1000 Places To See Before You Die - Hungary

I don’t usually ear-mark books as it seems disrespectful to the paper.  But one in my library is very dog-earred and it is 1000 Places to See Before you Die by Patricia Schultz.  You know it as that thick paper-back with lots of places to set your sights on or at least your dreams.  It’s my go-to reference book to be sure I’m not missing something when I’m in the area.  I love looking at the 2 inch thick edges and seeing all the tiny turned over edges.  Wow, what a lifetime with a DH (“dear husband” in blog lingo) who loves to travel as much as me, with a sprinkling of thanks to the Coast Guard and of course the benefit of military airlift command flights (MAC flights as we called them) when exact dates are not crucial to your plans.

So this posting is dedicated to those places which appear for Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  My edition is old, era 2003, and no doubt I’ll be adding sights from newer editions later in the year.  So take a minute with a cup of tea, a glass of wine, or your pint of beer to read along in anticipation of these great European delights we’ll be visiting.

Today’s posting is: Hungary

Castle Hill > 

Buda is located on the LEFT Bank of the Danube River where you’ll find the hilly older section of the city and the Buda Castle also known as the Royal Palace. Here’s where we’ll be taking our photos from the iconic Fisherman’s Bastion high above the river.

Danube River and the Danube Bend > 

You probably know the city of Budapest is divided by the Danube River into the Buda side and the Pest side (pronounced Pesht…you can start sounding continental now as you tell your friends about your Spring 2015 plans).  We’ll have 3 nights here, and en route to Vienna (a short deluxe coach ride of 2.5 hours) we will stop at: 

Danube Bend in the picturesque town of Szentendre.  

Here we’ll find a dozen Orthodox churches, museums, cafes, and handicrafts.

Whether you are arriving from the U.S. into Budapest’s Ferihegy airport, or by rail via direct rail link from one of the several daily arrivals from Paris, Munich, or Venice at Keleti Station, a good first day jet-lag fighting remedy would be to visit one of the many ancient baths.  

Most notably is Hotel Gellert > 

and its Art Nouveau architecture and 18 pubic baths.  Here’s where you’ll see the locals playing chess on floating boards.  Temperatures are posted for each of the bathing areas, and you can certainly follow these with a massage.  Beneath Budapest alone, there are more than 80 natural hot springs.