A Fairytale in stone. Now, bring on the fairies!
It's been years and years since I went to Budapest (Hungary, that is) for the last time. I think it was in my mid 20's, so I guess my visions of the city (and also the purpose of the whole visit) were slight off-course. Anyway. We had a long weekend here due to some holidays so we planned a short jump to Hungary. Ricky, Iggy and me. It was an instant thing. I looked up the apartments on the internet, found something suitable (and as it became clear later, with a lot of space and with a perfect location within the heart of the city) and off we went. There's only a good four hours drive from Ljubljana to Budapest, so it was an easy thing to do.
City, at least its historic centre, is - in one word - wonderful. Really wonderful. Magnificent architecture from Austro-Hungarian times, a lot of money invested in restoration and renovation and the legacy of well planned and immense sings of good urban planning in the past all make Budapest a real treat. We even got a (crowded) taste of city's famous thermal spas and a taste of really excellent beef goulash. And we got some sun and some rain and some fog and some pleasant day-time and not so pleasant night-time temperatures.
So... Budapest. A wonderful city, really worth the visit, but - for me - it's missing something important. Maybe it was due to short visit, maybe it was due so Autumn kicking in, but I didn't feel the soul, the esprit, that specific spark really good cities have. It's all wonderful and polished and all, but for most of the time, it felt like an exhibition, a museum even. But... I will surely give it another go soon. Who know, maybe I will find a fairytale place filled with fairies next time. No pun intended. :)
So, as it is... I am offering you a few night pictures here, a much larger set can be found on flickr.
Pleasant times.
A rare occurrence. Ricky with some sort of alcohol.
Chain Bridge.
Royal Palace on the Castle Hill.
Reflections.
Matthias Church.
The Parliament from the Fishermen's Bastion.
Fishermen's Bastion.
City, at least its historic centre, is - in one word - wonderful. Really wonderful. Magnificent architecture from Austro-Hungarian times, a lot of money invested in restoration and renovation and the legacy of well planned and immense sings of good urban planning in the past all make Budapest a real treat. We even got a (crowded) taste of city's famous thermal spas and a taste of really excellent beef goulash. And we got some sun and some rain and some fog and some pleasant day-time and not so pleasant night-time temperatures.
So... Budapest. A wonderful city, really worth the visit, but - for me - it's missing something important. Maybe it was due to short visit, maybe it was due so Autumn kicking in, but I didn't feel the soul, the esprit, that specific spark really good cities have. It's all wonderful and polished and all, but for most of the time, it felt like an exhibition, a museum even. But... I will surely give it another go soon. Who know, maybe I will find a fairytale place filled with fairies next time. No pun intended. :)
So, as it is... I am offering you a few night pictures here, a much larger set can be found on flickr.
Pleasant times.
A rare occurrence. Ricky with some sort of alcohol.
Chain Bridge.
Royal Palace on the Castle Hill.
Reflections.
Matthias Church.
The Parliament from the Fishermen's Bastion.
Fishermen's Bastion.