It has now been, wow, over two months since Dan and I spent a weekend in Budapest. Budapest was our last city before we slowed down and spent two leisurely weeks road tripping and hiking Slovenia, and we were facing sight seeing exhaustion. It was the middle of an August heat wave and our Airbnb lacked A/C, but mostly made up for that with its espresso machine. We spent our time wandering the streets, and when we got too sweaty for our clothes we’d pop into the closest gluten free Budapest restaurant. At the time, I jotted down some impressions of Budapest, which made their way to the back of my notebook and the back of my mind. A couple months, a few countries, and seemingly a world away now, I thought I would share what Budapest is for me.
Budapest is…
Early bright morning, unpacking yesterday’s dark wet coffee grinds
The first spurt of espresso, almost-sludge, brown
Smell of pickled cabbages and oil, a wide open jar left on the counter in a slant of sun
Wailing strings – I cannot identify what kind – from our Airbnb host’s transistor radio
Clink of cutlery
Faint sulfuric smell of bath water
Rows of red and white paprika tins lining the perimeter of the market
Sleeping above the sheets
Counting the seconds between lightning and thunder
Two white-haired Hungarian men, standing waist height in the thermal pool, playing water-proof chess
Distant tinkle of a neighbor’s TV through the open window
Ding of bike bells
Peeling teal paint of the rattling subway walls. Three holes in the wall, a poster I cannot read, a rail-thin woman holding a bag of onions. I catch her eyes, staring at me, and we both quickly look away.
Hot smell of gyros late at night
The slide and squidge of bare feet on wet tiles
A small hot sandwich, brown seeded bread, wrapped in foil
The coldest and emptiest pool in the baths at 12C, lowering my heels and then quick, dunking my shoulders.
Climb and tile-patter to the hottest pool, 40C and the all-body tingling as I step in
Smiles of recognition at my surname, the unfamiliar sound of its Hungarian pronunciation
Wrinkled fingers and toes in hours of hot water
Leaning out of the rooftop hot tub, there is no camera and we take a photo with our minds: to the left of the frame lies a boxed-up grey city, turquoise dome, in the center a chained bridge slung across a curved river, a four lane road runs along the right river front, rises into a growing hill, dark green wall of trees higher and higher towers to my right, and all above the pink-ash-navy shift of sunset into night.
16 Responses
Budapest is definitely one of my favourite cities in the world! xx
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It’s a gorgeous city – but I definitely want to revisit in the Autumn or Winter when it is less crowded!
Some great photography, Sarah!
Thanks so much Lane!
Lovely photos! i loved Budapest, it’s such a beautiful city. Definitely want to go back!
It’s such a unique place… some of the best moments didn’t make it into the photos so I’ll have to return too ;P
Love the sign in the last photo. It sums up your post well. Budapest sounds like an interesting place to visit.
I don’t even know what it was advertising for but it seemed like the perfect photo op haha.
Lovely post and having just got back from there, I was nodding along to a lot of these! Mine would include the rush of water underneath the bridges and the bustle of a hipster coffee shop 🙂
sooo many hipster coffee shops hahaha
Such a beautiful post, It felt very poetic 🙂 I had such a lovely time visiting Budapest that I actually went again, there certainly is something special about it!
Ahh thanks Marcella, that’s I aim for around these parts haha
Oh this is so lovely! I adored visiting Budapest in the winter last year. It felt so festive and just all round friendly x
Yes, I MUST get back in the winter!!! Tbh because I really want a steamy/foggy shot at the thermal baths lol
This is so lovely. I might have to do a similar post inspired by you…I have so many scattered notes from my own travels. Glorious pictures too 🙂
Whoops for some reason I missed your comment! Thanks a lot! I hope you do write your own 🙂 To be honest this was partly inspired by your own poetic blog posts!