Budapest (2)

On the second day we went to the Buda side of the city. There are several bridge going across the river. One of them ( in the picture) is for pedestrian to cross with some shops on the sides selling local souvenirs. Unlike the previous day, the weather was excellent on the second day which makes it pleasant to walk around.


We first headed to the Buda castle through a cable car. This allowed us to see the lower part of the city. The castle area is quite big. Instead of just structural defense, they also have shops, churches, restaurants and houses on top of the mountain. More like a small town there with buses connecting different parts.

The most impressive building on the castle area was the royal palace. However, it has been converted into a museum. I don't remember what museum it was because we did not go inside. Presumably some art museum. But the main building was well maintained and looks majestic.

To save time, we took a quick lunch with a local bread. It's spiral shape and pretty sweet with various topping. Not bad at all.

As we went down the hill from the other side, we saw more of the castle like structure with gates and lookout tower. I personally like these structures better but we just passed by and didn't stay there for long as we had our train in late afternoon and we wanted to have a proper meal before we went.

As we arrived at the river bank, we managed to get a snap of the Hungarian Parliament building. The building is unique with many domes and spires. We went into the building earlier in the day with a guided tour, but the picture looks better from the other side of the river as it captures the full building.

We continued to look for food. We had the address of a place from wikitravel, and it was pretty obscure. But it was a delight that the food was really cheap for european standard, the portion was generous and the taste was good as well. The dish is called Goulash, stewed meat with gravy speciality of that region.

As we finished our meal, we had some extra time at hand before our scheduled return train. We decided to make use of the time to visit a synagogue.

Synagogue is a Jewish place of worship. This is the first time I actually see a synagogue, and it was big, world's third largest or so. The look is similar to a European church, but there is no cross and the engraved words are in Hebrew.

We had to take a head cover before going in, which is mandatory for male. There was a bit of story of the synagogue as we sit and listen and we got to see some of the artifacts in the museum as well.

It was just the right time as we then took the train back to Vienna to continue our journey. Overall, although the language was indecipherable in Hungary, it was an enriching experience.