We have taken our girls many places and there are places they remember, a lot that they don’t and a few things they still talk about. One of Honeybun’s favorite things to share about our traveling was the day we saw the “Hungry Dancers” (and she still asks if we can go back and see them sometime.)
Two years ago we spent Easter in Budapest, Hungary. We visited Lithuania and Vienna before our Hungarian adventure which started with a train ride from Vienna to Budapest. The train was quick and easy, speeding through the Hungarian countryside and was the only long-distance train we took while in Europe. We ended up paying for an upgrade to first class after mistakenly ending up there as it was marked handicapped and we had two strollers, car seats and many, many suitcases. The girls enjoyed the journey, playing on the train and watching the landscape go by.
We arrived in Budapest in a rainstorm and had a 1 km walk to our hotel (about 10 minutes) and due to the rain, we decided to put some of the gear in the one stroller under the rain cover, Sugarplum in the other and decked Honeybun out in her raingear to walk with us. She was not happy and spent the entire walk screaming “I can’t walk! My legs are tired! It’s too far! I can’t walk!” (still one of our most talked about traveling events!)
We arrived in the evening so just dried off and ate dinner at the Hotel. We again stayed at the Novotel, which we found to be an extremely family friendly branch of hotels with spacious, clean rooms (we also stayed at the Novotel in Leipzig, Germany; Vilnius, Lithuania and Warsaw, Poland).
The next day we decided to head for the public baths, one of the things Budapest is most famous for. Really, it’s large swimming pools that are naturally warmed by nearby hot springs. It was a bit of a chilly day and the baths felt so good! That first day we went to the Szechenyi baths, which are located within the City Park. It is a bit pricey, but they gave both girls free which helped. We had the choice of a locker or a “cabin” and opted for the cabin which was somewhat humorous since it was barely big enough for me and Honeybun to be in there together! We also rented “towels” which were more like thin white sheets which did little to dry you and even less to warm you up! But we did have a great time swimming, splashing, warming up and taking in the AMAZING architecture.
After the baths we wandered through the park and came across a little food hut where we stopped for lunch. The food was amazing and they had an extensive beer and liqueur selection. We were also pleasantly surprised by how inexpensive it was, we spent a few hours there eating, drinking, listening to the live music and letting the girls dance and play and only spent about $20 including tip!
After lunch we went to the Transit Museum which is also in the City park. It wasn’t very busy so we were able to explore and be a little silly all we wanted. The museum is large with train cars, a model train, cars, bikes, boats and more!
The next day was Easter and we went to the Buda Old Towne and Buda Castle where they held a large family Easter day. There was so much to do and see (including the “Hungry” dancers) as well as local handicrafts and food. There was a great kids area set up with crafts, a petting farm and toy zone. This is also when we fell in love with kuros kalacs (“Chimney bread”), a Hungarian sweet bread that is the most AMAZING treat!
After we felt we had seen, done and experienced all the festival had to offer, we headed out in the old town to explore. The castle and old town sit high above the city of Budapest (Buda on one side of the hill, Pest on the other, now Budapest). We were able to witness the Changing of the Guard (something we did in many places and I highly recommend anywhere you go) and check out the amazing architecture. We also picked up many traditional hand painted souvenirs to add to our collection and peeked in on some archaeological work they were doing, revealing part of the OLD Old Town.
After coming down the hill on the Funicular we headed to another public bath house but ended up not staying since it was a gender separate day meaning hubby would have to go separate from the girls and I. We were also advised bathing suits were optional so we headed back to the hotel and had a great (and cheap!) all-you-can-eat dinner at a local restaurant that had live music which kept the girls pleasantly entertained (and Sugarplum only knocked over her highchair twice!)
The following day we decided to take the girls to the Zoo in the City Park as I had read there was an Easter Festival there as well. Unfortunately there was no festival but it is a lovely little zoo and we had a great time nonetheless. Many of the enclosures are glass and allow you to get right up close for a peek which the girls loved! After the Zoo we stopped back by the Szechenyi baths for another relaxing swim.
The last day we tried another Bath house, The Gellert Baths which feature indoor pools as well as smaller outdoor pools. We found a smaller outdoor pool that had only one other family in it and spent much of our time in there as the girls could splash and be loud without bothering others. At Gellert, I was more interested in the beautiful architecture than I was the bathing!
We rounded off our visit with a stroll down the busy shopping street of Vaci Utca where we picked up an extra suitcase for all our purchases and treasures (we had been collecting things throughout our journey and found ourselves with not enough room going back!) We had also been to the Arena Plaza mall and were pleasantly surprised with how affordable everything was in Hungary, especially compared to the inflated prices we lived with in Dublin!
Overall, we loved our trip to Budapest. It is on our short list of places we would like to revisit someday and the memories we made being there on Easter were amazing!
