Budapest really is the pearl of the Danube

Wizz air flight Forlì-Budapest at 30 E., on the internet I book an apartment for 2-3 people right in the centre (100 m from the Budapest living room) at the price of E.120 for 3 nights! At Forlì airport you can park in P2 at a cost of euro 8 per day. Arrival Saturday at 21:00, 19 March, perfectly on time; as soon as you arrive you will find several exchange offices at the airport but DO NOT USE THEM, they are real thieves, whereas the official exchange rate was 1 Euro=273 Forints, they give you 1 Euro=225 Forints! Use the ATM if you need to withdraw cash and then if you have euros in cash with you, you can easily change them in the centre of Budapest where they give you an exchange rate that can vary at most from 265 to 270 Forints per 1 Euro.

At the airport you can instead buy a carnet of 10 Tickets (Cost 2800 Forints=11 Euro) that allows you to take the metro or trolleybus or bus 10 times, and for 3 days it is more than enough since Budapest is easy to get around on foot as everything is fairly concentrated. With one of these tickets, on leaving the airport take the BUS no. 200 on the left, which takes you to the first stop of line no. 3 (BLUE) of the metro at Kőbánya-Kispest, here with another ticket you can go towards the area of Budapest where you will be staying (same for the return). Our apartment was right at the start of Kiraly Utca, in the very centre, with two supermarkets open all day and 2 exchange offices 20 metres away, with bars and restaurants a few steps away.

At 22:30 in front of the apartment Luca awaits us, an Italian who has lived in Budapest for 10 years and manages some apartments; he hands us the keys and shows us the things to see in the city and then takes his leave; we go to the supermarket below the house and buy food for dinner and for the morning's breakfast (the costs are negligible). On Sunday morning the weather is cloudy but luckily it is not raining, so we begin the visit of the city starting from the beautiful St Stephen's Basilica where to enter you must give a contribution of 200 forints; inside it is kept the chapel with the relic of the hand of St Stephen.

We then continue towards the Hungarian Parliament Building, very beautiful and majestic it stands along the right bank of the Danube (tours in Italian at 11:30 and 16:00); we then continue along the beautiful Danube and across the Chain Bridge (the oldest in Budapest from 1849) we arrive at the foot of the funicular that for 850 Forints takes you up to the upper part of the fortress, where inside there is the Royal Palace and part of the city of Buda, but you can easily go on foot along the stairways that run alongside the funicular. Once you arrive at the top you can enjoy the beautiful panorama of Budapest and its monuments from above (60 m above the level of the Danube).

We enjoy half a day in the fortress, 1500 m long and 500 wide, with the Royal Palace (where Matthias Corvinus and his Renaissance humanist court resided), the Trinity square, the Templum (church) dedicated to Matthias Corvinus, the majestic Fishermen's Bastions and among the little streets full of Gothic-Baroque buildings. In the afternoon we go down to the Danube embankment and head as far as the pedestrian area in Vörösmarty square, where there is the oldest and most famous café-patisserie, the Gerbeaud (1858).

From here we walk all along Vaci Utca, a pedestrian island and traditional promenade of the people of Budapest, then after trying the Hungarian sweets in an old pastry shop we continue towards Ferenciek Tere (the liberation square opposite Elisabeth Bridge) and then towards Karolyi Mihaly Utca with its neo-Renaissance buildings and the Egyetemi Templom (the university church in Baroque style). The day's visit ends with a quick pass in front of the largest synagogue in Europe in Byzantine-Moorish style from the mid-1800s, then exhausted we return to the apartment for a nice shower and then out to eat in a restaurant (Fatal) located at the end of Vaci Utca on a side street on the right, truly excellent, moderate prices and gigantic portions. On Monday morning after breakfast we go out and a sunny day with 12°C greets us, a real godsend.

We decide to walk the whole Andrassy avenue (a UNESCO heritage site), 2.5 km long, which leads to Hősök tere (Heroes' square). Underneath it runs line 1 (Yellow) of the metro, the first in Europe from 1896! During the walk we can admire the building of the National Opera, the new Art Nouveau theatre, the Liszt Ferenc Tér, the Oktogon Tér (octagonal square), the Kodaly Korond, a building in Renaissance style, the Terror Haza which reconstructs the climate created by the dictatorial regimes in Hungary, and finish with the famous Heroes' Square and the tomb of the unknown soldier (1896), to the left of which is the Museum of Fine Arts and to the right the Art Gallery.

Behind the museum there is the city park, inside which there are thermal baths, the botanical garden, the zoo, and above all the Vajdahunyad castle from the late 1800s in various styles (Gothic-Baroque-Renaissance) that houses the agricultural museum and the beautiful statue of the "anonymous" by Ligeti (1903). Once the visit is over, from here we take the metro and go directly to Kalvin Tér, the square that leads, passing in front of the Calvinist church, towards the great covered market, a Liberty building from 1896 inside which you find everything: from the stalls of the famous paprika, to fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, and various crafts. Given the mild temperature, after leaving the market we stopped to eat in the square opposite, the Fovam Tér; it was full of young people busy drinking something in the cafés or sitting on the benches, a real Bohemian atmosphere could be felt.

Refreshed, we crossed the beautiful Liberty Bridge (1896, 331 m) as far as the renowned Gellert hotel in Liberty style where the famous thermal baths are; from here on foot we tackled the numerous steps that laboriously led us up to the citadel where the Liberation monument stands, 29 m high, with the statue of Victory holding the palm of peace in her hand; the spectacle from this height is beautiful, you can clearly see all of Budapest! Satisfied with this beautiful panorama, the time comes to descend and walk the whole Danube embankment (UNESCO heritage) on the right side, passing in order the Belvárosi Templom, now under renovation, Petofi Tér, Vigado Tér and Roosevelt Tér with the academy building and the Gresham-palota, then at sunset we crossed the Chain Bridge to skirt the Danube on the left side, passing first the beautiful Calvinist Church and then the Church of St Anne in Batthy

any Tér; here we manage to photograph the Hungarian Parliament building with the colours of the sunset, a beautiful spectacle. Not yet satisfied, we take the metro and go in front of the synagogue at sunset, where the colours stood out to the maximum, and we also take the opportunity to wander in the Jewish quarter behind it with its typical houses and little shops. Exhausted, we return to the apartment where, after a nice shower, we decide to go out to eat in a nice restaurant on Vaci utca called Central Cellar. On Tuesday morning there are a good 15°C to brighten our day; we decide to go once again to the fortress and enjoy Budapest from here with the sun and all its colours standing out to the maximum, then slowly descending the little streets of old Obuda down to the Danube and also taking the opportunity to buy the last little gifts.

At 17:00 the Wizz air flight departs punctually, taking us home. Goodbye beautiful and romantic Budapest, a city suspended in time, rich in history and culture but at the same time projected into the future. A city suitable for young people, couples and families! Don't miss it.