Descent from the Alps

 

We arrived at Budapest at around 3 pm, took the 100E bus to the City Centre and walked for 5 minutes to the hotel. There was a long line of people waiting for the bus but we did not wait long as the huge tram like bus keep the line moving quickly. I thought about taking a taxi or Uber but decided to take the local bus to get closer towards the way life is experienced by the locals instead of zipping through like a tourist. I had a good view of the countryside and emerging city by looking out of the bus window.

After settling in the hotel, a small comfortable place with a young and friendly staff, we went to the Central Market where we ate Goulash – pork with pasta and beef soup, plus stuffed cabbages. I had a local draft beer with my food. We walked through the large Central Market looking at the local stall with their local products and Paprika products present in all the stalls being the national plant. I remembered watching a movie (Romania) where Paprika was mashed into a paste and sold into stores. Apparently Paprika was introduced by the Turks.

We walked through the city streets enjoying the lively flow of mostly young and attractive people, the cobblestone streets and shopping stores. We walked to the Christmas Market with a huge Christmas tree in the center square and looked at the food stalls with the myriad dishes of Goulash in bread bowls, sausages in various ways being served in bread, pork knuckles, beef steaks and the popular Chimney Bread which we had eaten in the Central Market served with ice cream. Chimney bread was also popular in Prague and Copenhagen.

We walked for an hour or two, enjoying the cold evening and the elegant old and massive buildings along the busy streets. Budapest is an old city and I saw the old hotel depicted in Michael Korda’s ‘Journey to a Revolution’ about the 1956 revolt against the Soviets. People had died along these streets some time in the past though one would not have thought looking at the young, prosperous people walking its streets today.

We walked along briefly the Danube River the flowed along several countries in Europe and planned to take the evening cruise later today. Coming over from Zurich, I saw the river snake through the countryside from the plane window. The plane had travelled over the majestic mountains of the Swiss Alps with it’s snow covered peaks breaking through the clouds and the ragged mountain tops making way to the green countryside and rivers after leaving the mountain regions and descending into the green plains of Budapest.