Budapest, Vienna and Prague – June 24 to July 6

OK – so we have to play a bit of catch-up.  We’ve been moving pretty fast.  And getting a bit complacent.  This is a budget version of TravelBreezers.  

Budapest

We arrived in Budapest on June 24. Again, like Slovenia, don’t make judgements about a city by its bus station.  Pretty gritty in almost every city.

We went on a great bike tour of the city that we booked on Viator.  It’s a nice way to see a pretty big city with a lot of cool sites.  You can still feel the relatively recent – pre-1989 – history of Soviet occupation.  But, overall, this is a nice city with beautiful buildings along side Soviet era rectangular blocks.   

 

 A great cultural experience is a visit to the public bath.  The Szechenyi Thermal Bath is the largest of the Budapest public baths – one of the largest in all Europe – and is powered by two geothermal springs. Very cool and a bit weird – for Americans used to personal space and bathing alone.

We also took a food tour.  The central market in Budapest has some great looking produce, meats and fish.  And we were able to taste some great goulash and some other Hungarian delicacies.

We also visited the Central Cafe.  Super cool place for coffee and cake.  Looks like it did in the communist era.  It was recently used as a set in the movie Atomic Blonde where it was supposed to be East Berlin in 1989.

Overall, we liked Budapest but not sure we need to come back again.  Was fun and interesting, but think there are better places to visit.

Vienna

Surprisingly – not really sure why – elegant, spectacular and beautiful.  We weren’t really expecting Vienna to be this nice.  We only spent two nights here but wished we had a couple more.  

Took another bike tour – which we think is a great way to see a city.  You can cover a lot of ground and the guide doesn’t have a chance to talk too much.  Just the right balance. 

Shawn also took a trip to the Sigmund Freud museum.  It’s his office from the pre-WWII era.  Very cool if you are a psych buff.

There is a also a very beautiful shopping district in Central Vienna.  Surrounded by magnificent cathedrals.

 

Prague

Took a painless train ride from Vienna to Prague.  This is a beautiful city.  If you like to drink beer this is your town.  There are tons of bars.  Probably too many.  In any case, we liked  our stay here.  They like to say that Prague is similar to a “little Paris”.  If you have the choice however, it’s probably better just to go to Paris.  

Nevertheless, here are some highlights!