Beautiful Buda and basking in baths

After a day of relaxing at the hostel, we decided that our second day in Budapest would be on the Buda side of things.

The Danube cuts through the city and splits it into two main sections, the hilly Buda side and the start of the plains on the Pest side (the two cities were combined into one in the late 1800s, if memory serves).

The hills are beautiful, and we climbed up to Buda Castle, which boasts some magnificent tiled roofs and gorgeous views across the river to Pest from Fisherman's Bastion and nearby Mattias Church, a beautiful church overlooking the Danube:

One of the best views was looking down towards the Parliament building, an absolutely outstanding building on the banks of the Danube. It was truly an awe-inspiring sight from the top of Buda Hill.

From there, we waltzed over to the nearby palace, within the walls of what amounts to a citadel on the hill. Another outstanding building. I really could go on and on about the beauty of the buildings we were visiting. Not enough can be said, but I don't want to sound trite and all that jazz, so just understand that they were all amazingly wonderful.

We stumbled across a nice little wine shop that was housed in the cellars of the palace, some of the wine cellars dating back to the 13th century. Needless to say, they were creepy as all get out. We were the only people we saw in the entire cellar museum, and for good reason. We couldn't get out of there fast enough. But we then had to taste the wine, of course. And I must say, Hungarian wine was delicious, all four we tried. There was a particular white, Darazsko Furmint by Tokajicum, that was exquisite. You won't find it anywhere in the States because they haven't started shipping there yet and don't exactly have a good wine marketing program going, according to our sommelier. But as soon as we get Hungarian wines out of Hungary, look out boys. Good stuff comin'.

From there, we trudged up and around to the Gellert Baths, a touristy but interesting Hungarian bath, dominated by some Turkish influences. We relaxed in some 36 and 38 degree Celsius pools (or about 96 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit). The aches and pains of hilly walks were certainly washed away and an immense sense of calm rested on the group and that was about all she wrote for the night.

After a long day of hiking, we were ready to relax the evening away. Calm, cool, and collected. Dinner, some drinks, and off to bed.