Happy New Year!  Wow! I can’t believe it’s already 2019.  One trip I did not mention in my “best of 2018” post was this one…. because it hadn’t happed yet!!

Budapest is a relatively popular tourist destination with good reason. I first visited the city in 2006 (yep, that’s ~12 years ago) in conjunction with a class I was taking that focused on transitioning economies. At that time, communism had fallen in Hungary approximately only 17 years earlier and the country had just joined the EU in 2004. It was an interesting time to visit as someone who had only been overseas just one time prior. That trip made the impact of a lifetime on me, so it was really fun to be able to revisit and see how things have changed. One thing that I can say about Budapest for anyone interested in visiting, it has become the cutest little boutique city with unique crafts, gifts, and food. You really won’t want to miss it!

 

 

Budapest Sights

Budapest is a unified city that was once three cities: Buda, Óbuda, and Pest. There are LOTS of sights to see in Budapest, so make sure to bring your walking shoes!! Despite everything being in Hungarian, public transportation is incredibly easy to use. Some of the best advice I received from a friend, was to buy the 72 hour Budapest pass, which is valid for bus, metro, and tram for unlimited rides. The pass costs one 4150 forint which is currently equivalent to around $14.

 

Országház (Parlament)

The Hungarian Parliament building (1904) is one of the most beautiful in Budapest (in my opinion, of course). Visiting the inside is possible with advanced tickets and tours are offered in a plethora of languages.

 

 

 

Halászbástya (Fisherman’s Bastion) and Mátyás Templom (Matthias Church)

My favorite place to photograph in Budapest! Yes, Fisherman’s Bastion is incredibly popular, but also incredibly beautiful. The seven towers of the monument were intended to represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the area – one of which may or may not have inspired the logo of Disney (I think it’s debatable, but I’m going to choose to believe it).

 

 

Budavári Palota (Buda Castle)

Historical home to Hungarian kings since 1265! Tours are available and a ride on the funicular is a must!!

 

 

Hősök tere (Heroe’s Square) and Vajdahunyad vára (Vajdahunyad Castle)

Heroe’s Square is a major square in Budapest. It is famous for its statue complex which contains the seven chieftains of the Magyars, important Hungarian national leaders, and the Memorial Stone of Heroes (aka Tomb of the Unknown Soldier). While wandering around the area, we walked by a cute little Christmas market outside of Vajdahunyad Castle and even found a couple willing to take our photo!

 

 

Thermal Baths – Szechenyi Termal Bath

Budapest is famous for its thermal baths! The Széchenyi Bath is the largest medicinal bath in Europe with its water supplied by thermal springs. Unfortunately, we did not make a reservation in time to be able to swim, but we did stop by to take a look anyway!

 

 

Széchenyi Lánchíd (Széchenyi Chain Bridge)

A walk along the Danube will allow you to take in all of the beauty of this bridge. You can even cross it on foot.

 

 

St. Istvan Basilica/ St. Stephen’s Basilica and Vörösmarthy Square Christmas Markets

One of the best parts of this trip for me was getting to visit the many Christmas markets! Even though it was after Christmas, the markets were still alive and so much fun!

 

 

Hungarian Food

My favorite part of any trip is the food part!! Hungarian food is delicious and plentiful! Prices are very affordable and the food is hearty. Some Hungarian specialities include: Goulash soup, stuffed cabbage, strudels, and Dobos cake – all of which we tasted and devoured. My friend, Niki, was also kind enough to provide me with a list of her favorite restaurants (sights, things, etc.) in the city. We tried as many as we could!

 

A few of Niki’s recommendations included:

Szimply Breakfast/ Hotizont Café

We ventured to Szimply Breakfast, but they were already full! The host was so kind to refer us to their sister cafe, Horizont Café, that just opened (and serves the same menu). Funny enough, Horizont Café was RIGHT next to our hotel. It worked out perfectly and the food was AMAZING!

 

Belvárosi Lugas Vendéglő

I didn’t take any photos here, but this restaurant is right behind St. Stephen’s Basilica and had delicious Hungarian food that was reasonably priced. I had deer stew and it was SO GOOD!!! The server was kind enough to recommend his favorite dishes as well. We were stuffed when we left.

New York Café

Niki recommended the New York Café for cakes, coffee or teatime in a gorgeous place. We enjoyed afternoon tea here shortly after we arrived. It was gorgeous! Luckily for us, it was also part of our hotel. The New York Cafe is high end, so expect to spend considerably more than you would most other places in Budapest.

Hotel

New York Palace Hotel

The fabulous Katie from Planes, Trains, and Babies was kind enough to provide us with hotel recommendations. With Katie’s help, we booked the New York Palace Hotel and it was luxurious and so beautiful! We loved our stay there and enjoyed ringing in the New Year with new friends at their hotel bar.

 

Flight

If you are flying from Sicily (or another place in Europe), WizzAir offers incredibly affordable one way flights.  Our flight back home was a 6AM (talk about early wake-up!). While I was really dreading the flight, I appreciated it once we were in the air. Hungary at sunrise is BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

Mount Etna in the morning wasn’t too bad either 😉

Needless to say, 2018 was a HUGE year for us that was full of exciting change!  The moment that topped it all off was our move overseas from Virginia to Sicily, Italy in February.  So much has happened over the last 12 months, I thought it would be fun to relive the best of 2018!

