On Thursday we wanted to take it a bit easier, so we decided to go to Aqua World. It’s about an hour away from our hotel, a bit outside the city center. Unfortunately, the water park is quite old and you can tell it’s been there for a while. Also, the temperature inside the park was quite cold, and it was overcrowded. However, the kids still had fun with all the slides and were able to burn off some energy. In hindsight, though, we would not go there again.
In the afternoon, we headed back to the city center. Before dinner, we stopped by the large market hall to stock up on paprika powder for cooking.
Afterwards, we had a typical Hungarian meal. The chicken paprikash and goulash were heavenly. However, the service left much to be desired when the waiter poured grappa over me at the end and I had to clean up everything on my own. One thing we’ve unfortunately noticed a few times already in Budapest: quality and good service are often lacking. There are probably enough tourists who eat anyway which means attention to details and a real service mindset tends to be neglected.
Today, we started the day again with an amazing breakfast at Lulu on the Pest side. Highly recommended if you’re ever nearby. After that, we visited Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion. We even walked over to the Sandor Palace to see the changing of the guard. Unfortunately, the guards are on Christmas vacation until January 6th. Still, we had a beautiful view from up there—especially today! Fortunately, the sky had completely cleared, and we had a blue sky with a clear view across the Danube. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
We skipped lunch today and went straight to a lovely, historic-looking café: Café Astoria. The cake was yet again delicious, and it was almost too beautiful to eat. This time, though, it was affordable, and we didn’t have to wait in line for a table.
With renewed energy thanks to coffee and cake, we headed to Vajdahunyad Castle, a 100-year-old castle located a bit outside the city center in a park. We couldn’t have timed it better. We spontaneously booked the last tour (at 4:00 PM) of the tower and got to experience a beautiful evening atmosphere. Unfortunately, the mood was slightly ruined by a small carnival and the techno music from the massive ice rink currently set up there. One again, just like the breakfast buffet at the hotel: quantity over quality.
We ended our last evening with a relaxed dinner at the restaurant “FIRST Craft Beer & BBQ”. Highly recommended!
