Budapest

Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is Hungary’s primate city with 1.7 million inhabitants and its greater metro area has a population of about 3.3 million, representing one-third of the country’s population and producing above 40% of the country’s economic output. Budapest is the political, economic, and cultural center of the country, among the ten largest cities in the European Union and the second largest urban area in Central and Eastern Europe. Budapest stands on the River Danube and is strategically located at the center of the Pannonian Basin, lying on ancient trade routes linking the hills of Transdanubia with the Great Plain.

It is also the first city we visited during our 2013 trip of Central Europe.

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We reached Budapest late at night and went straight to our hotel by taxi. This was our first real view of Europe.

Opera House & Hero’s Square

Next morning, we woke up and went to the Hungarian state Opera House.

We also went to the famous Heroe’s square.

Vajdahunyad Castle

We roamed around Vajdahunyad Castle.

Széchenyi Thermal Bath

We went to the famous Széchenyi thermal baths.It was beautiful, although we didn’t bathe ourselves.

Streets of Budapest

We spent most of our time exploring the city on foot and the Budapest Metro, the oldest metro in mainland Europe..

Danube & Its Bridges

The Danube is like the jewel across the city. Beautiful and calm.

The Elisabeth Bridge looks beautiful at night.

Castle Quarter

We took one whole afternoon and evening to visit the Castle Quarter.

There’s a great view of the river from up the castle.

House of Terror

We made sure to visit the House of Terror.

Dogs of Budapest

We saw many beautiful dogs on the streets of Budapest.

We loved the name of this dog grooming salon.

Keleti

Soon, it was time to go to the next destination on our itinerary and what better way to leave than from the grand Keleti station?