A Day in Pest

Originally Budapest was two separate cities on either side of the Danube River….Buda to the west and Pest (pronounced Pesht) on the east . They were unified into one city 1873. My hotel is on the Pest side so I hung out there today.

After a delicious breakfast, I bundled up and headed to St. Stephen’s Basilica which is only about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. On the way, I passed the Opera House.

The Basilica is just a few blocks from the Opera House.

After about 30 minutes in the Basilica, I headed back out towards the Parliament building. On the way I passed Liberty Square. I didn’t know it at the time but the U.S. Embassy is located on the square. I didn’t know to look for it so I didn’t get a picture. But, I did see a monument to the Jews killed in WWII.

On my way out of the square there was a statue of Ronald Reagan. I assume it was erected in thanks for his influence in bringing down the Soviet Bloc.

The Parliament is right on the river so after getting a few pics, I walked along the river. At first I had a sidewalk but after a short walk, the sidewalk was gone and I was walking in a muddy mess. The view of the west side of the river was very pretty, though.

On the bank of the river, I found a bunch of bronze shoes. This memorial was erected in 2005 and honors the Jews massacred by the Fascist Hungarian Militia in Budapest during WW II. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be resold), and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away by the current. The memorial represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

The main bridge across the Danube is the Chain Bridge which was the first permanent bridge to span the river. It opened in 1849.

By this time I had been out for about 2 1/2 hours and I was cold and hungry. So, I stopped at a restaurant I found on a side street. It had adorable Christmas decorations and just happened to be Italian so it was a win.

The pizza was good and the hot chocolate delicious and, well, hot. It’s just what I needed.

After a relaxing lunch I walked just a few blocks to the underground and headed for Hero’s Square.

Then I headed back to the hotel to warm up and rest my feet before going back out to visit the Christmas market at St. Stephen’s Basilica. While resting, I spent over 2 hours trying to get my Airalo eSim card to work. It took an hour to get out of the chat waiting room and then another hour for Jacob to not get it fixed after which he put me back in the chat waiting room. After another 30 minutes (2 1/2 hours total), I decided to delete the eSim card I got for South Africa and that did the trick. Next summer when I come back to Europe, I’ll try just topping off this card rather than buying a new one. That’s 2 1/2 hours of my life I’m not getting back, but on the other hand, it kept me awake.

I spent the evening at the Christmas market and had a lovely time. It was crowded but not too crazy. The Basilica was beautifully lit and the booths were very festive.

There was a duo entertaining the crowd.

And a light show on the Basilica.

As you know, I love my Italian food but I also enjoy trying the local cuisine. One of the booths was cooking salmon on cedar planks over an open fire. The fire felt wonderfully warm but it should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I did not have the salmon.

I did, though, have Hungarian Goulash.

There were all kinds of sweet treats.

I didn’t try any of these either.

I did get a few of the traditional Christmas cakes but I haven’t eaten them yet. I’ll post pictures once I open them.

After about 90 minutes at the market I was starting to get really cold, so I got a hot chocolate to go and headed to the Metro. I couldn’t find the entrance closest to the Basilica so I just kept walking. On the way I found a Ferris wheel.

And a pretty walking street.

It was almost 7pm when I got home and I was very cold. Even my feet, which had been fine all day, were like blocks of ice. But a nice hot shower took care of that.

All in all it was a wonderful. Way too much food and lots of walking. I had almost 17,000 steps which is just over 4 miles. Maybe I walked off some of that food.

Tomorrow I head to the Buda side of the city and visit St. Matthias Church and the castle. I may take a one-hour ride on the Danube but we’ll see.