Budapest. The city that was 2 different cities: Buda on the west side and Pest on the east side. (There was actually also Óbuda, which was also on the west side, but everyone forgets about that one.) Eventually, the 2/3 cities banded together and made Budapest, the largest and capital city of Hungary.

I decided to finally visit an old friend from when I did my semester abroad in Pforzheim. I didn’t have much time, so I just went for a weekend.

I left work on Friday evening and went to the airport. I arrived a little later in the evenings, and my friend picked me up and we went to his house.

I was pretty tired, so the two of us and my friend’s girlfriend just went out for drinks at a bar nearby. I reviewed one of the beers, which I’ll post about next time.

The beers hit harder than we all anticipated, and we stumbled back to his place later in the night.

The next morning, with groggy thoughts, we woke up and the two of us went out to view Budapest for the day.

While walking down the river, we ran into some racing cars in front of a hotel.

 The Fisherman’s Bastion, which was called that because it used to be protected by the fisherman’s guild. I was told that the towers were not originally there and that they were put up just to be flashy and attract tourists.

 

After eating some crepes, we made our way to Margaret Island.

There’s a really cool fountain there that sprays up water in sync with music. It was burning outside while I was in Budapest, and we stayed there for more than an hour, just listening to music and chilling with our feet in the water.

We then went to a really cool ruin bar, Szimpla Kert. Very cool with a lot of different rooms, all with different themes. Highly recommended!

 

After a few beers, it was getting late, so we went back home and crashed for the night.

The following morning, we walked around some more before my flight later in the evening.

We went to the Millennium Monument, which displays a bunch of old Kings and important people and moments in Hungary’s history.

Afterward, we walked around the park and went to Vajdahunyad Castle.

To finish off the day, we went back over the river and went up the Citadella for another nice view of the city.

 

After that, I went to the airport and flew back to Germany for work the following day. T’was just a fun and chill weekend with an old buddy.

It was great to see my friend after more than 6 years since we went to school together. I had a good time in Budapest, and I would not have any objections to visiting again in the future.