Budapest!!

This weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Budapest. What an incredible amazing city. New top three favorite places for sure. What’s so intriguing and alluring about Budapest is their east meets west flavor. As me and one of my house mates coined it, it is very “EU-y.” They have all the brands, and conveniences of a modern open economy. However, Budapest has managed to maintain all of its grandiose character and historical significance. The Buda part of the city contains castles and magnificent old buildings.  The Pest side reflects a modern day bustling city with its commercialism, however its architecture tells a story of a powerful empire, Nazi and Soviet occupations, and a recovery and emergence into the 21^st century. Grand, large bridges link the two sides of the city across the historic Danube. The views and waterfronts are a UNESCO world heritage site. Unfortunately, the Danube was flooding while I was in Budapest. The two roads and trolley lines normally nearest the river were underwater.

Food in Budapest is far more varied and cheaper than Zagreb. Friday night we had a pretty cheap meal at a restaurant near our rented apartment. Saturday we had food at a bakery (hello $1 breakfast) before heading to Hero’s Square, City Park, and a walk down Andrassy Utca. A visit to the House of Terror was in order. Although definitely an interesting perspective on Hungarian history, the building was the original headquarters for the Nazis and the Soviets as well as a prison for those brave enough to defy the regimes. We met some of my housemate’s friends for lunch where I experienced chilled fruit soup (delicious!) and walked across one of the bridges. A 45 minute rainstorm only slightly derailed our late afternoon plans. Then we headed for a quick view of parliament. After we went to dinner at….wait for it…wait for it… A MEXICAN RESTAURANT. For those of you who don’t know me or know me well, I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD, in particular, guacamole and tortilla chips. And unfortunately, Croatia doesn’t believe in avocadoes, guacamole, or Mexican food in any sense. So to find Mexican food in Budapest was very exciting. Afterwards, we chilled for a bit in a ruin bar (famous in Budapest).

Sunday we ventured to the Turkish/Hungarian Baths, quite an adventure if I do say so. Europeans are very, well, comfortable with their bodies. I also learned I hate saunas. Who’s idea was it to sit in a room that you can’t breathe in and sweat? Not anyone sensible. However, the medicinal hot tubs were pretty refreshing. Afterwards we drove to a place called Memorial Park. This was actually pretty cool although a quick tourist attraction. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re already driving back like we were but this place does hold the boots of the statue of Stalin that was torn down by the Hungarians in the attempt to overthrow the government in 1956.

Two other quick notes on Hungary—the language is near impossible. For those of you who learned Hungarian and are not native speakers, congratulations, I’m really impressed. Second, the currency, the Forint, is so inflated. A roll can cost you 300 Forint and a dinner for two will cost you 5000-10000 Forint. The exchange rate during my visit was about 225 Forint to $1, so quickly determining a price in dollars in my head was challenging.

Props to my housemate Jess for driving to and from Hungary successfully in a miniature European car!

I’m back in the beautiful Zagreb and I think summer might finally be emerging from behind a cold and rainy spring. I guess we’ll have to see if it’s actually here to stay this time.

Work has been going well, I helped plan and execute an office-wide event last week so that was a good lesson in communication and organization for sure. I can’t release a ton more public details about my job.

Until next time—Vidimo se. Bok Bok! 

Zadar, Split and Medjugorje!

Wow! It's been a while. Sorry I haven't posted I've been very busy. So where did I leave off? I spent two weekends ago in the coastal town in Zadar. It was beautiful, really cold though. I also had my first hostel-like experience. We had a private bathroom, but the place was loud, two twin beds, no TV, no phone, just the basics. A light bulb exploded and it was freezing but other than that it was okay. Zadar is a cool city though! I mostly explored and shocker, sat at cafes and drank coffee. Monday was a day off work so I went to Dolac and got some food as well as played charades with the lady at the pharmacy to get allergy medicine.  I then worked two days. 

My mom and dad flew in on Tuesday evening (YAY!) so we had a nice dinner in the centar and they had an amazing hotel room with a great view. They explored the city of Zagreb on Wednesday while I worked. Wednesday we again had dinner and pivo in centar. Thursday we took a day trip to the national park and UNESCO world heritage site Plitvice. It was beautiful there as well. The park is covered with clear blue lakes, rushing waterfalls and lush forestry. The hike took us from the top to the bottom of these lakes. Friday we rented a car and started on an epic road trip. We drove to Split, another quaint coastal Croatian town and saw Diocletian’s Palace. We then enjoyed a cup of coffee inside the palace walls on the steps outside the church and listened to Klapa, a traditional a capella singing from Dalmatia. We drove then, to Bosnia and Herzegovina to a little town called Medjugorje. Immediately as you enter Medjugorje you feel an incredible amount of faithfulness towards Jesus. It’s incredibly peaceful. Saturday we went to mass at the main church in town with hundreds of other English-speaking pilgrims, although masses before and after ours were in other languages. We then set out to climb Apparition Hill where Mary appeared frequently to visionaries in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Although she still appears to some of them, she appears mainly in the Sacristy of the main church. The climb was difficult but so worth it. At the top people were praying to God and asking Our Lady for her prayers as well in so many languages and in so many ways. Even in the pouring rain. Faith that strong was an incredible sight. The rest of the time in Medjugorje was spent eating, relaxing and attending Sunday Mass. Now I’m back in Zagreb and who knows what the next adventure will bring. Bok!