Buda & Pest

Budapest, Hungary

We continued our adventure with the beautiful and exciting city of Budapest. Buda and Pest are actually two different cities that grew up on opposite sides of the Danube river. Now connected by several famous bridges, the cities have different histories and even distinguishable features today.

(P.S. you pronounce it Budapesshhhht as our tour guide informed us)

We stayed in a ridiculously fabulous hotel in Pest, The Boscolo.

 They had an amazing spa and restaurant/bar!

Jolyne and I had plenty of spa time :)

Here are some pics of the spa area that I got off of their website. It had an ice cave theme with blue lighting that made it super cool.

We had an amazing guided tour of the city. It's great to have someone who knows the city so well showing you around. They know the best places to go, how to get there, the history, etc. Our guide, Joel, was really nice and informative!

Heroes' Square above

The Great Synagogue:

The second largest in the world (to New York) can hold 300,000 people

St. Stephen's Basilica is the most beautiful church I have ever been in! Sorry for the excessive pictures of this one site, but I can't help it! 

I used my Latin and Church history knowledge a lot on this trip-who woulda thunk (thanks mom and dad for the Catholic education!)

The twelve Apostles are depicted on this wooden door, the former main entrance of the church.

 

Below is Parliament from the Buda side of the river, atop castle hill:

The following pictures are of the Matthias Church in the
castle area on the Buda side of the river.

We were on one of these trams on Easter and a lady walked on with her poodle I started freeeaking out because I thought it was a lamb! I was excited beyond belief until I realized it was just another canine riding public transportation...

This is the front view of Parliament!

And this is Parliament at night! I gotchya every angle of it.

Easter picture!

I think the restaurant got its holidays mixed up...note the spooky font and candy corn border.

And now for the fooooooood. So much food.

A Budapest McDonalds!!

Mmmm burrito

Our Easter meal! Pumpkin soup, lamb and potatoes, and a traditional Hungarian Easter cake (it was really yummy, kind of like bread pudding)

A selection of Hungarian desserts :)