budapest - relaxing baths and natural beauty

after an amazing time in prague, we took an overnight train to budapest. the danube river separates this city with the historic and hilly buda on the west and the great plains of the pest on the east. i really didn't know what to expect from budapest but it turned out to be such a gem! the people are beautiful and friendly, the city is gorgeous, the metro system is so user friendly and it's soo cheap here!!!

thermal baths are huge in budapest. it's part of their lifestyle to spend hours alternating between saunas/steam rooms and then dipping into 8° C pools! it was strange and uncomfortable at first, but it really does relax the body. massages are also extremely cheap - an hour for only $40! i only had time for one but would have loved at least one everyday at that price!

margaret island is between buda and pest and is a nice getaway from the city. it was a gorgeous day and we went bike riding around the island.

j&j on their bike

we spent one day at the castle hill, location of some of their most important monuments and museums.

we walked across the chain bridge to castle hill

siklo trolley - amazing race fans - does this look familiar?

matthias church

s and me at the matthias fountain

also at castle hill is the house of hungarian wines. it details 22 different wine regions in hungary and you can taste from each of the regions. let's just say, we lacked some self-restraint in limiting our tastings.

s and me before we started wine tasting

me trying to get in p and j's picture - obviously not completely sober

one of the best adventures is actually traveling up to buda hills, the highest point in budapest. you take a metro to a cog railway to a children's railroad and then hike up to the buda tower. coming back down is the best part because you can take a chair lift.

k, j and me in front of elizabeth lookout tower

s at the very top of elizabeth lookout tower - windy huh?

a view of our view coming down the chair lift