Europe Trip: Part 3 - Budapest

For 3 hours plus in the plane from London, we reached our next destination - Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. Before I start sharing the photos, just some background on the name of this city. Budapest is the composition of 2 city names, "Buda" and "Pest". Buda and Pest is separated by the Danube River. The 2 cities were later united to become a single city in 1873 and there was when the name Budapest came in placed. 

Day 5 - 6

It was already 11.45am when the plane touched down at Budapest. We had our late lunch and checked-in to our hostel, Casa de la Musica. Nothing much on the 1st day in Budapest. We were basically resting most of the time as we had woke up early in the morning to catch the early flight from London. Other than that, we just headed out for dinner and strolled along the streets of Budapest. 

An inside view of the hostel. It was so colorfully painted. Our bedrooms were comfortable and clean. The best part was, they had a card scanning system to access to the hostel so no issues on the security. I would recommend this place if you are visiting Budapest and wanted to get an affordable yet comfortable place to stay. Visit www.casadelamusicahostel.com for more information. 

We passed by Central Market Hall when we headed out to grab some food for dinner during our 1st day in Budapest. You could visit this place if you wish to shop for local stuff. The 1st thing that caught my eyes was the colorful roof top. Unique, don't you think so? 

We started our adventure the next morning. Such a sunny day in Budapest that morning. The weather was just nice. The sun was shining bright and the air was cooling. 

Hop up the tramp and it will bring you to several tourist spots. 

Along the way, we saw The Parliament. 

Chain Bridge. One of the bridges that connects Buda and Pest. 

Then, we reached Gellert Hill. We wanted to visit the Citadella (Citadel in Hungarian word) but when we were halfway walking uphill to Citadella we saw the Cave Church. It was not in our visit list but we decided to pay a visit. 

Statue in front of the Cave Church. (Look at the clouds, it was going to rain. The morning was so nice but this happened in the afternoon =.=. It was basically like that throughout our Budapest trip. It rained on and off. Luckily we brought our umbrellas.) 

Cave Church entrance. (This photo is from www.sacred-destinations.com. We didn't manage to snap a photo of the entrance but I still wanted to show you how it looks like =p. I promise, the rest of the photos in this blog are all taken by us.)

Inside view of Cave Church. Cave Church was built in a cave at Gellert Hill. I supposed that's how the name came from. This church is full of history. Click here if you would like to know more. 

After visiting Church Cave, we walked uphill again to visit Citadella.

Almost there. See the Liberty Statue up there. 

 

A closer view at the Liberty Statue. Everything is so huge here. 

Viewing Budapest city from Citadella. Left is Buda, then Danube River, and the right is Pest. 

Then, we visited Castle Hill (Varhegy in Hungarian). Up up we went in the cable car.

Castle Hill is my favourite spot in Budapest. It is full of history starting from 13th century. The castle, churches, fortress, houses, and the structure of the whole Castle Hill,  this place is like a city by its own and there were 8000 residents once. Walking around in Castle Hill made me felt that I was a few centuries back where knights still exist. I would highly recommend to visit this place if you are in Budapest. 

Matthias Church at Castle Hill. Look at the Gothic elements and the colorful roof top.   

Streets at Castle Hill. Imagine that some of the buildings are made of wood with straw roof tops, remove the cars and replace with horses and carriages, this place will be like a few centuries back. 

Fisherman's Bastion, fortress of Castle Hill. 

Viewing down from Fisherman's Bastion, overseeing all the colorful roof tops of Budapest and the Parliament. 

Panoramic view from Fisherman's Bastion, across Danube River and Budapest city.  

The trip to Budapest was kinda short and we had only managed to visit a few places. I am really glad that we managed to visit Castle Hill. It is beyond words to describe how fascinating it is and you really have to pay a visit to this place if you are in Budapest. The next thing I remembered most about Budapest were the colorful roof tops, so pretty. 

Well, we left Budapest and proceed to our next destination the next morning...... Bratislava  =)

Previous post: 
Europe Trip: Part 1 - Paris 
Europe Trip: Part 2 - London

Europe Trip: Part 2 - London

After spending around 7 hours+ in the bus from Paris throughout the night, we were finally here - London. 

Day 3

We went to River Thames, well, it was only part of the river that flow through central London. The 1st thing that caught my eyes when I reached there was the red phone booth. I realized every phone booth here is red in color. We don't see this elsewhere, right? One of London's signature, I supposed. 

Walking along the river bank and we saw London Eye, opposite the river bank. 

Taxi.. taxi. Yup, this is how London's taxi looked like. Old school. It looked so different from the rest of the cars around it. Hehe.. I found it cute, looks mini but I heard it is quite spacious inside. Didn't get a chance to get a ride. We planned to take it when we wanted to go to the airport to leave London but there were 5 of us and our luggage, couldn't fit in. Too bad.  May be next time? =)

Further down the river bank and opposite the road, we saw these. I'm not too sure what the red building is but the black one is Portcullis House. It is the offices for the Members of Parliaments and their staffs. I find the design is kind of interesting. The gold one is the Big Ben. 

