While Lana was visiting me in southern Germany an opportunity to visit Hungary over a long weekend materialized. A German friend who had business connections there offered to give a ride to Budapest and pick us up on his way back. The fit was perfect for the three day weekend. We departed our German village early and by late afternoon we had arrived in Budapest after driving across Austria. We stayed in a nice 3 star on Castle Hill on the Buda side of the Danube. The city has two parts and characters. The Buda side is hilly and is the oldest of the parts while the Pest side is flat. Here is a link that describes the city and its attractions. http://wikitravel.org/en/Budapest

We had traveled most of the day and arrived with an appetite. After checking in we decided to walk around and find a restaurant as the hotel had only a cocktail bar with light snacks. In the process we nearly got lost due to the labyrinth of streets and walkways leading down the hill to the river. After nearly an hour of walking we managed to find a place still open and had dinner. I don’t recall it was anything special. English is not widely spoken there but with the usual pointing and guessing one can usually get something to eat and drink even without words. Hungarian is a language distinct from the surrounding countries where German or variations of Slavic languages are spoken. The explanation for this linguistic anomaly is based on tribal  migrations that occurred in the early history of this region. Nomadic tribes from as far away as India settled in southern Europe then moved again due to pressure from other tribes and quests for better land, food, etc.

The photos show a large and diverse city. Lana and I took the customary bus tour as a start then walked the Castle Hill district which includes the Fishermen’s Bastion, Labyrinth and Mathias Church. These areas include museums, cafes, and restaurants aplenty plus the city views are spectacular from the heights. One not so well publicized fact is the Budapest has over a hundred hot springs many of which are open to the public. Unfortunately we didn’t have time in our short stay to try any, but next time we will for sure.