Day 60: Budapest, Hungary - More Jews, Another Hill

The view from Buda hill.

There's an old Jewish quarter in Budapest. There's not much left except for, ironically, the world's largest Synagoguge (why isn't it in Israel?). However, it cost quite a bit to go in, and there were lots of windows and open doors. The surrounding area itself is quite small. There was one street with about three signs in Hebrew, and that was about it for the Jewish quarter. Oh well. 

Time for Buda. So far I had spent all my time in Pest. Why should Buda get no love? Compared to Pest, Buda is a smaller, quieter, more residential area. The commercial district, parliament, and hang out areas are all in Pest. However, Buda does have one thing that makes tourists flock to it -- a hill. I'm reasonably convinced that I've spent at least 50% of this trip hiking up some hill in order to have a view of... something, usually a body of water. This hill was no different. Also, this hill, like seemingly most others in eastern Europe, has a castle on top of it.

Fisherman's Bastion on top of Buda Hill.

In addition to a castle, Budapest's old city is on top of Buda Hill. This is the area, ubiquitous to all eastern European cities, with narrow cobblestone streets, cute little buildings, tourist traps, etc. But at least Buda's old city had a humongous cathedral, and some cool little areas like Fisherman's Bastion. I'm not actually sure what it is, or why it's called Fiserhman's Bastion, but it makes for a nice picture, and that's all that matters. 

Big cathedral.

Old city in Budapest. 

I came back to the hostel to find a group of Aussies running around. They were participating in something called bus-a-bout (how Aussie does that sound?). Basically it's a network of buses that drive around Europe, and if you can correctly name the provinces in Australia you're allowed to hop on/off of them as you see fit. Not a bad idea, really. We went to Szimpla, the same place I went to with the Danish girls. It's one of the best bars I've encountered on this trip -- big, cheap, with tons of character. I highly recommend it if you're in Budapest.