A closer view of Big Ben and Palace Westminster/ Houses of Parliament. Big Ben is referring to the clock tower and the rest of the building is Palace Westminster/ Houses of Parliament (I always thought Big Ben is referring to both buildings =p). The Palace Westminster/ Houses of Parliament is so long that we couldn't manage to capture the whole building in this picture. Such a unique color for a building. I wonder what kind of material they had used to build it. 

Across the road is Westminster Abbey. This is where Prince William and Kate Middleton married. =)

A closer view at the building. Yet another fine art.

Right behind me was St. Margaret's Church which share the same compound with Westminster Abbey. Didn't snap a photo of the whole building but we managed to have some photos inside. (Yes, I was wearing 2 jackets. =p. It was so cold and I was just wearing a normal t-shirt that I wore from Paris. Didn't expect the weather in London was so cold and I didn't get a chance to change cause check-in time for the hostel was after lunch. I just grabbed anything that I could take out from my luggage. Look at my nose, started to turn red.) 

Inside St. Margaret's Church. It's kind of small size as compared to the rest but at least we could have a closer look at the stain glasses and alters. 

Wanted to show you this. The brass tubes are the pipes of the Pipe Organ, built so long that reached the church ceiling. We had actually seen Pipe Organs in Paris but we were not allow to go near it and it was difficult to snap a photo. Finally, this was close enough. Most of the cathedrals, basilicas, and churches in Europe have Pipe Organ. How the Pipe Organ works? Well, by air. When the organist presses the keyboards, air will flow through the tubes and produce the sound. The sound is loud enough to fill the whole church. Wonder how does it sound like? Remember the music of those old Frankenstein movies? Well, that's the sound of Pipe Organ, of course, it won't sound scary with the correct melody.  

We went to the Tower Bridge at night. 

I had wear my shawl, the thickest knit wear and thickest jacket that I brought but I still felt soooo cooolllld! Couldn't stand the wind. My God! It was freezing. Never felt this cold before. 

A panoramic view of Tower Bridge. Pretty isn't it? 

See the white castle on the very left? It's the Tower of London. We didn't manage to visit that cause it was already closed when we reached. It's full of history so it would be difficult for me to summarize here. Gotta Google by yourself. =p 

Day 4

How could we miss out the Royal Palace. Of course, no. Visited Buckingham Palace early in the morning. 

Side view. 

Look at the gold details at the gates. 

Guard on duty. 

When you visit Buckingham Palace, you will want to watch the ceremony of Changing The Guards. Some information on Changing The Guards. 

Here came the guards, marching into Buckingham Palace. 

The Ceremony of Changing The Guards. 

Ceremony completed. Changing of Guard.  

We went to St. James's Park after the ceremony of Changing The Guards. It is so near, like walking across the street. I particularly like this park. It's like a mini bird park itself. 

Standing on the Blue Bridge in St. James's Park lake. London Eye is visible from here.  

Near by we had the Green Park. Like its name, this park is full of greenery. Trees, grasses, so soothing.   

Then, headed to Hyde Park as we wanted to visit Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. 

Look at this tree that we saw in Hyde Park. Don't you feel it look kind of interesting? Like a hut? 

Under the tree. The leaves were like shelter. No one could see us from outside unless they "come in". 

Hi, little one. So cute. 

Ar, we saw this German Shepard while strolling around. 

"Come back doggie. I wanna snap a photo with you" 

Another photo of this German Shepard. I just couldn't get over this dog =p. Look how big size it was. It was taller than the coffee table when it sat, even reaching the shoulder of its owner. =O I bet it would be taller than me if it stands with its 2 back legs. 

Finally, we reached Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. 

Visited Trafalgar Square during late evening after taking a good rest at the hostel. Strolling at so many parks was fun and tiring at the same time. 

Roar!!!! =p

So we were 67 days to go for the Olympics back then. 

We saw Tourism Malaysia Office right opposite the road. Lol. Never expect that. 

Across the road to have a better view of the whole Trafalgar Square. 

Had a photo of the Oyster Cards before we returned them to the counter. It was our last night in London. These Oyster Cards were limited edition that prepared to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Should have keep one, right? 

We went back to the hostel earlier that night as we had an early flight to catch the next morning. Next destination was awaiting for us. Hehe... 

So, if you ask me to describe London with 1 word, most probably it would be COOOOOLLLD!!!! It was freeeezzziinggg. I never felt so cold before and my hands were in my pocket most the time. Imagine that. I thought it was going to summer? Well, we later got to know from one of the hostel staff that London's summer is kind of short. Not more than a week perhaps. I was like... =O. Other than the coldness, I was pretty happy to experience London. The red phone booth, the taxi, the parks that were like a mini bird park themselves (swans, ducks, birds... they just swim at the lake or walk around like nobody's business) that make you forget that you were right in the middle of a city, and etc, London has her own uniqueness.  

Well, which destination next? Stay tune to find out. =)