The Hopp Stop

Today we slept in somewhat, getting up at 9:30 to make our hotel’s free breakfast cutoff of 10am. From there we were off on a walk through innner Budapest, starting with Vorosmarty Ter and a quick duck into Gerbeaud, a famous cafe that Vanessa and I visited at least once on our 2008 Budapest trip. From the cafe, you can have a cold beverage or a coffee and watch the square goings on.

The weather was warm and humid, with rain expected. Although the rain never came, it stayed warm, in the mid-80s by my estimate. Backs were sweaty all day. I also regretted (1) wearing jeans today and (2) not bringing my convertible North Face pants; Mino was wearing his pair of convertibles.

Vorosmarty Ter connected us to Vaci Utca, a major shopping street that is closed to automobile traffic. It is rather touristy and lacks much of the appeal it would have had under Communism, when it was an oasis of Western capitalism (including the first McDonald’s in the Warsaw Pact countries). At the southern end lay the main indoor market in town. Vanessa and I had not made it here during our last visit, so I was glad to see it with M&M. The market had an impressive facade and was a pleasant surprise inside, with a great selection of fresh produce and meat on the ground floor to go along with the knick knack vendors on the second floor (or the first floor, as it is called here). We picked up some salami and tomatoes as the starting point for a home-made dinner later.

From there, we walked west to the midpoint of the Liberty Bridge, which connects Pest to the Citadella part of Buda. There is an old church carved out of the rock face, see photo. Also, there is a freedom monument on the top of the Citadella that was prepared for the Communists after WWII and repurposed for Hungary after 1989.

After a walk up the eastern bank of the Danube, back on the Pest side, that was parts busy road + tourist buses and parts relaxed cafe scene, we walked over the famous Chain Bridge and then up to Castle Hill in Buda. Vanessa and I took the funicular (elevator that travels at an angle) to the top last year, so I was fine with doing the walk and enhancing my back sweat this year.

I’ve come to prefer Rick Steves’ travel books to those of Lonely Planet, Frommers and the like after using his Eastern Europe book. Among the facts he provided about the castle on Castle Hill: it was a post-WWII reconstruction after the castle’s complete destruction in the war and is not historically accurate. The Lonely Planet Budapest book V and I used last year managed to omit this significant fact, leaving me believing that the castle was very old. It is true that a castle has stood on that spot since medieval times, but not that castle.

Moving on, we skipped the History Museum in the castle, which was fine by me–saw it last year, solid but uninspiring–and moved on to the old town in Buda. The main attraction, Matthias’ Chapel (named after perhaps the best kind in Hungarian history), was unfortunately undergoing significant renovation, so we satisfied ourselves with a quick external look and a view out over the Danube to the Pest side of the city.

We wrapped up our afternoon by navigating the subway (pretty easy, actually) to return home to our hotel for a little napping and soccer viewing.

After a pleasant dinner masterminded by Meghan (salami, cheese, tomatoes, fresh bread) and enjoyed with some Chilean wine (purchased with the last of our Polish zlotys), we were off to Franz Liszt Square, a hopping cafe and bar scene that was only a block from our hotel. Vanessa and I had eaten dinner at a restaurant there, Menza, that is still very well regarded in Hungary. This time, the team focused instead on finding an outdoor table at a cafe that offered a good view of the US/Italy Confederations Cup soccer match, as well as inexpensive half liters of beer. “Incognito” met the mark, allowing us to watch as the US received a horribly unjust red card in the first half to go down a man, then actually led for some time thanks to a penalty kick conversion by Dave Matthews I mean Landon Donovan, but some loose midfield play and excellent marksmanship by the Italians led to a 3-1 final score. At halftime, some folks in their twenties, who had been sitting by us at our cafe, got up to leave. On their way out, one guy stopped by to say in accented English, “So wait, you are Americans, and you like football? Am I getting this right?” He had a smile as we laughed in response and confirmed his understanding.

Back at home, we planned our next day and tried to tolerate some low-quality Hungarian wine from the Eger region, where we plan to take a day trip. That would scare me about the merits of the day trip, but we did only pay $3 for the bottle, so I remain hopeful that better wine is out there for us to try.