June 25, 2022

We went to a supermarket this morning to buy vegan snacks and small pastries. Things in Budapest were relatively cheap, and eight pieces of small pastries cost only two euros. After breakfast, the three of us took the bus to Buda Castle. We did not take the funicular to the castle and instead went up on foot. Many buildings and the famous Széchenyi Chain Bridge in the city were being renovated, and the castle was no exception. Fortunately, the majority of the castle was still open to the public. After walking up, an outdoor cafe was perfect for a quick break with coffee and freshly made lemonade. We were fortunate to see the guard change ceremony at the castle just in time.

Out of the castle, we went to Fisherman's Bastion, built in the late 19th century. It is one of the top Budapest attractions, without a doubt. The upper towers of the bastion have a small entrance fee to get in. But the panoramic views of Budapest from lookout towers were unmatchable. This fortress had never served as an actual fortification but is now the fantastic backdrop of millions of beautiful photos by tourists worldwide.

We had our lunch near the Fisherman's Bastion and then went to the Parliament building on the other side of the river. Unfortunately, the tour tickets for the inside building were sold out for the day, and then we bought the tickets for Monday. We strolled around the area to see some tourist attractions, such as Shoes on the Danube Bank, IN MEMORIAM 1956 October 25, and a few other memorial statues around the parliament buildings.

On the way to the flat, we visited the famous St. Stephen's Basilica, which happened to have a wedding, and there were far more tourists like us than the actual wedding guests attending the wedding. A few churches, like St. Stephen's Basilica, charge a fee to see the church, including the tower. We bought the all-in-one tickets. Since the altar area was blocked for the moment due to the wedding, we decided to first climb up to the lookout point in the tower. The 360-degree view from the church towers made climbing the hundreds of stairs steps worth the effort. We thought we could see the altar in the church after the wedding. To our surprise, after coming down from the tower, there was another wedding. We still couldn't see the altar up close even though we had paid for it. Outside the church was an ice cream shop having many followers on social media, Gelarto Rosa, and the line was long. Regardless of the long wait, the beautiful ice cream did comfort us a little, at least.

Soaking in a thermal bath was a must-do thing when visiting Budapest. Yesterday, we went to Gettert Thermal Bath House to check it out but didn't get in. Today we decided to go to Széchenyi Baths, the largest thermal bath complex in Europe and Budapest's most popular baths. The outdoor section was stunning and huge, as well as the yellow neo-renaissance buildings. We did not have much experience with a thermal bath in Budapest. We went inside the building to check out. It had 11 indoor thermal pools at various temperatures from 28°C-40°C and with different mineral concentrations. We soaked in some of the pools for a few minutes each. Then we went to the outdoor pools and even got into a whirlpool. The tickets were not cheap, but the experience was good. We wished we could spend more time there. The lucky one among us went to Iceland last summer, and she liked Iceland's thermal Bath better.

After soaking in the thermal Bath, we went to a restaurant recommended by our rental host, and the food was delicious.

欧洲游第三十六天：吃全素的女儿到后，今天一早就去超市买了一大堆全素的食品和我们吃的小面包。布达佩斯的东西很便宜，八个小面包只花了二个欧元。早餐后，我们三人坐了公交车去Buda Castle (布达城堡) ,很多建筑都在装修，城堡也不例外。出了城堡，来到Fisherman’s Bastion (鱼人堡)。去了议会大厦，但向导讲解游票巳售完毕，只买到了周一的。在往住所的路上，来到著名的圣伊什特万圣殿(St. Stephen's Basilica)，碰巧遇上婚礼，像我们这样看热闹的游客远多于参加婚礼的嘉宾😀。气喘吁吁爬到教堂上面，360度的景观也算让我们没白费力气。兜了一圈下到教堂，结果又换了另一场婚礼，还是没办法近距离看圣坛，有点遗憾。好在教堂外就是网红冰淇淋店，排长队买了漂亮的冰淇淋安慰一下自己😅。泡温泉是来布达佩斯必做的事，先回到住处拿游泳衣和浴巾，去了欧洲最大的温泉池，里里外外有好几个温度和含矿物质不同的温泉池，人也不少。去过冰岛的人说比冰岛的温泉差多了😛。泡完温泉后去了一家房东推荐的餐厅，味道不错。