Budapest: Culture and History
Our time in Budapest was a nice and relaxing one, we took it easy. We took the opportunity to catch up with our emailing and research for our next destination.
We did manage to do a few tourist things. We found out from our Couchsurfer host, Dinah, that there will be a performance of the opera "Carmen" on the upcoming Sunday and that tickets are very cheap. This would give us the opportunity to see a classic for a very low price. We took her advice and we purchased the tickets. Although, the subtitles were in Hungarian (of course) we came prepared by reading the Opera's background on Wikipedia before hand to be able to follow the story.
The Opera House (Magyar Állami Operaház) is very impressive. It was built in neo-Renaissance style and we got excellent seats too!
Balcony view to see Carmen at the Opera House
Another things that we accomplished while in Budapest, and we both recommend it for any tourist, is to go visit the House of Terror. This place is actually a interrogation-torture-house turned museum where the the fascist and later communist government of Hungary used to bring the opposition. The museum has lots of English information to read in the different rooms and it has in the basement some of the most creepy holding and torture chambers I have ever seen. It was bone-chilling experience...
Outside of the House of Terror.
Since the very first day we arrived in Budapest, Rebecca went on and on about something she ate last time she was here and she said that she needs to have it before we left. Finally, on the last day we found a place that had her favourite Hungarian dish, Goose Liver. She was happy and satisfied and I was happy and relieved.