One more week in Budapest

So one more week in Hungary then... Unfortunately, our bosses decided we'd had enough luxury for one trip, so they moved us from our fancy Continental Hotel to more "reasonable" accommodation - that is a Best Western Hotel, located near the magnificent main train station - which dates back to 1884. (Wikipedia tells me it's built in the "Eclectic style", whatever that is...).

The Best Western Hotel was another Budapest institution steeped in history - this was the biggest hotel in Budapest during the communist era, and hosted many important people from the communist block. The place has obviously been revamped since, and I certainly preferred this place over the Ibis hotel where we stayed during the first week (especially as the location was more central).

The week was pretty uneventful, as we continued exploring Budapest at evening after work. My opinion about the fact that Budapest is a pretty cool place was reinforced. I met Steve again, with another fellow Finn, in Gozsdu Udvar. We tried some Jewish/middle-eastern food in a rather nice restaurant in the Jewish quarter called Mazel Tov (located in a rather nicely redone warehouse building). We also had a nice "team building event" with our customer in a Hungarian wine bar (yes, Hungary produces rather decent wines - the most famous one being the sweet Tokai white wine) - in Gozsdu Udvar again (where else?).

On our last night, I decided to head off for a bit of a private walk before dinner, to put my SLR camera into good use. After exploring the impressive train station for a bit, I made my way over to Városliget, the city park. It's a pretty impressive public park, measuring 302 acres in total. It's home to the impressive-looking Vajdahunyad Castle (it was built here in 1896 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Magyar invasion of the Carpathian basin - the architecture has been inspired by several Hungarian landmarks from all over the country).

The park is also home to the famous Széchenyi Thermal Bath - possibly the most famous bath institution in Budapest (no time to visit this time, I'm afraid). Next to the park is also the grandiose Hero's square. The square was also built in 1896 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Magyar invasion. The square is populated  by statues of the leaders of the seven Magyar tribes and other important leaders - the tomb of the unknown soldier is also located here.

From Heroes Square, I walked down Andrassy Utca, an impressive boulevard lined with impressive townhouses, and quite a few embassies. I then made my way back to the hotel, from where my colleagues joined me as we headed over for our last dinner in Budapest (snif). For the occasion, we selected a Ukrainan (!?) bistro - purely based on trying to find a well-rated restaurant not too far from the hotel. It was a nice enough place, located on an atmospheric little square - a pity the food was a bit disappointing (no complaints about the Russian vodka ;-) ).

After dinner, I continued my photography tour on my own. Budapest is quite an enchanting city by night as well. My walking tour took a parallel street to the river towards the North taking in some major sights like the Budapest Opera house and the impressive St. Stephen's Basilica (the Roman catholic cathedral of Budapest).

Of course I'd seen the impressive Parliament house already by daytime, but the place is certainly sufficiently impressive to also merit a night-time visit. And indeed, the parliament building is possibly even more impressive by night time, lit up as it is. And I got the place all to myself, basically, as there were no tourists around this time at night.

The Parliament house done, I walked back the way I came, along the Danube this time. A very impressive sight as well, at night. I got some pretty splending views towards the main sights on the Buda sight.

All in all, a very nice way to finish off a rather tiring, but rewarding visit of one of the prettiest and liveliest European capitals. Must come back for a proper touristy visit!