Traveling with Katherine Schroeder to Budapest

The "Traveling With..." series continues with my friend Katherine. Although she doesn't blog but she has an Instagram page that you can follow here! She's also an American who lives in Ufa. It's not her first time living in Russia either and  I must say her Russian is good, unlike mine...

Budapest: A Tale of Two Cities

"When my friends and I arrived in Budapest after a fifteen-hour overnight train ride from Prague, we weren’t sure what to expect during our three day stay. Combined with the stifling heat and poor sleep from the train, we decided to make up for it with a huge Turkish Gyro by the train station. For two dollars, it was about the size of a puppy and full of meat, sour cream, and salad. From gyros to different languages on the streets, and an abundance of French macaroons, Budapest is a divided city in every way. One afternoon we visited the bright yellow Turkish bathhouse, which resembles a Russian sauna with hot pools, steam rooms, and tons of people. While Hungarian is the spoken language, I heard everything from French to Turkish on the streets, and a lot of signs are in Turkish. Honestly, I didn’t even feel like I was in Europe!

This 'divided' city is actually split into two cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube River. You can walk across the many bridge for a different view of the city. Despite the heat, we walked across the bridge early one morning and up to a hill that looks out over the city. This overlook is home to the Liberty Monument, where we posed for some pictures and tried to ignore the 90 degree weather. The overlook is also a great place to see the parliament building, which was one of my favorite parts of Budapest!

Monuments aside, the food is what I really remember about the city. On our second sunny morning, my friends and I trekked to the local spice market, where you can find traditional paprika, Turkish spices, and Hungarian desserts. The most famous dessert here is a layered caramel cake (I had two slices), although baklava is also very popular. Goulash is the traditional Hungarian soup, which I had at a local restaurant close to the apartment where I was staying. The goulash I ordered was a stew made out of paprika, tomatoes, beef, and served in a bread bowl. I would definitely recommend it!

The night before we left, we took a river tour down the Danube River, which gave us incredible views of the city and the bridges. I had an early flight the next day back to Seattle, and I was not looking forward to leaving."

Thank you for sharing! If you would like to share your city or travel destination please send me an e-mail at coffeeandcleveland@gmail.com. From there I will send you more information on requirements for posting.