Budapest Day 3
On our third day, we went to the Citadella situated on top of Gellért Hill. It was quite a long walk up. By the time we got to the top, I was out of breath! I wonder how the older folks can manage…0_0
The Citadella has some of the most breathtaking views of the city. We stayed up there for an hour or so marvelling its splendour. As we walked down the other side of the hill, we found many stalls selling beautiful embroideries and souvenirs.
Again, the vendors there charge an exorbitant amount for their goods. Don’t get me wrong. The stuff on sale were beautiful…but definitely not worth that price tag. One key-chain cost about €4 while a mini globe ball cost €8! We never had to pay that much in Paris or Venice. Over there, we only paid max €4 for a globe and €1 for a keychain. 
We couldn’t find the Fisherman Bastion probably because we took the wrong way down so after looking for it for more than an hour, we gave up. We crossed the Chain Bridge to get back to the Pest side. rif agreed to take me to Vásárcsarnok (Great Market) again to have lunch. 😀 I immediately made my way up to the top floor where all the foodstalls were.
I ordered the Hungarian Goulash to share and Pörkölt (pork and beef) with pasta and cream cheese for myself. rif took a while before he finally decided on the stuffed chicken. My pörkölt was an absolute delight. I liked this better than the one I had yesterday because of the cream cheese pasta. It went sooooo well with the thick Pörkölt gravy.
rif’s chicken was not bad. Fried till crispy, it was stuffed with some vegetables and potatoes (I think) and seasoned with herbs and best of all….paprika! Once we were done with our lunch, greedy me spotted lescó from the next stall. Lescó is a type of vegetable stew made with a mixture of onions, yellow and red peppers, tomatoes and paprika.
I couldn’t resist them so I got us a huge plate of Lescó Kolbász (sausage lescó) and Gombás Lescó (mushroom lescó). I mixed both the lescós on my plate for the price of one. During my student days in the UK, Kinga (my Hungarian flatmate) made sausage lechó for me. Eating it again made me miss her even more.
rif and I got so excited that we dug in without taking a picture first (I’ve been raving about the lescó a lot that he got curious). We only realised we didn’t get a plate shot when we were halfway through…hehe. The lescó was REALLY good. The paprika infused gravy was rich in flavour and the vegetables so soft they melt in your mouth. Thinking of it makes me salivate.
After lunch, I bought 2 slices of Hungarian seven-layered cake as I remember Kinga telling me they were delicious. How right she was! We got a huge pack of paprika powder each and I bought a few packets of Pörkölt mix to take home.We went back to rest and had a quick dinner at McDonald’s before calling it a day. The Big Mac set there came with a chocolate sundae and an extra cheeseburger…for only €4! The next morning, we checked out at 8.30 am and took the 10.30 am train back to Vienna.
One Responses
well the reason we could not visit more tourist sights was because our hotel receptionist told us that we can walk to all the tourist sights.. and trust me the hill starts to feel like a mountain after walking half of europe already.. dont try to save money in eastern europe countries. public transportation there is cheap. just buy the daily pass and you will be alright.
the highlight of Hungary for me would be the FOOD.. but i would like to warn all those who have a weak tummy and cant eat spicy food to be careful cause Hungarian food is 75% of the time spicy..