Thursday morning we were up super early, as Budapest is 2 hours behind Doha and we hadn’t adjusted to the time change. When we left our hotel it was around 7:30 AM, and the city was gearing into morning rush hour.
We enjoyed Espresso Embassy so much that we decided to go there again for flat whites and pastries for breakfast.
We then went over by the river to see the poignant statue, “Shoes on the Danube Bank.” For more information on this, click here.
After that we hopped on the M1 and took it over to Heroes Square. The statues are in chronological historical order- I liked seeing the different “looks” of the time!
There was a huge ice skating area close by and we thought about renting some skates or an hour, but opted for a photo opp instead. For people unaccustomed to ice skating and chilly weather(like us), I feel like it’s one of those things that’s fun for about 5 minutes and then you’re cold and done.
Next, we decided to take the tram over to the Central Market Hall, where I bought some paprika. The entire first floor is all food/market stalls, and the second floor is handicrafts and wares. Kinda reminded me of the souq life in Doha, haha.
We figured by this point it was an appropriate time to have a warm wine, so we headed over to the Christmas Market near Deak Ferenc, each got a cuppa, and sat on a park bench and people watched near the busy square.
Soon after, we felt hungry and each got a dish of stank porky deliciousness and warm sour cherry beer.
Then it was time for our next TRAP! Luckily the Medieval puzzle game was working this time- our gamemaker said this puzzle is very hard for couples to accomplish in 60 minutes. Well, challenge accepted, and we finished at 50 minutes! Part of the trap also involved putting on different items of clothing…
We were ready for a nap at this point, so we headed home and rested for a little bit before gearing up for Round 2 that evening.
After eating fairly heavy foods for 2 days straight, my stomach needed a little break, so we headed to a restaurant I had seen 2 nights before near Szimpla- of all places, a ramen restaurant! It was a tight spot with a crowd and a line, so we took that as a good sign. Alas, we were not disappointed- the ramen, sake, and gyoza dumplings that we had were all delicious.
We then walked along Andrassy avenue (the Champs Elysee of Budapest) and passed by the Opera House, all decorated for the season.
From there, we popped into a disappointing Scottish pub, and then another ruin bar called “Instant.” It was pretty trippy inside!
We then took the metro outside the city center to a somewhat rough area to check out a massive craft beer bar called Eleszto. It was huge and crowded inside.
And the patrons were definitely of the bookish type- so what does that make us?
We hung out there for a bit, then headed home. In the metro we noticed all the kids just gearing up for a night out, and felt old!
Since we only had a little soup for dinner, we popped by our neighborhood Gyro stand for a night cap.
The next morning, we got up and had breakfast over at the ornate “New York Café,” which was actually attached to our hotel.
Via visitbudapest.travel:
At the turn of the 20th century the New York Café (New York Kávéház) was the most beautiful and the most beloved coffee house in Budapest. It was a popular place among writers and editors, in fact, the most influential newspapers were edited here, upstairs in the gallery. After World War II, the once famous café fell into disrepair and it served as a sporting goods shop. Although the café reopened in 1954, under the name of Hungária, it wasn’t until 2006 that the New York Café was restored to its original splendor.
It was a breakfast buffet, and was the most expensive meal of our trip, but at 25 Euros/pp (including mimosas) it was still a lot cheaper than what you get in many other cities!
From there we packed up, hopped on the metro, hopped on the bus, and made our way to the airport. Great trip!
Hollers in the 'ha 