Budapest is the combination of two old settlements, one on each side of the Danube. One is Buda, the other is Pest - Buda on the West and Pest on the East. In a way, you can naturally split it so you focus on the touristy aspects of one side per day, and today was the Buda side - most known for its Buda Castle Hill, a large hill that starts about two blocks away from teh river. The hill stretches quite a distance, with the Buda Castle (and accompanying Museums) on one side, and the complex of churches ahead of the Fisherman's Bastion on the other side.
The day started a bit late, with me fighting off jet lag making me leave at 11:45 (instead of what would've been 10:45), to a mostly sunny, bright, lovely high-60s day. I took a bolt cab over to Caste Hill Square, the large square in front of St. Mathias Church, the heavily ornate, beautiful gothic style church, which offers countless photo angles. Sadly, the inside of the church was closed for renovations, but it still a place of so much life in the streets. Down some really picturesque alleys it the Mary Magdalene Church, which is now just a solitary tower, again overlooking this time a cliff heading further west (away from the city) - where you can see that on the Buda side, Budapest doesn't extend nearly as far.
Walking through the streets and alleys with their pastel colors was a lovely way to kill a bit of time before my lunch at Deryne at 1:30. Deryne is a lovely bistro down a series of steps walking down from the hill. I was seated around their long oval bar, but the place is really quite large. I regret not pushing to eat outside, to enjoy the lovely day it was. For a starter, I got a traditional 'bean soup' which was a lvoely spiced broth with giant flat beans, yellow carrots and slices of ham. It was hot, spicy and velvety as a way to start the meal. The main of a confit duck leg and garlic with their take on saeukraut was beautiful as well, Overall Deryne was a great experience, if again only dinged by me not eating outside.
The rest of the day was spent in, around, below and on top of the large Buda Castle complex. The first view was a downer as two of the exterior buildings had heavy scaffolding, but of course that only was way outside the real complex. Soon, after meandering around barricades you reach the large expanse that is the Buda Castle, which was as full as life as anything I've seen in the city. In front of the mail building, which has turned into a giant Art Museum, was a courtyard with a stage and a band playing traditional folk music, and a beer garden - sadly sponsored by Paulaner. People were soaking in life, all with the view of the entire city below you. This was a really mesmerizing scene.
As was the stuff inside the building. The Hungarian National Gallery is the main site, an art museum that exclusively shows art by Hungarians, taking up four floors of what used to be a palace / castle. The art started from teh earliest days through all the various trials and tribulations over the decades, and ended as you wouild think with modern art at the way top end. All of it was quite good, even if you don't think of Hungary when you think of the great art scenes of Europe.
Under that was the Budapest History Museum, which was a fairly small but effective run through of the original castle, which is basically the foundation now, adn then a few floors describing Budapest over the years, up to and including the royal family's use of the buildign the museum is now in. It was a fairly small, quick, traipse through history.
The last bit of fun in the Buda Castle complex is the grounds, which are very well kept and fancy and walkable as you walk down towards river level. The whole experience of a few hours on Buda Castle Hill was brilliant, and a really effective way to experience everything about Budapest - the art of its history, the history of its history, and the views and people enjoying life of its present.
Dinner was more rustic, but still excellent, at Hilda - a bistro with a super interesting, stylish tile decor and fairly simple menu that belies the exactness of their preparations. For a starter, I got a dish that was lsited as Pork Boul with white asparagus. I tried asking what Boul was, which the waitress wasn't able to convey. I can't blame her. It basically was a pork jowl/cheek/head terrine, which was sublime with a dash of horseradish, a sweet mustard and supremely well cooked white asparagus. It could be a dish at a tasting menu spot to be honest. The main was more homely, but no less great - a big bowl of goulash served with sourdough bread. Few things I wanted to do more during my time in Budapest than eat goulash, and when I had that in my head, it was the way it was presented at Hilda that I had in mind. It was so great.
About as good was my little walk along hte banks fo the Danube, with the lit Buda Castle, St. Matias Church and many other buildings on the Buda side, glistening for us all soaking it in on the Pest side. If I have any memory of my trip to Budapest in 2000, it was the lit buildings at night against the Danube. Granted, I may be easily getting it mixed up with Prague, but anyway, the image that seared in my mind was replayed abotu as well as I could have wanted 24 short years later.
Post dinner was a mix of new and (a day) old, with me hitting the more reputed cocktail bar in Budapest, named Boutiq Bar. To be honest, while it was very good, and I don't know if it was better than Hotsy Totsy, at the very least the first two drinks that I picked were a bit too sweet. Granted, I then asked for smokey and got somethign great, so maybe it is more on me than them. I then went abck to Hotsy Totsy, quickly thinking of it as a favorite already. From there, went back down that alley between the two BlueBird karaoke spots, both fun but less crowded on the Saturday Night than the were the day before. At the very tail end of the night, I went back to Aether Club a bit dismayed as it was still the same hip-hop vibe up top. I went to the bathroom, which was downstairs.... and then realized there is a preper EDM underground club in the bottom level.
After cursing myself for not figuring this out yesterday (granted, had I figured it out, I probably then don't go to the karaoke spot...), I went in and it was great. Could do with more of a crowd, but the music was graet, the crowd was great, the scene was great. It was about as good as the chicken gyro to end the night, but in reality, I think Aether is graet, especially given its location right in the heart of the city. The other noted EDM club from my research was Arzenal, which is in a warehouse type space a 10-min drive away. Maybe that place is better, but I can't imagine it is so much better to make up for the proximity advantage athat Aether has. Without doing research specifically on the party areas, I really picked as perfect spot for the AirBNB as possible.
