2nd September 2018
The free walking tour lasted about 3 hours and ended at the Matthias Church in front of the Fisherman’s Bastion. The part I loved the most about the church was the colourful ceramic tiles on the roof – they left me spellbound for the better part of ten minutes. I decided to get back to my hostel room and rest for a bit before exploring a little more of Budapest. Having realized that I hadn’t availed my 72-hour unlimited travel card much, I began to look forward to opportunities to use it. My bus journey from the Buda side of the river to the hostel was delightful.
A couple of hours of rest later, I found myself tracing the path to the Nepfenyes Restaurant. I was looking forward to having a nice light meal and a dessert, and a vegan restaurant just the right place to try. I ended up reaching a little late – it was after lunch hour and they were almost done with the lunch service. I ended up ordering just the dessert, which was fried banana topped with crumbled walnuts in caramel. The dessert was an experience in itself – it felt too sweet at first, but I began to enjoy it more and more with every subsequent bite. To be honest, I am not a fan of caramel sauce (and I had never imagined a fried banana, leave alone with caramel!). However, there was something about this combination that seemed to work. I am really glad I gave it a shot.
University Church
I ended up walking the streets for the next hour without any destination in mind. I found myself in front of the University Church while having a quick call with my parents. I was really intrigued by its bold colour scheme and the Baroque style of architecture.
After walking around for a bit, I decided to begin exploiting my travel pass and travel in all different modes of transport I possibly could. I took the metro from Astoria to Deak Ferenc Ter, from where I changed to another metro line to Vorosmarty Ter.
The underground metro stations had me gaping in awe – three lines of metro ran one below the other, and one could see how the newer lines differed from the old ones. And the escalators were freakishly long.
A trip in one direction was almost 3 minutes long and the design was such that it created an optical illusion, making me question the direction of gravity.
As I alighted the metro at Vorosmarty Ter, The weather was clear, the air windy, and the sun soothing. The Danube sounded cheerful, and the setting sun created an amazing backdrop for the Buda castle.
Buda Castle in the Evening
The couple of statues I saw near the tram station were definitely something I would fondly remember for a while. The first one was called “The Little Princess.”
It is the statue of a little girl sitting on the railings wearing a princess costume – her bathrobes were her mantle, and her crown was cut out of newspaper. Her innocence took me back to my childhood days, when the only thing I had to worry about was which game to play next. The next one I saw was a statue of a girl and her dog. At first, there seemed to be nothing remarkably great about it. However, the more I observed it, the more amazed I ended up being. Hint: it’s all about the eyes.
I was drawn to the mischief and love in the dog’s eyes, which was reflected by the girl as well. Their eyes exuberated pure joy, and they appeared as if they were lost in the moment, and as though nothing else in the world mattered. It got me thinking about how we keep chasing things in life. We call them our goals and targets and work continuously towards them. How many times though do we actually enjoy the simplicity and mundaneness of the present – like lazily watching the sun set or the sparrows peck at something? I decided to take it easy for the remainder of the evening, and just have a long walk at the promenade.
My rather aimless journey on foot took me to the Shoes on the Danube Bank. It is a memorial on the eastern bank of the Danube to honour the people killed by fascist groups in Budapest during the World War II.
Approximately 3500 people had been marched to the Danube and were shot after being ordered to take off their shoes. The strong current of the river carried their bodies away. I was sad and stumped – I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that someone could have so much hatred in their hearts for so many people.
Slightly tired and definitely intoxicated by the beauty of the setting sun, I sat at the promenade watching the city come to life. The bustling humdrum slowly made way for relative silence.
I experienced a weird sense of peace and calm as the daylight gave way to the darkness. It was the beginning of my vacation and there was nothing much to worry about. However, with my thoughts running free, the loneliness of the solo journey finally began to sink in. It struck me that I had a spectacular evening in front of me but nobody to share it with. Walking back to the hostel lost in thought, I realized that ultimately I was all I had got.
My day ended on a much higher note – I met a couple of really interesting roommates back in the hostel. Jos was from Holland, and had been travelling for quite some time. Julia, on the other hand, was a Russian American with an iPhone X and some seriously sick photography skills. We stayed up for a while, chatting and discussing about everything under the sun – including the journey experienced, future travel plans, and culture. Until now, my hostel experience had been better than what I had expected – really friendly faces, interacting with different travellers and learning from their experiences and finally sharing a few of my own. As I lay in my bed that night waiting to fall asleep, I wondered what more the lovely city had in store for my last day.
A Roller Coaster called Life 