The old charm of Budapest

So we are now in the beautiful City of Budapest, and I am loving every minute of it. The city is huge and is divided into 2 parts by the Danube river, Buda & Pest. The city is made up of old buildings with very old European architecture with many museums and art galleries. It is a great city to visit if you are an Arts & History buff. The other thing Budapest is also known for is their parties and nightlife. So there are many young tourists who come to Budapest to enjoy the night life, drinking and socializing in bars or pubs. As I found out from my friend Marton, pubs in Budapest close between 5-6am and re-open at 9.00! Crazy! :p no wonder people come here to party! and have fun. The other thing that I like about Europe is their cafe culture. There are many sidewalk cafes located around town or tucked away in some small street and now with the bicycle culture riding high, there are quite a number of bike cafes around catered to cyclists where they can just hang out and socialize or repair their bikes which is really a cool concept. Although there are a few such cafes back in KL there isn’t much of a bike culture, and many are not used to this concept so it really is a niche market. Budapest also has many bike rental stores and surprisingly many tourists come in to rent the bikes for the day or even for a whole month! So bike rental shops here are money- making outlets The cycling culture is quite healthy here. People commute around the city by bicycle and at every street there are bicycle parking facilities provided. In Budapest alone It is estimated that there are 60000-80000 cyclists.

In my previous post I wrote about how we were deprived of having decent meals and having missed all the food we had in Turkey. Lo and behold here in Budapest there are quite number of Turkish and Lebanese who operate fast food shops, and most of them claim to be halal so for these few days that we are here we can enjoy some decent meals which is such a blessing.

Leaving George’s Panzio

Saying goodbye especially to people who are really warm and friendly is really hard

Paradise Panzio, Mornor.

With Timi, owner of Paradise Panzio

Few more kilometers to Budapest

Budapest!!

Beautiful Tulips

Designated bike lanes on the main street

Chic lady cyclist, the ratio of ladies on bikes is roughly about 5 – 10

The city commuter

Budapest bike, is a rent a bike store with great staff and owners. They also organize night bike tours

With Marton of Budapest Bike. He used to race cross – country, but now only takes part in bike Marathons. Super friendly and humble guy

With Zoltan & Marton

Now this really feels like Europe

Budapest is a city with plenty of old buildings which has it’s own beautiful charm

Liberty Bridge

Chain Bridge opened in 1849

view of the Danube River & Parliament building from the Chain Bridge

Parliament Building

Vaci Utca street. This is the street where all the souvenir shops and cafes/restaurants for tourist are located.

View from Elisabeth Bridge during the night