Budapest | The grand tour [part 2]

After having a lunch break at Baotiful it was time to visit the Parliament. It was now already 3 p. m. and the problem was that it was darkening slowly, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to use my analog camera.

The Parliament of Budapest

On our way to the jewel of Hungary we stopped shortly at the circular Szabadzag Square to take a few shots since it had nice architecture. And there you could see the biggest building in the Budapest and Hungary at all through Vecszey Street. On our way to the Lajos Kossuth Square where the Parliament is situated we passed by the small bridge in the street, again something popular for the tourists.

And there we are! Lajos Kossuth Square is really huge, spacious, somewhat "clean" and how could I describe it. So the first thing you see and that attracts your eyes is of course the Parliament which looks marvellous. It has this Neo-Gothic and a Renaissance style with the pikes and tall windows with a dome in the centre. The color of the roof is brownish-blood-like (or of some berries) which makes it look like a cake when looking from far away (as the locals joke). The Parliament was built right on the banks of the Danube with only one car road and the promenade built between the river and the building. And on the other side of the river is the Buda castle.

Apparently the square was renovated since the blocks looked new and I've just seen on Google Maps that it was turned into a construction place before so that must be it. There is also lots of space, maybe 100 m between the Parliament and the other buildings so it's in the centre of attention.

Around the square there is a tram rail along with the pedestrian and bike tracks so it must be very nice for the people who use the transport to go by the Parliament house. At least we don't have it in Croatia since our Parliament is on the hill and far from the tram. And a lot smaller, you wouldn't even notice it.

And of course, there are two soldiers standing firmly in front of the entrance, similar like the British ones at the Buckingham palace. They don't move nor pay attention to you. Behind them was apparently some pool but without water this time.

Culinari Shop with International food

After the Parliament my friend told me there was a cool store with food; sweets and drinks from all around the world and that it might be interesting to visit it. Why not? This shop is in the Marko street 5 minutes away from the entrance of the Parliament.

Once you enter it you will probably first notice huge amounts of chocolates everywhere with the nice packaging. I haven't seen much of it before as again compared to for example Croatia you cannot expect experiments with designs of the packaging. Here on the contrary it was. And as expected - the prices were much higher. I was tempted to buy some because of the visuals but ended up buying Cola can with taste of Vanila. Smells good.

And it's not only about the chocolates and candies, there are drinks, vegetables, pasta, milk products and everything else you can find in other markets, just here in small amounts and much more expensive of course.

After happy shopping we decided to go back home but visit some other places on our way there.

Christmas atmosphere in the evening and the Tiger shop

Now comes a bit blurry part for me and unfortunately forgot some of the names of the items (chocolates) we bought but there are few interesting things to mention.

So we headed in the direction of south 3 kilometres until we took the tram in front of the Market Hall and the Liberty bridge (there's "liberty" something on every corner there! ). I don't remember much except for drinking this Cola until we came to the park with the Big Ferris Wheel. Which meant we were also at the Deak Square with the St Stephen's Basilica. We passed by the giant wheel and left the Elizabeth Square to Vörösmarty Square with another huge pile of the markets selling drinks, food, clothes and other souvenirs. This was a cheerful place, not to big but enough for hundreds of people. From there our next destination (and recommendation) was the Danish Tiger Shop.

It's in Vaci Street and look like a small IKEA. It's the store with simple design and with affordable prices. It's on the two floors where you can buy stuff for the garden, tools, something for the kitchen, deductive toys for children and my favourite part - equipment for artists, designers, illustrators... for 2-5 € you could get fine sketchbooks, watercolors, markers and tons of other stuff I never mention in my regular life. I bought there some watercolors for 3 € and looks very sophisticated. If you want to buy some presents for the children and you also want them to experiment with that and learn something - I highly recommend you going there! Everyone can find something inside.

After the shop we still were walking down the street and saw some souvenir shops. Now my heart couldn't ignore them any more so we stopped by to buy a few magnets.

Leves bar and the soups

My friend then recommended going to this Leves Bar, a take-out restaurant, where we could get some warm delicious soups. Let's go!

We came to the avenue with the Liberty Bridge, City Market Hall and the Corvinus Uni, there was the tram station. It took us only one stop, actually could have walked 5 more minutes but who cares.

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There we took for a normal price two soups each. It smelled really good but we made a deal to wait until we get home. And on my surprise, one was pink and tasted a bit sweet. I was not used to this kind of soup but it was nice, more like some strange juicy yogurt?! You can find more info about the restaurant on their Facebook page.

Now after few tram stops we came back home and made a 2 hours long break since my colleague had something to finish, we had dinner, played a bit PS4 and then ready for more. After all, we've been walking around for almost 7 hours and did almost 12 km.

Szimpla kert and langos

The last things to visit in the evening were this nice bar and some place to eat again and maybe try Langos.

Szimpla kert is a cool bar and also a clubhouse in Kazinczy street 14 (and in this street you can find lots of other bars and fast food places). Apparently the street is one of the popular places in Budapest, according to my friend, and this bar was also full of people. There are also lots of foreigners who discovered the place. We were one of them.

It is also on two floors in an abandoned old building but from the inside was made alive with the retro stuff. Bikes and colourful lights on the ceiling. There are lots of rooms with the walls without the doors, just go through the hall. If it gets too crowded so you don't find a seat you can find the place at the bar.

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After a drink we wanted to find a place to eat and ended up in the nearby space in the same street with several tents or markets which served fast food. There I ordered my first Langos which tasted really good. Miss it.

Since it was already midnight we headed home. My last night in Budapest was over.

The last bar and back home

My bus was leaving around 11. 30 a. m. from so we had a time to go to one more bar. Since it was Sunday lots of them were simply closed. But then we went to Corvin Mozi or Cinema and found one bar to be open. And after an hour or less we used the metro to go the bus station.

Again the scenery of many homeless people lying on the floor. My yellow RegJet bus was waiting there. Time to say 'until next time' came and after showing the ID card I got into the bus. Changed again in Bratislava to another one. There was the same girl/student serving the passengers so I ordered again hot chocolate (and she remembered it from 2 days ago) so I enjoy an hour back home while listening to the radio.

Back in Vienna at Station Bus Terminal. It was now sunset approaching. I stepped into the U-bahn and soon was home.

I'd thanks firstly my friend for the big tour and being a great host as well as to her friend at home. And the guys I met on Friday. I really enjoyed me stay in Budapest and it's totally worth of visiting.

Thanks for reading.

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