Our last day in Hungary was actually our best day. Our Airport shuttle was due to pick us up at 12 noon so we used the morning to visit the Great Market Hall of Budapest. The market opens at 6 am, and we were there just after 7 am so it was lovely and quiet.  THe market is filled with the freshest fruit & veg, meat, sausages, dairy products and of course lots of pastries.

I really enjoyed walking around in the “tourist trap” part of the market, filled with the traditional Hungarian embroidery. I even spotted some crochet edging on tablecloths and table runners!

As it  was so early and we hadn’t had any breakfast yet, we bought Hungarian pastries to kick of the day…. breakfast of champions! The layered cake was very good. Between the layers of chocolate sponge was thick cream and apricot jam. The pastry tube was quite an experience. I thought we were buying a “cream horn” – a puff pastry tube filled with sweetened cream and caramel. Nope. What I thought was cream, turned out to be a salted, almost runny, cream cheese! It looked like cream, it had the texture of cream, but it was salty! Very strange sensation, especially so early in the morning. It was good, just a bit of unexpected.

After our power breakfast we strolled down Vaci utca, took a metro to Heroes Square and the Szechenyi Baths and then made our way back to the hotel for the shuttle pick up.

I have to admit that when we first arrived in Budapest we weren’t that impressed, but after seeing the Castle District and Gellert Spa on Saturday, and then the Market  on our last day, we left Budapest as happy tourists. It was a very short break, but it was just enough for us. Oh, and the Hungarian food also helped up the enjoyment factor 😉