Ed and Annette's Excellent European Adventure: Walking Budapest day three

So I have changed my mind about this city after today. I guess we just had not seen enough of it to really gain the true proper perspective. Today was warm and the sun was shining; a vast difference from the lightning and thunderstorms last night. We took the Metro a couple stops and began today's trek at the Jewish Synagogue. It is the second largest in the world, the first we understand is in New York. Our only view of this beautiful building was from the outside as today is Saturday - their day of worship. The immediate area surrounding the Synagogue, as you would expect, has a lot of Jewish influence.

We headed back to one of the City's main streets, Andrassy Avenue. This is the same route as the old subway and is the grand street of the City, similar to the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Very wide, lots of historical buildings now housing up-scale shops. The 125 year old Opera house is an impressive structure and opens the area to a large theatre district. A little further down was a unique Art Nouveau building that was a Paris Department store, but now a book store and coffee cafe. Inside the architecture and the fresco ceiling paintings were breathtaking.

As we continued our walk we found a few very nice side streets with great tree lined shopping and park areas. We saw a farmers market alongside a park and detoured our trip to spend some time there. One thing we have noticed about people buying flowers is they carry them upside down. I'll have to try this technique - maybe start the trend back home. As we strolled through the market, there was an older Hungarian woman selling her produce. Her sweet older face was quite intriguing. (see picture below) It was sweet to watch the locals out with families enjoying the great weather. We spoke to a young couple from the area and were able to get a little inside information on Budapest.

We finally arrived at the Heroes Square. This is a monument area that is the entrance to an open and spacious park that houses Museums, Vajdahunyad Castle, thermal baths, amusement park, zoo and lots of open green space. The park was hosting a Renaissance-type fair. We enjoyed the historical costumes and naturally had to consume some of the food. Good thing we walk a lot.

A bus to the tram led us to Margitszigeti Island that sits in the Danube between Buda and Pest. This island is designed for outdoor activities with an athletic field complex, pools, tennis, and a 3.3 KM rubberized running track around the perimeter. The huge green area, massive trees and multiple walkways makes this a perfect park for the Hungarians to escape to the outdoors.

Headed back to our hotel for a rest before the evening dinner and stroll for our last night, we stopped at Costa Coffee (like Starbucks) for a snack and then a stop at the Vino & Wonka (wine and chocolate) for our free tasting. Resting now so we can go out and enjoy the lights of the city after dinner.

Out for the evening, we headed toward the Chain Bridge to get some nighttime pictures. A stop for dinner along the way in a great little place, Amsel River Cafe. Headed to the bridge we came upon a great trendy area of restaurants, bars, shops and lots of people out enjoying their Saturday. The sun had gone down and the lights started to laminate the bridges, streets, buildings and river boats. The number of lights and the impact of the night scene was spectacular. We had a great last night stroll along the Danube. Reflecting back on the three days we all agreed that Budapest had a lot to offer. We got to see the growing capitalism and positive movement but we also got a glimpse of what the region was like under the oppressive communist rule.