Citadella Restaurant

After a full day of Budapest sightseeing, we wrapped our day with a dinner at Citadella Restaurant, located on a hilly side of Budapest. When we got there, it was windy and also foggy. Actually there are souvenir shops along the way to the resto. But due to the bad wheather, most of them are closed.
So we just take pictures of Budapest and the Danube. Too bad we couldn’t enjoy the blue sky that day.
Than we went inside to a very old building. Frankly speaking, it was somehow very spooky. Especially when you have to go to the toilet by yourself:p


The resto were reserved for us and other group. We enjoyed the traditional music show first, and the dance, prior to our dinner.

Our main course came at last, it was a tenderloin steak, served with potato and tomato. The taste is just so so. Prior to visiting this resto, I checked a review of this resto on Tripadvisor, and most of them said that it was too expensive and the food doesn’t taste good. I didn’t try the steak, so I can’t say anything about the food.

And when we finished our dinner, we were amazed with the view of Budapest at night. The fog and the rain had gone. It was really beautiful.

I might recommend this place to enjoy the Budapest view, but the dinner wasn’t that special.


written on October 31, 2011
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Castle Hill of Budapest

This is the most breathtaking part of my visit to Budapest, the Budapest castle complex. We didn't go inside the castle, but the surrounding is really beautiful. I got so many pictures to upload, so let's enjoy my fave place in Budapest :)




Let's start to see the map first.


To reach this place we can take a furnicular train, too bad we didn't try the train and went up with our bus instead. Here is the station of the train.



It's one of Unesco heritage site, the complex is also house to some Hungary ministary and also where the president of Hungary works.


It has a beautiful park at the middle, overlooking Budapest view.



We may also see the danube river with its famous Chain Bridge.



The complex has many little shops, cafes and resto. It's just so nice to sit and enjoy the atmosphere of this place.



It has also the St. Mathias church.


And the Fisherman Bastion...We may also enjoy the Parliament Building view from the top.




I took so many pictures of this place and for sure it was for me the highlight of my visit to Budapest.


written on October 25, 2011
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Budapest Sightseeing

On the second day in Budapest, we had a chance to do the sightseeing with a local guide. Budapest divided into two parts: Buda and Pest which divided by the Danube River. Pest lies on the flat terrain of the Great Plain while Buda is rather hilly.

Firstly we went to the Hero Square again. It’s called Hősök tere in Hungarian. The place looks really different without the National Gallop and it made the square became so photogenic:)

The central site of the hero's square, is the Millennium Memorial with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history.


And at the back of Millennium Memorial there are two parts, each with seven statues representing great figures of Hungarian history.



After that we went to the Parliament House, a very beautiful building and our local tour guide said that it is the biggest building in Budapest and also the most expensive one. Too bad we didn’t have the time to get in.



Just beside the parliament building, there is a Kossuth Memorial, which is an imposing statue of former Hungarian Regent-President Lajos Kossuth.



Than the local guide took us to the famous designers street called Andrassy Utca.



And look there’s a giant sign of Samsung at the end of Andrassy Utca :)

Beside the shops, the road also has a beautiful Opera house.



Than we went to the best place in Budapest I might say; the Budapest castle complex. As I love the place so much, I will write the full review of it on my next post.

It was lunch time already, we had our lunch in a Taiwan resto.


written on October 25, 2011
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Budapest Tram

We had a chance to use Budapest public transport when we were given a two hour shopping time at Andrassy Avenue, a famous road for the international designers (Gucci, Armani, Roberto Cavalli, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, etc). I and some friends were not interested to shop at those kind of shops, and decided to try the tram. We were requested to gather at 4 pm in front of The Opera House. And the tourleader said it many times not to be late, as acually the bus couldn’t park in front of the Opera House.

There are of couse many types of public transport; buses, metro, tram, danube river cruise, the one we tried was the tram. I have noticed the Budapest tram on the very first day I arrived at Budapest. I might say it’s a really European tram, as it can be between cars in the middle of the street:)




The tram is powered by electricity. I took a picture of the wire, somehow it reminds me of the electricity wire I saw in Phuket.


We had to buy the ticket first, we asked to a Hungarian lady, and she told us to the ticket at the train station downstairs.



We bought a return ticket, it was in Budapest money (HUF). We had to exchange our euro first at the money changer. A single ticket cost 320 HUF. We bought a return ticket for 5 person, and the lady gave us a ticket book consist of 10 tickets cost 2,800 HUF.



We got into the train, and we inserted our ticket to the machine. Only five of us inserted the ticket, I wonder how other people pay? Oww maybe they got a tourist pass, or a monthly ticket? On our way back, our team member Andi didn’t insert the ticket to the machine. Nothing happened. No controller showed up. However I read it when I googling that if we're caught without a valid ticket by a controller, we are to pay a fine which is currently 6000 HUF paid on the spot. WOW..


We stopped at the last tram station, took picture in front of the tram. At the end of each tram station, we may see this thing, so unique.



At the last tram station, we saw a mall called “Alle” and went it for a while to have our toilet break. It has Marks & Spencer, Esprit, and other branded items inside, but we didn’t have the time.


We were late going back to Oktogen to catch our bus in front of The Opera House at 4 pm. I have send a blackberry messanger to our tourleader saying that we were coming a little bit late. When we arrived at Oktogen, we run t the Opera House, and we were late 10 minutes. Thanks God the bus was still there and no policeman were around:p We were greeted by clapping hands when we got into the bus. Hehee what an experience, and glad we tried the tram:p

written on October 23, 2011
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Vaci Utca Budapest

We went to Vaci Utca (utca means street) area for our dinner. Our tourleader told us that the area is famous for its cafes and that we may find many souvenir shops.

When I make this post, I search through http://www.budapestindex.com/near-vaci and found out that it's more than cafes and souvenir shops. It's a pedestrian with international brands. Whatt? I didn't find any of those shops. I read further that Vaci Utca is divided into two parts; the stretch between the Market and Erzsébet Bridge is full of souvenir and book shops with a few cafes, while the part from Elisabeth Bridge to Vörösmarty tér offers shopping opportunities with shops of major international brands.

Ok so this post is about Vaci Utca between Erzsebet bridge and the central market than:p We should have gone to other part of Vaci Utca.

From the hotel, the bus passed the Danube river, I love river so much. But in our itinerary, there is no plan of visiting the danube river. So when the tourleader gave us a 25 minutes shopping time, I walked to the river by myself to take pictures while the rest of the group got into the souvenir shops. The view from the Erzsebet bridge is so beautiful! Wish Rene were here, the pictures will be different than what I have taken:p

After the taking picture session, I walked to our meeting point and took pictures at Vaci Utca area. The souvenir shops were really tempting, and so did the ice cream.



At the end of the road, there is an open area with fountain, where we can enjoy from cafe or from the Burger King.


I also took pictures of the Central Market, but didn't get into the market.


And the Liberty bridge at Danube river with its light on! Ohh how I wish to take pictures of the river and the bridges with the lights on. Too bad we didn't go there on our way back.



Bangkok Thai Restaurant Budapest

That night we ate at a Thai resto called Bangkok Thai Restaurant. Surprising that there's a Thai resto in Budapest. By the way I also found a lot of "Thai Massage" at Budapest.




The resto served really good Thai food, started with tom yam, than fried shrimp, egg, fish.. mmm yummm.



written on October 21, 2011
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