First stop is Budapest, the capitol city of Hungary. It is also known as the Paris of the east but bears more resemblance to Prague than to Paris in my eyes.

My first impression was of a different sort though. Apparently, the hungarians are not to be trusted, judging by the security measures of the apartment.
The building can be entered by putting in a pin code at the front door. Then you need to take an elevator up to the 8th floor, where you can find a small safe, again locked with a pin code, that holds the keys to the apartment. It then took me about 5-10 minutes and a lot of swearing and door rattling to get inside the apartment. The lock really needs to be replaced.
You may laugh, but have a look yourself. This is the front door of the apartment, as seen from the outside:

On the left, the little safe for the door key. And three locks on the door itself.
From the inside, the door looked even scarier:

It turned out that the front door of the building can be “unlocked” without a pin code, just by brute force (if enough is applied). Saw someone entering that way, and now cannot be bothered using the front door pin code anymore. We do it the hungarian way 😉 At home, I neither lock my car nor my apartment. Maybe a bit naive, but I believe in the good in people.

The city itself is absolutely stunning, even more so by night. We did an evening boat cruise on the Danube, including drinks & live music. I was sitting on the top deck most of the time, just soaking in the beauty of this city. I have not seen anything like it!
Here two of my favorite pictures from that cruise. The parlament building:

… and the Castle District: (btw: the moon is not photoshopped)

… and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge:

The city really is a breathtaking by night, even more so than during the day. And that’s coming from someone who loves mornings with a passion 😉
Oh and one thing to notice, for all early birds out there (like me): Budapest is in the same time zone as Switzerland, but about 1000km to the east. Meaning that the sun rises earlier but also sets earlier. It feels much like living in a country that does not do daylight saving time as it is bright before 6 am and completely dark just after 7 pm. The hungarians have adapted to it, as they rise earlier (judging from the traffic noise at 6am) and the streets will also quiet down earlier.

Hungary is also the land of paprika and goulash. So make sure to check out the Central Market Hall, a farmers market that sells all the local food and goods. You will know all about Hungarys specialities after having walked through it, trust me.
It is an old hall, filled with booths of fruits & vegetables, paprika in all forms (fresh paprika, paprika oil, paprika spices, paprika in a tube which seems to be a thing here???), meat, lavendar products, street food, needle work etc.
You can get local street food on the upper level of the market. We tasted our way through different goulash dishes while a hungarian trio (consisting of a violine, a cimbalom and a cello) was playing.
The Central Market Hall:

It felt a bit like the market in Fremantle (Perth), but without salesmen shouting prices, trying to attract customers.

The best meal I’ve had in Budapest was in such a market. Through a hungarian recommendation, we found out about this food stand with two Michelin stars in one of the smaller market halls in Budapest (there are actually several markets, not just the Great Market Hall). The restaurant, well it looks and feels more like a bistro or street food stand, is called Stand 25. You cannot reserve a spot, you just show up. But it’s definitely worth it, you will never eat haute cuisine for this little money again! Their goulash and potato casserole are absolutely delicious! As we were there on a random day in april at 4pm, the market was almost empty and about half the people in the hall were sitting in that little bistro with us. This is the food market, with the Stand 25:

Next positive impression on Budapest is their transport system. Their trams are one of the newest ones I’ve seen around. Budapest even has a metro system (and they are proud to call themselves the first country on the european mainland that had one) and of course buses running regularly. The public transport here really leaves nothing to be desired.

And funnily, neither do the florists. There are flower shops at every corner. There even is a 24/7 flower shop at the tram station right in front of our apartment. We had a look at the flower one evening, of course more because we were curious if there really is someone in there to sell flowers at 11 pm than to actually buy something. And yes, someone emerged out of the shop at 11 pm! How in the world do they run a business like that? Do they sell enough flowers to justify someone being there during the night? I’m genuinely curious…
This is how the flower shop mentioned looks like during the day:

I saw my first ballet here in Budapest. Conclusion: not my thing…
As a big fan of musicals, I am missing a voice here, someone to guide me through the show, the action and just the variety. It certainely is harder to follow a story line when it is just music and dance, maybe I should have read about the plot beforehand. But you never know until you give it a try, right? 😉

I had a look at the thermal baths in the city but it’s not for me. Too many people and the water too warm. If I go to a pool, I prefer cool temperatures, the smell of chlorine in my nose, a line underneath me and a wall to do turns.
But right beside the Széchenyi Thermal Bath is an agricultural museum worth visiting:

My favorite playground in Budapest was a fountain though: if you stand on one of the tiles closest to the fountain, part of it will shut off long enough to walk inside before turning back on 🙂

Fun facts:
– Hungary was founded in 896 and celebrated their millenia anniversary in 1896. Most iconic buildings were built for that anniversary or rennovated for this event. And because of the 96 inside that number, no building is allowed to be higher than 96m. There are exactly two buildings in the city with this height: the St. Stephen’s Basilica and the parlament building.
– The remains of a hungarian soccer star are buried inside the St. Stephen’s Basilica, because he died during the term of a soccer enthusiastic prime minister.

Budapest, definitely a city worth visiting, even if you only have one night. In fact, the night is all you need, as this is when the city is most beautiful 🙂