This city was not what we expected, our first impression being somewhat disappointing. After 26 countries, and countless metro/subway systems, there is no doubt Budapest’s is the most perplexing. I’m not going to try and explain the details of it all, since I still don’t even understand it myself. The one fact we did absorb is you can’t transfer to a different line without having to pay another full fare – this is just plain impractical. AND, since during the few taxi rides we took our meter appeared to be rigged, we decided walking was the best mode of transport in this city.

Now we’ve seen our fare share of graffiti around the world, but absolutely no place comes close to how covered this city is with spray painted images and tags. It was quite disgusting seeing such beautiful old buildings, churches and even the steps on the escalator covered in ugly graffiti. Jason and I decided if we ever moved to this city, our profession of choice would be painters, clearly no lack of work opportunity in this town.

My favorite parts of the city centered around the areas on the Danube River. This waterway separates the Buda and Pest sides -- the name Budapest is a combination of the two, a fun fact I was unaware of prior to our travels there. We cruised up and down the Danube on a beautiful glass boat, stopping off on Margaret Island for an afternoon of exploration. The boat ride was a great opportunity to see and learn about some of the sites along the riverbanks including the grand Parliament Building, the Chain Link and Liberty Bridges, Castle Hill, the Royal Palace, and many churches.

I never thought we’d have one of our best meals of our entire trip in Budapest, at a restaurant called Mokka. The ambience was superb, the service was spot on, and the food was phenomenal – after our countless servings of goulash, and uninspiring meals this was a real shocker. By far the most unique and delicious dessert we’ve probably ever tasted was the ricotta dumplings, served on a warm bed of marzipan, accompanied by a creamy ice cream – this was heaven in our mouths.

On a whim our final day, we decided to jump on a local train and take it to a suburb town. Upon stumbling onto the cobblestone center of Szentendre, we were in love. It was an absolutely adorable little town lining the Danube River, filled with many restaurants and infused with tons of charm. We happened to catch a local festival where strange enough a local band was playing Nirvana covers, which was quite out of place (check out the video clip!). Szentendre even boasted the supposed worlds only marzipan museum, which I must say was impressive – I especially found the full size Michael Jackson figure that weighed almost 200 lbs and took 3 weeks to complete interesting. An impromptu boat ride back down the Danube to Budapest was a great way to end our time in the country.