It poured a hazy straw color with a frothy white head and has a very distinct Play-Doh aroma (never thought I would say that about a beer). Additionally, it smells a little buttery, bready, grassy, and a bit like green olives. Sure enough, when I got to the taste, it was salty and sour. It is slightly puckery, but not overly sour by any means. The saltiness lingers throughout and, once you get used to it, becomes quite pleasant. To finish, it is very dry and refreshing, although, if you had just been randomly handed this beer without being warned on the saltiness, you would be very surprised indeed.
Our first full day in Budapest opened with a trip to a coffee shop not too far from our hostel called Espresso Embassy. This place is slightly hisptery, but not pretentious at all, and the coffee was excellent. They served your standard cafe drinks, but also had a few pourover options as well, which really drew me to the place.
Afterwards, we made our way to the ornate St. Stephen's Basilica, one of the crowning jewels of the city. The ornate exterior is absolutely beautiful and makes you just want to sit there a while and take it all in. Furthermore, they have the mummified hand of St. Stephen himself for those interested at a peek.
Our busy day next took us to Buda Castle for some of the best views of the Danube, although it is a little easy to get lost up there while trying to get to the top, or on your way down. At this point in the day we were also realizing how large of a city Budapest is. While you can walk it, be prepared for quite a bit of exercise, and the hot temperatures really drained us a bit too. After the castle, I, in need of some serious sunscreen, led us on what felt like a wild goose chase to find some. No grocery stores had it, and when we finally found a pharmacy, they only had the expensive medicated kind. Unfortunately, I had to stomach the only high cost of Budapest and buy my primo sunscreen.
As it was getting on towards lunch, we made our way to the Central Market Hall, which has butchers, veggie farmers, and spice dealers on the bottom floor, and souvenirs and ready to eat food on the next floor. The food aisle was very crowded and seats were hard to come by. Eventually, we both got some tasty Hungarian lunches. While this place may sound nice in tourist videos, I really did not enjoy it that much and the upper floor especially felt like a bit of a tourist trap.
Next, we summited Gellert Hill, reaching the citadel at the top in good time for some more excellent views of the whole city. On top there are even a few stands selling local treats or handmade crafts and purses. One could probably walk around on top of the hill for a long time, but we were ready and eager to make our way to the Gellert Baths, which I talked about in my last post.
After the baths, we made our way to a Thai restaurant, which like everything in Budapest, offered such value at shockingly low prices. Even funnier is that when we got there, we saw a picture hanging on the wall with Matt Damon, so if anything we can say we ate at the same restaurant as him (even if he was there a long time before we arrived). To finish out the long day, we made our way to Jonas to try some delicious beers.
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