After a few days in Copenhagen, we hopped back on a plane and flew to Budapest, Hungary.
The first day the city was covered in fog.
They had decorative cabbage planted around the city!
Our first stop was the Cave Church, or St. Ivan's Cave. It's a church built into Gellert Hill, an area with natural cave systems. The church was started in 1920, by Pauline monks who were inspired by churches they had seen in France. During the Soviet occupation of Budapest, the church was raided in 1951, and the church was sealed. The church was reopened again in 1989 when communism ended, and the cement wall that sealed the church was destroyed.
The outside of the Cave Church.
After the Cave Church we stopped at a pretzel stand and got a giant pretzel.
The city is actually split in half by the Danube river. It used to be two separate cities, Buda and Pest. In the above picture you can see Buda Castle Hill on the Buda side.
And here we are at Buda Castle.
Above is the Hungarian Parliament building on the Pest side of the city.
We saw the changing of the guard.
We went to St. Matthias church, which is one of the most unique churches we've ever seen. The is the church where the coronations of the kings of Hungary took place.
We walked around Fisherman's Bastion right next to the church.
From the tower of the church we had a good view of the foggy city, and a great view of the tiled roof.
If the outside of the church is cool, the inside is absolutely breathtaking. It was just so detailed and ornate.It was a very different feel than the cathedrals we are used to in France and Spain.
The image of Mary on the altar was made so that on her feast day, light shines perfectly all around her.
At night we walked across Chain Bridge, a suspension bridge across the Danube. It was built in 1849 and was considered one of the modern world's engineering wonders.
We went into St. Stephen's Basilica, which also had a Christmas market right outside.
We went up the tower and had a good view of the Parliament building. Inside the tower we got to see the outside of the domed ceiling which was really neat.
Above is the Dohany Street Synagogue, which sadly we weren't able to go into.
We went to the Vajdahunyad Castle where they have an outdoor ice rink and another Christmas market.
We got a chimney cake! They wrap dough around a cylinder, pour sugar over it, and cook it over coals.
In the afternoon we went ice skating! This is the largest outdoor ice rink in Europe!
After ice skating we went to the Szechenyi Thermal Baths and spent the evening soaking and hanging out in Saunas.
The next day we went for an up close look at the Parliament building. It's the 3rd largest parliament building in the world.
We went to the Hospital in the Rock Museum which we both really enjoyed. There is a natural cave system underneath Buda Castle Hill that they used to make a secret hospital which was used in World War 2. In WW2 Budapest was held by the Nazi's, but the city was under siege by the Soviets, who eventually won and took over the city. The hospital kept very busy during this time. Later, the hospital was made into a nuclear bunker.
Also in the cave system is the labyrinth where Dracula (Vlad the Impaler) was kept prisoner by King Matthias in the 1400s.
After Dracula's Labyrinth we walked around the city to admire it lit up.
And we ended the night at Szimpla Kert, one of Budapest's ruin pubs. WW2 left a lof of the city in ruins, and some of them have been turned into bars in the Jewish quarter of the city. The place was huge, and very popular.
On our last morning we headed to the Central Market Hall for some Hungarian Street food. Ben got a cone of bread filled with sausage and cabbage. I got langos, fried dough covered in sour cream, cheese and olives.
