Budapest, Hungary, by Valerie Streif, Budapest, Hungary

I was fortunate enough to spend 3 days in Budapest in the summer of 2014. While 3 days is far from enough time to really be immersed in Hungarian culture and experience all the wonders that Budapest has to offer, it was a great glimpse of an amazing city that I cannot wait to return to some day. The charm of the city stole my heart; despite being a huge metropolitan area; it was very walkable and felt like a small community, one that I walked several miles in over the course of three days. The people were friendly and welcoming and the time I spent exploring alone was a wonderful time of self-reflection and tranquility, paired with the sentiment of adventure being in a new place.

Here is a look at some of the things I did and what I would recommend to others to experience during a stay in Budapest.

Situated on the Buda side of the river Danube, Géllert Hill is a beautiful hilly park that is easy to hike up for awesome view of Budapest. Be wary of some of the sketchy figures lurking in the park, there are a bunch of scammers who run various rigged games and get tourists to bet money and oftentimes they end up losing considerable chunks of money. I sat and watched for awhile and it was quite entertaining, there are hustlers in every city, observing but not participating is the best route. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).