The Great City of Budapest | Day 12

Well as anticipated I slept in just a little bit. All that fun was a bit to much fun. I had pre-paid this time for breakfasts but I woke up a tad past breakfast closing time. I continued to lay around for just a little thinking about my life decisions haha. There was so much to go out and see that I had to get motivated. The chance encounter with the scooter last night turned out to be the best thing of all time. They were everywhere around the city and when I looked at the passes they offered it was extremely reasonable. For an hour of ride time, which isn’t consecutive, its $8 USD. So once you scan the qr code on the scooter your time starts and then when you park (in the correct places) the time stops. That amount of time is reduced from the hour pass and then when you get another scooter that time starts again. I finally showered, got some clothes on, and gathered up my gear. The first thing I wanted to see was the Great Market Hall. I had seen pictures of all the different stands and food that it was a must see on my list. Out the door I headed in search of a scooter.

In a full circle story I exited the hotel to find the scooter I had left the night before. It only felt right to ride that one again today. It was about 2 miles from my hotel to the market. No sweat with a scooter haha. The city surely was designed with walking and cycling in mind because their bike lanes were choice. They were wide and clearly marked and they were spacious. I followed the map from the hotel and it led me down the river and then across one of the many bridges. The Hall was just on the other side of the bridge and had a grand entrance. I parked the scooter in a designated spot and walked in. The days have seemed to blend together and I didn’t realize that it was Sunday. There wen’t as many stands open when I entered and I wonder if that was because it was Sunday. None the less there were still plenty of people walking up and down the main street looking at the stores that were open. There was a staircase leading upstairs and I thought to head up and see what cool photos I could get from there. From the second story you could get a better feel for the market. It was one long street with four intersections. On the second story there was one walkway that connecting the two sides with souvenirs. On the far end of the market there were three arch shaped windows with a clock in the middle. The interior of the building is made of iron and has an arch shaped roof. It is really impressive. The main floor has produce, spices, candles and spirits, while the second floor has eateries and souvenirs and basements has a few butcher shops and fish mongers. I stood up there for about 20 minutes taking various photos and every so often someone else would come up doing the same thing. Once I had gotten all the photos I wanted I headed down to check out the stalls. I specifically wanted to come to the great hall because I wanted to get some Hungarian Salami. For some reason that had peaked my taste buds interest so we were in search. About 3/4 of the way down there was a meat stand that had all the salami, sausages, and other meat treats you could possibly ask for. The lay who was working the stand saw me and asked if I would like to try and of them. That was a silly question. I tried two different kinds of salami and said I would take one of each. She was very nice and said that she dreamed of going to Hawaii one day and hoped to get there one day. I thanked her for the salami and started to head back to the entrance. I passed a little souvenir shop and decided to get my mom an apron, hot mitt, and dish pad set. The little stand was pretty busy and people were buying all kinds of things. I made my purchase and headed out the door with mission completed.

The next thing I wanted to check out was the Jewish memorial iron shoes. It was a bit far away and had to navigate the backside of the city. The bike lanes, as mentioned, are everywhere and leave plenty of room for those to scoot around and not feel like they are in the middle of traffic. I was heading towards the shoes when I came around the bend and saw this insane building. I figure I pull over and take a few photos. I didn’t exactly know what the building was but when I consulted my personal information guy, Google, it told me that the building was St. Stephen’s Basilica. It is a Roman Catholic Basilica and was name in honor of the first King of Hungary, Stephen I. The Basilica is one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen. Construction started in 1845 and in January 1868 the cupola collapses due to defective construction. It was rebuilt and in 1890 the structure was completed. During WWII the roof was severely damaged and needed to be replaced. The mummified Holy Right Hand of St Stephen can be found guarded inside as well. Gotta hand it to him. I took a bunch of photos the different parts of the Basilica. Each place you looked had different intricacies. I shot that for probably 45 minutes and then was back on the scooter. The route took me down a narrow street and about half way down there was a memorial with a rectangular water feature. You could walk up to the water at any spot and the individual fountains would shut off and allow you to walk in to the center. There were a bunch of people standing around it and kids playing in the water. The statue was a memorial to all of those that had lost their lives due to the German occupation in Hungary during WWII. There photos and flowers placed on the wall in front and people were walking up and back looking at each individual one. The little street that ran in to the memorial was crowded and it was a pretty little street so decided to walk that for a bit. As I got about a block in to it there was a street that ran perpendicular and when I looked the left I was on the front side of St. Stephen’s Basilica. There was a huge plaza in front and hundreds of people either walking to, coming from, or taking photos of the Basilica. I had to walk down there and shoot some more photos. It is really easy to get good images when you have an awesome subject. I got some detail shots of the entrance and a panorama of the entire church. People flowed in and out taking selfies, images of each other, and images of the church. After spending a good amount of time there I thought it was time to keep pressing forward.

