Two Weeks in Budapest

This summer I had the privilege of exploring Budapest with a dear friend who is a native of the city. I spent two weeks hitting the streets with her and taking in all of the sites! We also went to several villages surrounding Budapest, as well as Lake Balaton, which is the largest lake in Central Europe. I had a wonderful time taking photos while I was there, and I have been terribly lax about sharing them with people. So let’s get on to the main event, shall we?

This is one of my favorite photos that I took of the city, because you can see the gorgeous Parliament Building (on the right with the red and black roof), and you can clearly see Margaret Island situated in the middle of the Danube River.

St. Stephen’s Basilica

Street scene

Roof detail on the Parliament Building

Roof detail of St. Stephen’s

Parliament Building

The front of the Széchenyi Thermal Bath

Matthias Church

I knew going into the trip that Budapest is known for its architecture but…wow. The intricacy and scale of these buildings is astonishing.

Church in Tihany

Example of traditional village home in Tihany

Lake Balaton

Another view of the church in Tihany

A lookout point at Lake Balaton

Lake Balaton and the villages surrounding it are picturesque, and all of this was heightened by the sun and blue skies that were present the day that we visited. The lake is clean, and the water is a lovely light blue/green color. To me, this stood in stark contrast to brackish Kansas lakes that are covered in a floating layer of algae and goose poop along the shoreline. The brown/green water of Kansas, being almost impossible to see through, seems as though it might be harboring a giant, mutant catfish just waiting to pop your foot in its mouth. The water of Lake Balaton, however, looks as if it could be the home of a shimmering turtle that grants wishes.

Jaki Chapel

Backside of the Jaki Chapel

Inside of St. Elizabeth Church

Inside of St. Stephen’s

There are many churches to be seen in Budapest, each of them with its own spirit. My favorite (out of the handful that I saw) was St. Elizabeth Church, the inside of which you can see in this group of photos. The stained glass windows cast pretty rays of colored light onto the columns inside the church.

In Hungary you see a pride and appreciation for the people in Hungarian history who have influenced the country in a positive way. This is evident in the many statues of historical figures that you see throughout the city of Budapest, and Heroes’ Square is one such example of that. In the middle are the 7 Magyar chieftains who brought the Hungarian people to the land in the Carpathian Basin, and the statues within the colonnades are Hungarian kings. The history of the square is actually quite fascinating, and I would recommend looking it up if you have the time!

Looking back at these and other photos of my trips, sometimes I can hardly believe that I was actually there. Did I really get to travel to this beautiful, far away place? As I go through the pictures I can feel a small tug at my heart, accompanied by a feeling of longing. I am assured that yes, I did travel, and yes, there is a small part of me that is still immersed in the journey.