budapest, Europe, Hungary, Travel

travel: budapest, hungary

After we visited Italy we were off to Budapest! Our friends Dana and Shane moved there about a year ago, so while we were excited for the sight-seeing, food, and exploring, spending time with some of our closest buds made this leg of the trip extra awesome.

The first night we went to Élesztő Craftbeer Garden which is a “ruin” bar that has a huge outdoor space. Ruin bars are popular in Budapest, and are basically bars that move into abandoned spaces, how freaking cool is that? We ordered yummy craft beers and had delicious pastrami sandwiches. There must have been a weird filter on my camera when I snapped this at the bar because we look like super smooth-skinned robots.

20160422_222747EDIT

Next we hit up another ruin bar, Instant. This place was crazy! It was a maze of rooms, had dance music playing, lights were flashing everywhere, and they served MGD which I was super down for. We had TOO much fun.

DanaandAnnie

All that fun led to quite a headache the next morning, but we were up and at ’em! One of our first stops was the Great Market Hall, or Nagyvásárcsarnok. It was full of fresh produce, meat and meat and meat, pastries, prepared foods, and more – basically my perfect place.

20160423_115414EDIT

20160423_115134EDIT

20160423_110829EDIT

20160423_110906EDIT

Since we had a few hundred beers the night before, we needed some recharging fuel, so we ordered a little bit of everything. This is lángos, which is fried dough with garlic, sour cream and cheese. Have mercy.

20160423_112817EDIT

Sausages are everywhere, and they are delicious. We got a blood sausage and a Kolbász sausage.

20160423_112452EDIT

These potatoes with sausage were amazing. I could have eaten the whole plate myself, easily.

20160423_113223EDIT

With a full belly, we were off to explore! We saw the beautiful Parliament building which is mammoth and stunning.

20160423_124246EDIT

20160423_124304EDIT

20160423_124722EDIT

Budapest also has some of the most beautiful bridges. This is the Liberty bridge.

20160423_110403EDIT

Dana snapped some fun photos of us on the bridge. She takes the most beautiful photos all over Budapest (and beyond!) – check out her photos and blog here!

annie-dave-budapest-8

annie-dave-budapest-1

Even the buildings we just happened to be walking by were extraordinary.

Budapest

After bopping around town we had to hit up a bath. Shane and Dana had been telling us about them for years, so we were SO excited to hop on into one. We went to Széchenyi Thermal Bath, which was beautiful. We even had more sausages! It basically went like this: sausage, activity, sausage, activity, more sausage. I could certainly get used to this life.

20160423_173341EDIT

For dinner, we went to Magyar Qtr, which was hands down the absolute best meal of the entire trip (including Italy)!

We ordered the Taste of Mangalica pork which was unreal. It was so tender and flavorful – I’ve already been googling where I can get it in Chicago.

20160423_200629EDIT

We also had the Scallops fried in parsley bread crumbs with green peas veloute. The scallops were cooked perfectly and I could have drank that sauce like juice. Insert Homer salivating sound here.

20160423_200648EDIT

For the main course I had one of the best meals of my gosh darn life – succulent pork loin, wrapped in crisp bacon on top of thyme polenta with a delectable buttery sauce that I should have written down. The dish was a chef’s special that night, so I kind of feel like I’ve won at life because I was lucky enough to enjoy it. It sounds simple enough, but I’m telling you every bite was better than the one before. It was one of those meals I just didn’t want to end! I loved it so much, I have all the ingredients in my fridge to try to give it a go! Stay tuned for that. 🙂

20160423_202401EDIT

Dave ordered the rose duck breast with cabbage pasta roll and prune compote. I mean just look at this picture.

20160423_202414EDIT

Just when I thought the meal couldn’t get any better, we ordered the carrot cake and the chocolate souffle. Yum.

20160423_210658EDIT

20160423_210710EDIT

We also had Pálinka, which is a delicious, delicious fruit brandy. BEST DINNER EVER.

20160423_205957EDIT

20160423_210014EDIT

After dinner we did a boat cruise on the Danube. The parliament building lit up at night is shockingly beautiful.

20160423_221444EDIT

After the cruise we were beat from eating the best meal ever and running around all day, so we decided to plop our butts on the porch at our air b’n’b and have a couple o’ beers. Missed these guys so much!

20160423_234334EDIT

Did I mention we took some selfies? Like a lot of selfies?

DanaAnnie

The next morning you are just not going to believe what happened. I had the BEST BRUNCH EVER at Kelet Kávézó és Galéria. I’m not even kidding! Two of the best meals I’ve eaten – one right after the other. How do I not live in Budapest!?

I started with my first Flat White. Loved it.

20160424_131244EDIT

We had the cheesy omelette with paprika chutney and a panini with ham, cheese, and some sort of magical pesto situation served on crispy, buttery warm bread. The flavors were bold and unlike anything I’ve tasted before. I’m going to attempt to make some paprika chutney because I can’t live without this omelette in my life.

20160424_131709EDIT

20160424_131920EDIT

Since it was raining, we decided to hit up another bath, this time Gellért Thermal Bath. Since I didn’t take any pictures (too busy relaxing), here’s a picture of Anthony Bourdain in the same bath I was in. This works, right?

anthony bourdain

Believe it or not, we’re already back to more food. Who knew lounging around in hot water could make you work up such an appetite? Since we were all ready for more food, we hit up Szatyor. I ordered the goulash and it was divine. I also ordered a strawberry milkshake, like a total weirdo, but it was yummy.

20160424_175025_001EDIT

Since we ate so much on this day, we decided to just head to Dana and Shane’s apartment for a snack and some coffee at night. Little did we know, we were greeted with four of the Hungarian cakes of the year! I’m not a big sweet eater, but these were phenomenal and we ate these up in minutes.

20160424_201816EDIT

20160424_201821EDIT

20160424_201848EDIT

20160424_201924EDIT

We also got to spend some quality time with one of the best pups I know, Edie.

20160424_204530EDIT

20160424_205644(0)EDIT

Alright guys, that wraps up our European adventure (if you missed Italy, check it here)! We had such a fantastic time everywhere we visited, but I’ve got to say Budapest was my favorite. It’s probably because we had amazing tour guides for the trip (thanks Shane & Dana)! The food was excellent, the sites were breathtaking, and the company was obviously the best. We absolutely cannot wait to go back to visit again. Egészségére! (That’s Cheers!) 🙂

8 thoughts on “travel: budapest, hungary

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: