Lost in Budapest

The best way to explore is by getting lost.

Last Friday I packed a dress, a bathing suit and two pairs of heels into my tiny pink suitcase and jetted off to the Hungarian capital of Budapest. At the hotel, which turned out to be surprisingly wonderful, I met up with my friend Karoline, and we soon decided to spend the evening exploring the streets of Budapest. Why waste a good night, eh?

However, there are a few things you should probably know about Karoline. First of all, don’t ever give her a map. Ever. You see, Karoline is a lot of fun: she’s awkward, chaotic, hilarious and messy. But she can’t navigate. She probably won’t be able to tell you the difference between right and left. And neither can I. Instead, she brushes everything off with a big smile. The girl is utterly lost – and she loves it.

In other words, she’s just like me.

Faced with the busy avenues of Budapest, we quickly understood that we would never be able to navigate the shit out of that city map. So, after a quick drink at Buddha Bar, we left the map in my bag. And started exploring.

 

We walked around for hours, not really knowing where we were headed. We admired the sights, the streets, the people. Everything was so refreshingly unfamiliar. After nightfall, we suddenly discovered that we were going straight towards a rather famous view…

We were amazed by the sight of the beautiful Buda Castle.

“Let’s find the Parliament,” Karoline excitedly exclaimed, “It must be pretty close!”.

And yes, the Parliament were pretty close to Buda Castle. But we still missed it. Because we are hopeless, completely lost, and cannot navigate. So you might imagine our surprise when we suddenly faced this building instead:

A twenty minutes walk from the Parliament, you will find St. Stephen’s Basilica. The Basilica is the most important Catholic building in Hungary, and it is utterly and heartbreakingly beautiful. It was named after Stephen, the first King of Hungary, and his right hand is still supposedly housed in the reliquary (because his hand was incorruptible – quite a good trait for a king, I reckon). We managed to sneak into the Basilica right before closing time, and – I’m definitely repeating myself now – but I can’t really imagine a  more beautiful place than a church at night. Embraced by darkness, only lit up by the soft light of candles, it is hauntingly beautiful, is it not?

After leaving the Basilica, we started on the long way back to the hotel. And once again we were completely lost. But after two hours, endless looks at the map, and with the help of a friendly stranger, we finally found our way back.

Equipped with a lukewarm beer, we sneaked off to the hotel’s spa departement. For a wee hour we played around in the swimming pool, relaxed in the jacuzzi, and chilled in the sauna. We were in bed before midnight – completely exhausted and dreaming about the adventures we would have the following day.

Budapest, you’re OK.