Budapest, Hungary- Day 1

Scott and I headed out of Prague on the looooong train ride to Budapest, Hungary.  We arrived at night to find our hostel and prepare for the next few days of sightseeing.

Early the next morning, we decided to do a Budapest Walking Tour to get the lay of the land and learn more about the city. Our guide was a native to Budapest, so we enjoyed learning about this city from a local.  We walked around and found a couple statues that had interesting stories behind them.

The police officer in this picture was known as a...ladies man.  Budapest locals (and tourists in the know) walk by and rub his belly for some good luck in love.

This statue is called "Little Princess". It was dedicated in 1989, a pretty important year for Hungary as they finally became independent and free of Soviet rule. We would learn much more about this throughout our stay in Budapest. As our guide explained, it's significant because it's a statue simply about a little girl full of joy.  This was in contrast to the statues that had dotted Budapest for years of military leaders and soldiers. This one also has a superstition- rub her knees for good luck.

We continued across the Danube over the Chain Bridge and up the "Castle Mountain" to get a great view of the city.  Most of old Budapest has been destroyed over the years, particularly during a 100-day siege towards the end of WW2.  All of the bridges and most of the historic buildings have been repaired or rebuilt. 

One of Hungary's famous foods is Goulash.  I was familiar with "goulash" from a dish my wonderful, Midwestern mother made that was sort of casserole style with noodles and ground beef.  The real thing is more of a beef stew with a red broth.  It's delicious and great for a cold, fall day. 

After lunch, we headed to another attraction that Budapest is famous for- the Szechenyi Baths. These are public, medicinal baths supplied by 2 thermal springs. There are several indoor and outdoor pools here.  The style is very different than our other "bath" experience in Iceland.  Here, the baths are in a Neo-Baroque style building from 1913.  There were even more pools, saunas, and steam rooms than in Iceland.  Other highlights:  old Hungarians playing chess in the pools and synchronized swimming practice.  

Here is one of the indoor pools: 

And the outdoor pool:

Note that the air temperature outside was upper 40s (F), so the warm water (usually around 100F) felt amazing.  We felt refreshed and warmed up, so we went for a great dinner and then to a ruin pub. Ruin pubs are abandoned buildings that were never rebuilt after WW2, and now they have made them into bars. They're filled with old cars, machines, essentially "junk" but it creates a cool vibe. A great action-packed day in Budapest!