It had gotten later in the afternoon than I thought and needed to charge some batteries for what I wanted to shoot that evening. I pulled up the Lime app and found the closest scooter. Back to that scoot life. I headed the mile and half back towards the hotel and this time had gotten on board with where to park. The app will show you all of the parking stations around the city and there was one only a block past hotel. I pulled in, parked, took the necessary photo, and ended the ride. I headed up to my room and threw some camera, and drone batteries, on charge. A vice I have is that when I download memory cards I can’t help but start to go through them and do some light retouching. I worked on a few of the images that I had captured from earlier while the other batteries charged. After an hour or so I started to gather up my things to head towards the Buda Castle. I had seen from others that the Buda Castle offered and unobstructed view of the Chain Bridge with the Parliament Building in the background. I was sure that I would not be the only one trying to take such a photo at sunset time so wanted to get their early. I grabbed all my gear and headed back to the scooter station. The Castle wasn’t to far from the hotel but I didn’t realize that the route would take me up a steep hill. The scooter struggled to get up the hill and by the time I got up the little hill the battery died. I walked the scooter up a secondary hill until I found a parking area. If the battery dies the time doesn’t stop so I spent probably more time walking the thing than I did actually riding it. I arrived at this giant staircase leading up to to the gorgeous structure. I got about halfway up and looked at the view but it didn’t seem to match what I had seen previously. I checked my maps and in fact I was at a different place, the Fisherman’s Bastion. I walked back down the stairs and looked for a different scooter. When I tried to scan one of the scooters the app wouldn’t let me and said it had been reserved for someone else. I didn’t know that you could reserve them and surely had to look in to that the next time. Finally found an available scooter and was back on the road. The route led me up the road I was just on and maybe half a mile later I reached the castle. There was a guard booth and circumvented that. I had to laugh because the street turned to stone and the gap between the stones made the scooter, and myself, bounce up and down like a cartoon character. I got off the scooter and walked it, again, for a little bit toward the area I wanted to go. Naturally, when I tried to park it the app said I couldn’t park it there. I looked at the app and the nearest parking stall was down the backside of the hill from where I was. I probably looked pretty dumb walking that scooter through the castle streets not just one way but both haha. I finally hit the main street and rode it down to where I could properly park. What goes down will certainly go back up and there was about 100 stairs back up to the street that would lead me to the castle.

The castle was filled with people and tours. Walking the grounds of the castle was so cool. The architecture and scale of it all in incredibly impressive. Stairs led me down to the lower wall and I followed it to the end where there was a small walkway that led to the edge of the cliff. There of course were a bunch of people standing out on it taking selfies and photos of the bridge with Parliament building in the back. Luckily enough I was early and I waited for a clear moment and moved in. I initially didn’t go straight for the corner, which was the best spot, to avoid being a dick but once I setup sure enough someone tapped me on the should if I could move over so they could take a photo. I of course said yes and then moved in to the corner where I stood for the next 2 hours or so. No one talked to me or asked me to move or anything and I didn’t really care to chat with others either. I did feel a bit bad scooping that spot but I knew if it wasn’t me it would be someone else. Unlike yesterday the overcast had passed and the skies were partly cloudy and should be a good sunset. I shot the view throughout sunset capturing all of the different light. The sunset had passed and now people were waiting for all of the lights to turn on. It took longer than everyone, including myself, had thought for them to turn on but once they did it was awesome. The lights started to match the brightness of the sky and you could see the city come to life with light. I shot away and getting their early had really paid off. Finally I deemed there was no more I could shoot and was time to head back to the hotel. I walked back the way I came and there were still tours in progress learning about the castle. I walked down the 100 stairs and luckily enough there were still scooters available. Found one that had proper charge and started the scoot back to the hotel. The ride was about a mile or so and led me down the backside of the hill, through a large roundabout, and down the riverwalk. The city had so much character at night and people were everywhere. In America it seems that people only come out in the early evening but in all the places I had been recently all kinds of families were out well in to the late evening. Parked the scooter and made my way to my room. Sure enough I got sucked in to looking at photos and the plan for dinner went out the window. Finally I had put the computer away and attempt to find food. I opted for the hotel restaurant which was fairly empty except for one table and a gentleman at the bar. I sat at the bar and ordered a beer. The bartender informed me that the kitchen was closed but there were drinks and bar sized pretzels. One of the bartender Florina came over to ask if I wanted another beer to which I said yes. She was very nice and wanted to chat for a while which we did. The second beer surely led to a 3rd and my dinner became just a liquid diet meal. Florina said she would be around the following evening if I came by we could chat again. I said certainly and shipped off to bed. What a killer day and was so much fun exploring the city. I had had a previous experience in Venice where instead of looking at a map we just wandered around. In turn we saw more the city and things we probably would have never seen if we followed a map. I figure I would do the same thing again tomorrow and see what I see. Until tomorrow Budapest!