Buda or Pest?

Today we left Dublin at around 3am to catch our flight. First of all, I want to say how interesting Dublin is at 3am, which is right around closing time for all of the pubs. We saw one guy on his knees on the sidewalk loudly pouring his drunken soul out to a very uninterested woman. We also saw another group of guys loudly singing while merrily skipping down the sidewalk. We love you Dublin and we will miss you. 

*Note: we finally got to wear some clothes other than leggings and jackets. Apologies for the repeat outfits in past days. 

Anyway, around 9:30 am we landed in Budapest, Hungary!! This was the first thing we saw as we emerged from the subway: 

Stunning. 

After walking around a bit we stopped for a beer and that's when things got interesting. The currency here is Hungarian Forint and the exchange rate is very much in our favor. We paid 320 forint for these giant beers which is equal to $1.17 USD. Wow. You may never see us again. 

We returned to our hostel so we could check in and it was way different than the others we had been in. It was apartment-style and we opted for a private room to give ourselves a little break from the dorm life. The hostel is adorable and we both have a tiny crush on the guy at the front desk, Atila. (So Hungarian amiright??)

We then went to explore the city and upon crossing the bridge we came to some cool looking steps that led up into this mountain. Of course we were like "Omg stairway to heaven let's go," and hiked all the way up to see what we could find. 

The view at the top was worth the 1,000,000 stairs. Here I should note that Budapest is actually split into two parts: Buda, and Pest. The two sides are divided by the Danube river. 

Here's the royal castle on the Buda side:

And please just marvel with me at the parliament building: 

We then crossed back to the pest side.   We saw the 'Shoes of the Danube,' which is a memorial for the Jews of Budapest who were literally lined up along the river, told to remove their shoes, and executed during WWII. There are flowers and candles and trinkets scattered all over. It is a melancholy reminder of the past but beautiful to see the gestures of remembrance. The shoes are made of cast iron but they look so real.

We continued to walk around and found a sculpture full of love locks:

S'cute. 

And rode a ferris wheel at dusk which gave us amazing views of the lit up city. 

Not the best picture, but you get it.

Budapest is absolutely one of the most underrated cities I have ever visited. It's architecture is incredible and the people are so friendly. We have one more day here and I am so excited to learn more about the history of this stunning city.  

ALSO: my goal while backpacking was to reach 30,000 steps one day and we already did it, woohoo!!!