Hungary has become one of my (Alastair) very favorite places in the world to visit. Budapest is a beautiful city and I’m starting to want to know more about the country, its history, etc., especially as I’m part Hungarian. It is something that I haven’t really thought about all that much. As a kid, the only thing I remember knowing about the country was that my grandad was from there and that their national team goalkeeper wore sweatpants and looked like he was playing Sunday league.
Anyway, it was great to spend Thanksgiving there, especially because Hollie came out and joined us there! Budapest is one of our favorite cities, and I have been trying to learn a little more about my grandad and his time there before he left and came to England. I have always had a lot of admiration for him, without knowing loads about him and his life. He died when I was quite young, but I’ve always known about his work ethic and ability to fix and create things. As I prepared for consulting interviews last year, my grandad (along with my dad and mum) was an answer to any question about who I looked up to. One last memory before I get to the trip - I remember that every time I saw him, he’d pull me aside as we said goodbye and told me to be good for my mum. Every time.
Anyways, we met Hollie at the airport and headed into Budapest. Remembering how disappointed we were last year when arriving too late at a restaurant to be served, we decided to head straight to the best restaurant that we visited last year. We speed-walked through the cold to get to Regős Vendéglő in time and ended up arriving about 10 minutes before the kitchen was going to close. Perfect timing! We had some of the best food and chatted together in the mostly underground restaurant. Many restaurants over there are semi-underground - you have to go down stairs to get in, and if you look up you’ll see windows at the top which are just about at the floor level outside. Not sure why, but it is really cool. The inside of this restaurant is all brick, the ceiling is curved, and there is a bunch of old school stuff on the wall. It feels really traditional. And the food - wow. Generally speaking, the food in Budapest is amazing. It is easily top of my list for places to eat. The food can only be described as heavy and filling, and it is really tasty. Anyways, we left and headed to our AirBnB with big smiles and full bellies.
The next morning, Hollie looked after Emre while Lain and I left early to go on a run together. We don’t often get to do that, because of Emre, especially long runs, so the plan was to make the most of it and run a half-marathon together. We ended up doing 23km which was the longest that Lain has ever gone! We spent most of the run along the river Danube, admiring the amazing buildings and views that are everywhere you look. We also ran on an island in the middle of the river, which was really cool because the path around it was made of the same stuff like a running track, one red lane going around the whole island. It was quite cold and sometimes lightly raining, but it was perfect weather for us as we ran (luckily Lain picked the right clothes to pack!). Anyways, I’m really proud of Lain for running so well for so long, we only stopped for traffic lights, to buy water, and to say goodbye to last night’s meal.
Of course, after our run the next thing to do was… eat! We headed to a restaurant that we really enjoyed last year for our Thanksgiving meal! Once again, the food was amazing and we left full to the brim… well almost, because our next stop was to buy some dessert, a kind of hot bread thing coated in sugar which we had for the first time in Vienna, really great! It was already dark by this point, the sun going down at about 4pm!
As is normal for us, we spent a lot of the trip just walking around, chatting, and experiencing Budapest. We walked along the river, right where we’d ran that morning, and took some pictures of the Hungarian Parliament building - easily one of the most beautiful buildings in the world (and where I’d later learn was the site of a massacre during the 1956 revolution (not certain if my grandad was there but seems quite likely - will do research). We then headed back to the Airbnb and hung out for the night.
The next morning, we got up and walked to the Central Market Hall. Its a huge marketplace with souvenirs, food, all that kind of thing. Unfortunately, Emre was an absolute nightmare, screaming the place down, and it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience of our lives! We left there after a bit, quite ticked off, and tried to calm him down. Guess what we did next… we ate Hungarian food in a place whose presentation was first class, and the taste, very good, but not at the levels of our tried and trues.
We then headed across the green bridge and up towards Citadella (not all the way up) to overlook some of the river and the city. On the way up we found the most legit park, and the funny thing was that it was full of adults! And not all adults from one group, three or four different couples / groups. It had huge slides on a steep slope, little trampolines, etc., and so Emre and daddy just had to play! Lain also got involved, and we had a lot of fun! After a while at the park we took some pictures overlooking the river, then headed back over to the Buda side of the city to go ice-skating on the lake / pond outdoors!
Emre was really looking forward to it, but now he is bigger he ended up having real skates and struggled massively. He gave up pretty quick and wanted to sit on a seal thing and get pushed around, so after who knows how long I relented and went to rent him one, thinking it was going to cost an arm and a leg. It ended up being around $2, probably less haha. Anyways, we all really enjoyed it, the DJ was on fire playing loads of top songs from the late 90s and early 00’s. We danced around, Lain had me try and do some moves, and I ended up falling a couple of times (left hip hurts now - little bruised). Hollie took a great tumble and landed hard on her airbags, but all in all it was a lot of fun. It was funny to see how much Hollie seemed to enjoy it, after a timid start she really got into it and we all had a good laugh! Luckily for Lain, she didn’t fall at all and even got a few convincing dance moves in herself. Looking back, it was a real highlight of the trip!
I went on another run around the river at night which felt really good, fastest I’ve ran since the marathon and it felt great to really push myself - I really enjoy running at night, especially in such a beautiful city where the buildings are lit up as well as Budapest’s are.
After checking out on our last morning, we headed out in the cold with all our bags and clobber and walked a bunch. We ended up near a Christmas market having some hot chocolate and cake. We did a bit of sightseeing, again walking along the river (other side this time) and then Emre and I went on the Budapest Eye while Hollie and Lain chatted down below. Emre seemed to really enjoy it, and we had a great time, but as soon as we got off he said it was terrifying, and then went and told Hollie and Lain that he didn’t enjoy it! No way mate, that’s a lie, he had a great time and wasn’t scared one bit! I think he just wanted to say what he thought would be most appropriate or get the biggest reaction haha. We then loaded Hollie onto a bus for the airport and killed a bit more time ourselves.
After chilling out in a Pizza Hut (I know, but the pizza was actually really good and cheap), we headed to the Parliament building, to Kossuth Lajos Square and went to the 1956 memorial which is underground under the square. It is an amazing exhibition that had me reading everything. I’m so interested in learning more and really want to understand really well where my grandad fits in. The little that I know tells me that he was very involved (evidently that he had to leave the country and family fearing for his life), but I have a massive hunger to learn more and more. Anyways, it was a really sobering experience and I can’t wait to go back to Budapest in six weeks or so! What a great Thanksgiving trip!
