Yesterday was a great day on teh Buda side of the river. Today was for Pest. Tomorrow a bit of both, and then after that I'm sadly saying bon voyage to a city I've already grown to love. To be honest, I don't remember the last city I went to that didn't exceed my expectations going in. Maybe Tokyo (because the expectations were already super high) or Buenos Aires. But anyway, I digress.
The Pest side is a bit more urban, more commercial, more gritty, but still quite intriguing. I started the day strolling down the main road down to the National Hungary Museum, a large three floor complex that goes step by step through the history of this land, back from early hunter gatherers and what-not, through to the bronze age, the establishment of Buda, the trading of hands between various factions in the middle ages up to the Ottomans, then the retake by the Hapsburg's and ending at Soviet semi-occupation and then liberation in the 70s. It's a fascinating museum and really well laid out in two concentric paths going decade by decade, moment by moment.
Some favorites of mine in the museum was the exposed old skeletons of bronze age settlers, great builds of church like triplicates from the renaissance times, and a long expose on counter protests during WWII and Soviet occupation thereafter. I'm a sucker for the protest propoganda, signage, material etc. Don't know if I knew that about myself even as recently as this year's trip to South Africa and Chile (two countries with more reknowned freedom movements, let's say. On the whole, the museum was a very good experience.
From there, I broke one of my normal cardinal rules which is to not repeat a place twice on one trip, this time going back to Getty Gulyas for lunch, and with teh same waiter (different table however). I did order different things though, a starter of a classic, simple potato soup, and then a main of veal paprikash. The starter was uber traditional, and really tasty and warming. So simple, but effective, the best version of the old Campbell's Cream of Potato, if you will. The main of the veal paprikash was also traditional in name but was a lot more modern in approach. The veal goulash itself was excellent (if a couple of pieces maybe too tough), but accompanying it was a fried pasta, cheese wrapped in became also mike flat cake. It was an incredible accompaniment which I can't wait to try myself when I get home.
Post lunch was time to explore a far off part of the city, towards the Northwest, down a giant esplanade that starts at teh Danube and works its way towards the end being the Heroe's Gate. It is a beautiful square with an ornate gate and obelisk like structure, glistening, impressive and stately. Behind that is the large City Park, which is also a great walk, especially on a weekend. Through the walk past boathouses, makeshift castles, a giant hot air balloon ride (I considered it) there were multiple street fairs, a bunch of people picnicking, people just enjoying life, and so much more. It isn't the biggest park, but I like that if anything because you could see most of it even with a 20 min or so looping walk.
The one part I didn't see, but mostly because I didn't plan accordingly, was the large thermal baths that make up a complex about a third of the park. The thermal baths are a super standard tourist site, but somehow I forgot to pack a bathing suit or slippers. I debated trying to weave my way into going tomorrow morning, but in the end thought better of it - better to leave some clear things to do on a subsequent trip, which i will make sure happens one day.
What is at the main park, or I gues more technically a block away from it, is the commendable Fine Arts Museum. Being a fairly hot day, and with the skies starting to darken (though rain would hold off for a few hours), of course I gave it a visit. Unlike the National Gallery, here there is art from all over Europe, not just Hungary. Though there are a few exhibits of specifically hungarian art - I would call it maybe 40% of the museum was Hungary based. The rest had mix from all over Europe and also all over the decades. It wasn't just focusing on the 1500 - 1700 peak of European Art, but had large sets of rooms paying homage to art from the 1200s - 1400s, which was honestly in my view a lot more interesting to view. Probably not a must-do in Budapest, but definitely a nice-to-have-done.
The last stop before a brief respite at the AirBNB was a short stop at Hops bar. I'll say this about Hungary, after visiting quite a few countries recently that don't really have great beer scenes (namely, Cape Town, but even Turkey), Hungary comes out in force. The craft beer is plentiful. The pubs have good stuff on draft. There is just a great focus aroudn this drink in Budapest.
Dinner was at Laurel, a michelin star tasting menu spot that I'll describe as not as audacious as Salt, but probably all in all, tastier. I'll do a write-up of it later, but all in all just know that there was a dish featuring cherry tomatoes as the main component, and even that I found good. Their main which was based around veal was one of the single best dishes I've had at a tasting menu spot. It wasn't the lengthiest - 9 courses - but paced well, plated well and tasting brilliant.
Post dinner was again a mix of new and old. First was an old, a trip back to Hopaholic, which I was surprised was rather full to where I had to stand to the side for a good 10-15 min before a stool opened up. Once again, Budapest beer culture is just fantastic. Down a block was Warm Up Cocktail Bar, which was also fairly crowded and oddly had no bar seating, but did score myself a seat. It's one of those places where you jsut describe the nature of waht you want to them and they whip up something. Their "menu" if you will was like six things. In the end, I entrusted rightly. I still don;t think it was better than Hotsy Totsy, but nonetheless a fantastic little spot.
The night ended for me at the main Ruin Bar, which was rocking and rolling when I got there around 12:45. I left at 2:30 and it was no less full, to be honest. It's such a great set-up - just tons of people having a great time. There's tables if you want to get loaded and chat with friends. There's the makeshift entry with a DJ that becaomes a fairly tame but enjoyable club. There was live rock musing playing on a side room when I got there until 1:30, which was a nice, unexpected surprise. And of course buttressing all of this is about seven different bars, all with multiple bartenders and serving good drinks. Nothing too complain. If it's a weekend, I would go to an Aether over this, but when there's little else to choose from, this works just fine. Already mentally I'm ready to hit these same three spots again in order tomorrow night.
