Pest – Where The Real Life Is

Budapest is a very clean city, with a strange, almost quiescent nature to it. For the most part there is a noticeable absence of police, yet there appears to be very little crime, or at least the appearance of no crime, unlike other countries like Italy or France, where the authorities parade around with weapons and make their presence known.

The Parliament Building – Pest – Budapest, Hungary

The Pest side of Budapest has most, if not all, of the hotels and many of the restaurants. It has monuments on every corner and more history than you probably want to consume. Both sides are very active, but the Pest side is the side where all the boats dock, like Viking River Cruises and others, so it can get quite busy after ten o’clock in the morning.

Interesting building balcony – Pest – Budapest, Hungary

Count István Széchenyi Statue – Pest – Budapest, Hungary

Beautiful building – Pest – Budapest, Hungary

Looking toward the Basilica – Pest – Budapest, Hungary

Though beautiful, after a while you realize, like so many other cities in Europe, it’s all about the facade. It’s all brick underneath, mortar and stone.

Memorial 1952 – Pest – Budapest, Hungary

It’s just a facade – Pest – Budapest, Hungary

Parliament Tour

For anyone visiting Budapest, the Parliament on the Pest side is an attraction that must be seen. However, be careful when purchasing tickets! There are a few official looking websites out there that purchase them for you at double the price. Check and double check your search engine and map application to ensure you have the official website. It will be quite obvious if you do, since you will receive your tickets immediately, instead of waiting for them to „appear“ in your mailbox.

The front – The Parliament Building – Budapest, Hungary

Looking at the front of the building from the land side, you enter from the right and below ground. There are also some interesting monuments before you enter worth seeing, so keep your eyes open for them.

From the river side – The Parliament Building – Budapest, Hungary

From the land side – The Parliament Building – Budapest, Hungary

Monument – The Parliament Building – Budapest, Hungary

Entrance – The Parliament Building – Budapest, Hungary

The tour is rather long but very thorough. We were even able to catch a glimpse of their unicameral legislature in-session! We were actually quite impressed with the thoroughness and professionalism of the tour. Though we thought they spoke at length, perhaps too long, about the crown jewels, which of course you were unable to photograph.

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Restaurants

Here are a few more restaurants we visited in Budapest, one of which I wish I never went to due to social media idiots.

New York Cafe

There is a term in America and it is quite apropos here, „lipstick on a pig“. My thoughts regarding this cafe were that it was totally over-priced for the quality of food and service received, though the interior was quite impressive

Outside lamp – The New York Cafe – Budapest, Hungary

In fact, that can be considered one of the downsides to this cafe; there were so many people mulling around and taking photographs, it was actually quite annoying at times. Especially in this day of social media, where everyone has to take the so called infamous and narcissistic „selfie“ or „influencer“ pose. It makes a person like me almost puke at times.

Inside – The New York Cafe – Budapest, Hungary

Ceiling – The New York Cafe – Budapest, Hungary

Main hall – The New York Cafe – Budapest, Hungary

The food was sub-par for such a restaurant; we had the Pasta Pomodoro and thought although the pasta was done properly, the sauce tasted of nothing. The wine on the other hand was satisfactory in taste, but way over-priced at 50€/bottle. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except the service was just not so great.

Pick Bistro Deli

This little bistro, on Kossuth Lajos tér, is not far from the Parliament building and a great place to stop for lunch after your exhaustive tour.

Inside – Pick Bistro Deli – Budapest, Hungary

They have many great Hungarian lunch items to choose from and the staff and service were excellent for us. They also have plenty of open-air seating, which during a warm day makes the visit all that much more enjoyable.

Before leaving Linz for Budapest, we had to get a bite to eat. What better place is there than a Jindrak Konditorei? There appear to be satellite pastry shops of this company all over the city, including very close to our hotel.

Inside – Jindrak Konditorei – Near Hotel – Linz, Austria

Breakfast – Jindrak Konditorei – Near Hotel – Linz, Austria

Apple Strudel – Jindrak Konditorei – Near Hotel – Linz, Austria

Shortly afterwards, we were on the road for a four hour drive into Hungary. In about two hours we left Austria for Hungary and the Budapest signs started appearing quite regularly.

Budapest

Entering any city, anywhere at rush hour, is normally not a good idea, but we hardly had a choice. In any event, it went rather smoothly considering the bridges from Buda into Pest and all of the one-way streets. Soon we were at our destination, the Mystery Hotel.

Entrance – Mystery Hotel – Budapest, Hungary

The Hungarian people are extremely nice and most speak very good English. So, there shouldn’t be any issues in the immediate area.

Plaza in front of church – Saint Stephens Basilica – Budapest, Hungary

Typical dining street – Budapest, Hungary

Not far from our hotel is Liberty Square; this is where the American Embassy is located. Here you will find monuments, statues and buildings of interest.

Looking toward parliament – Budapest, Hungary

Wing of Exchange Palace – Budapest, Hungary

At the entrance of this square is also an eternal flame memorial.

Lajos Batthyányi Eternal Flame – Liberty Square – Budapest, Hungary

Saint Stephen’s Basilica

Not far from our hotel is the Basilica of Saint Stephen. Though we did not enter it, if only from church exhaustion, the outside is rather impressive and very nice to see, especially in the evening.

At night – Saint Stephens Basilica – Budapest, Hungary

Hotels

There are many hotels to choose from in Budapest. We chose one that would be close to things, but not to far out from the center that you could not get to it by a tram or metro, as well as reasonably priced parking. The Mystery Hotel fits that bill nicely and is decently priced such that it should not break your bank.

Mystery Hotel

For people interested in driving or taking the train, the Mystery Hotel offers a great five star option close to the main railroad station with valet parking. It is also a few blocks away from the oldest Metro line in the city, the M1.

Breakfast room – Mystery Hotel – Budapest, Hungary

Since the hotel occupies an old renovated building not initially intended for occupation, the rooms are interestingly configured inside. Some even have lofts, so stay flexible, since they are well maintained and well appointed.

Our room – Mystery Hotel – Budapest, Hungary

Bathroom – Mystery Hotel – Budapest, Hungary

Restaurants

As the capitol of Hungary and at a very busy intersection of Europe, Budapest has a huge selection of all kinds of different cuisines, especially Hungarian.

Retek Bisztro

Rather pricey and on the high-end of restaurants is the Retek Bisztro. It is located not far from the basilica and in downtown Budapest. It is a very busy place, so make reservations before you leave on your trip, since it fills up fast.

Front Room and bar – Retek Bisztro – Budapest, Hungary

The restaurants offers most authentic Hungarian cuisine, from Hungarian Goulash to Hungarian meatballs. You will notice that most of my photographs came out a bit orange, since there was a red lamp very near our table.