Budapest

Sam and I visited Budapest between our stays in Vienna and Salzburg, and we both count the Hungarian capital as our favorite stop on our trek so far.
The food was outstanding, the architecture was old as always yet different and the people were friendly.
After arriving in the main train station, Sam and I had to take the subway to get to our hostel but couldn’t find where to purchase a couple of one-way tickets.
We were standing at the top of a long escalator and thought we needed a ticket before going down. In London, for example, you have to have a ticket validated before going on any escalators.
So as Sam and I were staring at a subway map trying to decipher Hungarian, a young man walked up to us and simply asked if we needed help.
We explained that we wanted to buy subway tickets, and he told us there would be a ticket counter at the bottom of the escalator.
At first glance we wondered why this guy was approaching two obviously lost Americans, but he just wanted to help.
We probably would have gone down the escalator at some point, but it was nice that the guy helped us out.
Once we checked into our hostel and got a map, we walked down a main boulevard and found a small square with several outdoor cafés.
We chose one on the end and had some traditional Hungarian fare. I had Hungarian goulash and Sam had a Hungarian mushroom soup, both of which had a healthy dose of paprika.
My goulash wasn’t like the Hungarian goulash that’s served outside of Hungary’s borders. That dish is more like a stew with a thick, opaque broth.
The goulash I had was a soup with a thin broth that had chunks of potatoes and beef. It’s not the Hungarian goulash I’m used to, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Sam’s mushroom soup also was exceptional as well. Mushrooms and paprika definitely make a good combination.
After lunch we strolled around the city and found a huge cathedral and a large open square. We snapped a few photos and continued our walk.
Not far from the cathedral we discovered another large square with a large park.
The park wasn’t empty, though, because the city had set up World Cup fan park with a giant television screen and several food and beer vendors.
We got a couple of beers, 0.5 liters apiece that were selling for 400 Hungarian forint — or about $1.80 — and watched the first half of the Mexico-France match that had just started.
We only stayed for a half since there was nowhere to sit on the huge lawn, but it looked as though there were more Mexican fans than French ones in the crowd.
I, of course, can’t root for Mexico being a U.S. soccer fan, but it would have been cool to see the place erupt when Mexico finally scored in the second half.
The next day there was a light drizzle, so we bought two 24-hour subway tickets and took the subway to Budapest great market.
The market sits next to the Danube in an enormous old building that has two floors.
The bottom floor’s vendors sell mostly produce, meats and cheeses while the second floor is reserved for souvenirs, clothing and food stands.
We ate lunch there — more goulash, only this time served over barley-shaped pasta, and a sausage — and then walked down a pedestrian-only street lined with more souvenirs stores.
Because it was still raining, we walked across the city’s main bridge and took pictures of Parliament and the Budapest castle.
The weather was perfect the next day, so we took a subway to the castle.
Budapest is actually two cities — Buda and Pest — that are separated by the Danube. The castle is located in older Buda whereas most of the city’s sights are in Pest, which is also where we were staying.
The castle area in Buda is extremely large and is encompassed by a medieval wall. It also contains one of the most beautiful churches we’ve seen on our trip.
In most churches we’ve seen up to that point, the actual stone walls and spires were left bare.
That’s not the case in Matthias Church.
Every inch of that church is painted, creating an interior that is more stunning than the impressive exterior.
Old flags from the 1800s were also part of the décor of the church, which was the site of the crowning of the Hungarian kings.
It was like stepping back in time, something we’ve felt often on this trip, but never more than walking through that church.
From the church we gazed out over the Pest skyline and then walked to the palace part of the castle grounds.
Budapest was a special place for me to visit because my Grandma Draper was 100 percent Hungarian, making me a quarter Hungarian. Her relatives came from Budapest, so it was doubly interesting walking the same streets my relatives likely walked.
The palace in the castle also was called Sandor Palace, which happens to be my grandma’s maiden name.
Who knows, maybe we are royalty.