Ludicrously Beautiful

Finally, we arrived by boat in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary and the last city on our tour of the Balkans.  Many don’t actually consider Hungary to be part of the Balkans. To me it fits in. It feels like the Balkans. And, like the Balkans, it was dominated by Russia, Habsburgs, and Turks at various times.

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and its most populous city with a population of about 1.8 million people. That makes it smaller than Toronto. It is located in the centre of the country and is its heart and soul. Budapest is also one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I am not sure I have ever seen a more beautiful city.

That inveterate traveler and lover of food, Anthony Bourdain, said, “of course, Budapest is beautiful. But it is in fact almost ludicrously beautiful.” I thought that was a pretty good description.

On the first morning after we arrived in the city and enjoyed a lovely breakfast, we took a tour of the city offered by our touring company. Frankly, it was a bit of a whirlwind tour. We saw a lot and remembered only a little.

This was our second time in Budapest. The first was on our Grand Sabbatical Tour in 2004. That year I was the first of the law partners in our firm to take advantage of our new “compulsory” sabbatical program. Our senior partner, was supposed to go, but refused. He was not ready. I happily stepped in as his replacement. I was more than ready. I was eager.  That year we took 3 months to travel around the world. 1 month in eastern Canada, 1 month in Europe—1 week on a quick tour of Europe and 3 weeks in Florence. The sabbatical lasted 3 months and changed my life forever.

I still remember how shocked we were in 2004 at how beautiful Budapest was. We had been told how beautiful Prague was. That was true. But no one mentioned Budapest to us. But we thought Budapest the most beautiful city we saw.

Today, we realized we were right the first time. It really was beautiful, particularly along the Danube from which I never travelled very far. In Budapest, everything comes together in the Danube River. That is why some call it the Queen of the Danube. Others call it the Pearl of the Danube.  But you get the idea.

Bourdain may have been exaggerating, but I certainly think it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.