It’s November 2024, and my friends and I have been gifted with a golden opportunity… READING WEEK! Placed in the LSE academic calendar as a week to revise, catch up on missed readings, and prepare for the summative assessments in the second half of the term, we saw it as an opportunity to visit someplace new.

Nothing gets the mind stirring and incites critical thinking more than a booked flight and sightseeing. So, armed with only a carry-on backpack, we booked a round-trip flight on Wizz-Air to the city of Budapest in Hungary.

How can I possibly condense my first group trip with schoolmates into one post? Well… I’m going to try my best to dig up my legal training and embody brevity and precision. Mind you, as I type this, we’re in September 2025, almost a full year from the happenings on this trip, and I’m working from memory. I hope I do this justice. Let’s get into the highlights of the trip.

Day One: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

On our first day in Budapest, we had an incredibly ambitious itinerary. Like all the Darshens before me, I did zero planning and left it all in the capable hands of our group’s appointed Samuel, Daddy Nyus. We set out to see the St Stephen’s Basilica, the Hungarian Parliament Square, the Old Town and end the day on a boat cruise down the Danube River.

Somehow, we managed to wake up, get dressed and leave the house in good time as a group of five. It helped that our Airbnb had two bathrooms. The first item on our agenda was the St. Stephen’s Basilica, but on our way to catch our metro train, we stumbled across a sculpture park and city garden.

Gorgeous sculpture from the sculpture park

Yes, I did instruct my friend Amanie to take this portrait of me. Of course, it came out PERFECT.

the Basilica

After a successful side quest, we finally made it to St Stephen’s Basilica. It was like something out of a dream, and because it was November, the energy of Christmas was all around. One thing Europeans love more than a drink is Christmas, and Budapest had already begun setting up the Christmas Market stalls and the decorative lights right at the base of the church’s steps.

One of my favourite things about this church is the ornate designs in the ceiling and the panoramic views of the city that its accessible rooftop affords.

The ceiling inside St Stephen’s Basilica

parliament square and the rest of it…

After spending some time being in awe of the church, its architecture, and the dynamic city views it offered, it was time for us to hop on the metro and find the Parliament Square. We didn’t get to see much of the building because there was a police blockade, but we also explored some bits in the area before making our way to our boat cruise.

We found some Bajans on the boat cruise! Caribbean Link Up.

A toast to a lovely evening on the River Danube and the end of Day One!

Day Two: Széchenyi Baths

My only contribution to the group itinerary for this entire trip was the iconic Széchenyi Baths. Budapest has been rightly nicknamed the ‘City of Spas’ for its abundance of natural hot springs and bath houses. I am a lover of a good thermal spa, and it just made sense to me that our study break include a trip to these baths. Did you even go to Budapest if you didn’t visit Széchenyi Baths? Exactly. This ended up being our only agenda item for the day and was much needed after weeks of trying to resurrect the academic warrior that died in me when I completed Law School in 2020.

Hair Care rule number 1: Leave your wig at home!

Day Three: A Marathon Sprint

After the rest afforded to us on day two, we decided to engage in a sightseeing marathon and cram several things into one day. I don’t know how we managed it, but we seemed to surpass the first day’s agenda and hit FOUR spots. Not only did we find ourselves eating at the famous New York Cafe, but we also made it to the Great Market, Buda Castle and the iconic Fisherman’s Bastion.

We wanted to make sure that we got the ‘must see’ spots in Budapest off our list because we had no idea when, if ever, we’d be back in the city again.

New York Cafe

Let’s begin with our lunch date at the world-famous New York Cafe. This spot is considered one of the most beautiful cafes in the world and often has a long queue to get inside. Was the food any good? It’s nothing that warrants its own post in my food section. What I ordered was quite ‘mid’, but the cocktails were lovely and the aesthetics/decor made for a good photo-op.

Dressed to rags for a date at the Cafe (Melissa snapped this one)

Just look at this magnificent painting and this detailed ceiling! This was the vibe that surrounded us in the cafe as we ate.

The Great market

After a simple lunch which gave “gowns, beautiful gowns” - Aretha Franklin, the next stop on the itinerary was the the Budapest Great Market to enjoy local delights and snoop around local artisan stalls. I hadn’t necessarily heard of Hungarian cuisine before but I saw the market trip as a learning opportunity, a real chance to get to know a place through its food. From produce essentials and street food to key rings and clothes, this market had it all.

Since the New York Cafe lunch didn’t take up space in my stomach, I had more than enough room to indulge in samples and full plates at the market. One thing I really enjoyed was the use of visual menus. They had a cooked version of their top menu items on display so I could see what I was spending my money on. Quite frankly, that’s the best thing they could have done.

My second lunch. Beef Goulash, Red Cabbage and Hungarian Nokedli Noodles with a little spritz.

Buda Castle and Fisherman’s bastion

Now, these two iconic spots are walking distance away from each other so I decided to talk about them in one go. They also rounded out our three day study break to Budapest. I can’t talk about these sights without going into the history of the city of Budapest, which I learnt is actually an amalgamation of two cities; Buda and Pest.

Buda castle was built when Buda was still a distinct entity in the 13th century. It was the home of Hungarian monarchs and also temporarily served as a nunnery (Roller, 2020). [Wow, look at me citing my sources, LSE really had me under strict pressure]

The time of day we ended up at Buda Castle meant that we couldn’t go inside to have a tour or see the paintings in the national gallery housed at the site. However, the exterior was stunning. The castle was undergoing renovations at the time as well and so the famous Fountain of King Matthias at the Castle had no running water. It was still a lovely sight.

Me posing infront of the Fountain of King Matthias (Thanks Mel Mel)

The architecture and decorative sculptures were stunning.

From the castle we took a short 15 minute walk to the Fisherman’s Bastion. The Bastion is something of a medieval fortress that offers stunning views of the Danube river and the Hungarian Parliament. Like Buda Castle, the Bastion is part of the City of Budapest World Heritage Site. When it was first built, the Bastion overlooked a fish market and was lived in and protected by the Fisherman’s Guild (Stamper, 2021)

We arrived at Fisherman’s Bastion just before sunset and scanned a QR code on a wall to secure our access tickets to the walkways and corridors. The sunset I witnessed that day was definitely the best one of the entire trip.

Three of the Seven Tours that line the Fisherman’s Bastion.

Looking solemn at sunset (Thanks Daddy Nyus)

Reflections…

My 72 hour stint is Budapest was the very first trip I had taken during my Masters Year. I had just gone back to school and LSE's hefty reading lists and sociological jargon were starting to do my head in. Reading Week was a boon, a much needed break for me to rest my brain and come back better.

While on this trip, I realised that my Chevening mates and travel buddies would 100% be friends for life and I also realised that even though I took it upon myself as a Law student to go study a degree with a sociology base, I was going to be just fine. Between the ram packed sightseeing agenda and the late nights typing formative assessments… It cemented for me that my Masters Year was going to be an incredibly fulfilling experience.

Budapest was an amazing city, incredibly easy to get around thanks to the Citymapper App and Budapest Go (we used this to buy our travel passes) and food did not break the bank. While Hungary is part of the EU, its currency is the Hungarian Forint (HUF) and I realised that it was less than the pound. Our AirBnb was in a very accessible area (next to City Park) and we were walking distance from the Thermal Baths and a bus stop was right outside. There were also lots of supermarkets and food places in that area and it was walking distance from a metro station. OECS nationals don’t require a visa to visit Hungary but be prepared to wait a bit at the immigration line because there’s always an immigration officer who has never seen a Caribbean passport before who’s going to take extra time to stamp you.

Peace & Progress