn't clear, but it seemed they had jumped off the boat for some reason. As more tourists gathered and crowded into the waiting area Kat and I started to doubt our choice of entertainment for the evening. This was the most touristy thing we'd done so far on the trip and we were being reminded of why we try to avoid tour groups: argumentative people hassling the staff, large crowds, pushy people jockeying for position, feeling stuck to the tour's schedule, and being herded through the experience one group after the next.
Soon they loaded us on board and Kat and I made our way to the top deck to try and get decent seat. I was looking forward to getting some good pictures of the city when it was lit up at night and it would have been nice to have some open air seats, but the boat was completely glazed in. Kat and I were told we would at least be getting a drink as part of the tour so we were looking forward to a glass of wine during the ride. There was a big screen TV at the front of the boat and a listening device with headphones on the back of every seat where you could pick your language and follow along with the narration during the tour.
The boat got going just as the sun was setting, which was quite beautiful to watch, and soon everything started to light up and I was excited again. Unfortunately I soon realized that there was significant glare on the windows coming from the lights behind me as well as from the big screen TV when it flared to life. The video played throughout the whole damn tour, showing you what you basically can see during the day, and was accompanied by the most boring and dumbed-down narration you can imagine. Kat and I would burst into giggling fits over just how lame it was. I took a ton of pictures during the ride hoping that maybe one or two would turn out okay. Kat got a little bored halfway through and entertained herself by trying to sneak into my shots.
When the attendant finally came around to get our drink orders we thought to ourselves that finally we'd be getting our money's worth, but when she brought us our small glasses of red wine we soon realized our mistake. It was terrible, somehow both sour and tasteless at the same time and we both reflexively felt our faces recoil and then looked at each other with identical cringing expressions on our faces. We both struggled to choke it down, but felt determined to do it anyway because we paid for it dammit. It suddenly made sense to us why those two men had jumped off the boat earlier; they had sampled the wine and were trying desperately to run away!
Thankfully the tour and the wine came to an end and we escaped to dry land. We hadn't had time for dinner before the tour and it was getting late and we needed something to wash our mouths out. We wandered Leopold Town again until we found one of the recommended restaurants. This one specialized in sweet and savory strudels. We ordered a bottle of better red wine, ate strudels and goulash, and I topped off the meal with a tiny espresso. As we finished and paid the bill they were closing up for the night. Feeling full and a bit tipsy from quickly polishing off the bottle we weaved our way back to the hotel, dodging little puddles of piss as we went.
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