I really loved going back through all of my photographs from this year and reliving so many memories!  So, without further ado, here is a recap of my 2018 including some of my favorite memories:

 

The Best of 2018

The BIG Move

• 2018 started off with a BIG announcement that were moving overseas! The next month was completely insane as we shipped off all of our things, sold my car and our home, and made arrangements for our new digs in Sicily!  Once we arrived, we immediately moved into our Americanized-Sicilian townhome and patiently awaited the arrival of our car and household goods. That period of time was truly crazy!

 

Exploring Our New Home – Sicily

• We began our time in Sicily with some trips around the island. I (sadly) didn’t get around to blogging most of them, but here are a few of my favorites:
• Agrigento (photos below)
• Catania
• Taormina
• Syracuse & Ortigia Island
• San Vito Lo Capo & Erice
• Enna
• Caltigerone
• Noto
• and Cefalú

You can find “highlights” of all of these trips over on my Instagram, if you are interested: click here.

Exploring Europe

• Our first trip off-island was fast-paced, fun, and exciting! We ventured to Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast (Positano) during Easter weekend.  It was a quick trip FULL of hilarious stories.  From visiting catacomb after catacomb, to our friends’ car getting locked in a parking garage before our trip to the airport.  Our Naples trip was one we will never forget!

 

• Malta was GORGEOUS and a literal dream of mine. We traveled all over the main island, but would still really like to go to Gozo and Comino if we go back.

 

• Lyon, France (blog post coming soon!) for a long weekend was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!! In particular, I enjoyed the shopping and the food, but I never got around to blogging this one. Whoops!

• In the heat of summer, we visited one of my old faves – Berlin. Berlin is always amazing, the food is always delicious, and the weather is HOT in the summer.  Nevertheless, it was refreshing to hang out with my friends Pauline and Michele again, and meet Pauline’s boyfriend, Ben.

 

• For our week long “vacation,” we flew to London for 24-hours (STAAAAAP, London, I love you!!!!!) and then to Dublin, Ireland, where we embarked on a 5-day road trip around southern Ireland. This was my favorite trip of 2018 for sure – the nature was just breathtaking and the people, so kind.   If you have ONE trip you could take to Europe, I’d recommend this one, hands down. See why I’m so in love here and here.

 

• For my birthday, we jetsetted off to Sofia, Bulgaria – a country I’ve wanted to visit for a long time!! I got to visit with my college buddy, Rashko while I was there, and my best friend Ashley’s college buddy, Niya kindly picked us up from the airport and sent me lots of information about things to do. It was a cool experience and I’m so glad we went.  Blog post on this one is TBD!

 

• In September, we flew to Munich to meet up with Ashley, John, Maddie, and Justin for OKTOBERFEST!!! I personally was not that excited about the actual festival before we went (I know, I’m so weird), but I actually enjoyed it and had a fabulous time!  The city of Munich was clean and beautiful, and the people were seriously, so kind.  Also, Bavarian food!!!!

 

• TWO DAYS after our Munich trip, we boarded another plane for Paris, France. What a romantic dream trip Paris was!! From sunrise at the Eiffel Tower to strolls around the Louvre, Paris was everything I thought it would be!! Unfortunately, I did acquire some unknown “life-threatening bacterium” (words of my doctor) at some point during this trip and spent nearly three weeks recovering.  As I’ve said before, the bacterial infection (as horrible as it was – truly effing horrible), won’t stop me from returning.  As a matter of fact, I’ve already booked my next trip!

 

• After Paris, we embarked on Barcelona, Spain (blog post coming soon!) for some R&R and more incredible food! We spent the majority of one day at the hotel spa (no regrets!) and the remainder of our trip jaunting around the city!  We also got to meet up with our friends Rachel and AJ and their parents for my first international photoshoot!!

 

• CHRISTMAS MARKETS IN GERMANY was another item on my “bucket list” that I got to cross off this year! We flew to Berlin for a quick weekend trip to visit Pauline and Ben and THREE of Berlin’s MANY markets.  It was a dream trip and we can’t wait to visit more next year 😉

 

We are heading to one more place before 2019, but I’ll wait to post about this one until we have actually returned!

Volcanic Eruptions

• We visited some of the other islands around Sicily. Stromboli (one of the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily), was our first island hop.  We ventured there for one night and a SEVEN, yes SEVEN, hour hike to the top of Stromboli volcano at night.  It was as exhausting and strenuous as it was enchanting!! We got to watch the volcano erupt many times, so it was worth it!!

 

• We got to witness not just one but TWO volcanic eruptions!! On Christmas Eve, Mount Etna erupted with plumes of smoke, over 130 earthquakes and two fresh new craters spouting LAVA! It was an unexpected Christmas surprise that has kept many native islanders on edge!

Time with Family

• Despite ALL of the above, my favorite moments of 2018 were with those I love. Being at home with Jordan, Birdee, and Chalupa was by far my favorite thing I did this year.  As all military families know, time (and holidays) together are not guaranteed.  I think this makes me appreciate every moment with them so much more.

 

My life has changed in so many ways over this past year, reflecting back on it all is really actually quite surreal. I think my biggest takeaway from this past year is that you never know where life is going to take you.  As a person who was extremely “type-A” for so long, stepping back and allowing life to take over a little bit has helped me to realize that sometimes the best things that happen to us are the unplanned ones.  I’ve also developed an even greater sense of YOLO (you only live once, right?!), that I’m a little bit overwhelmed with the fact that I will never get to see or do all the things I want to. So, for 2019, I aim to be more present in everyday life; to enjoy the little moments just as much as the big ones!