Budapest

Budapest, the land of soups! At least that’s what a waiter told me. Not Budapest specifically, but Hungary. He said Hungary is similar to France in its love for soup. And apparently I really like soup! So that’s one thing to like about Budapest. I had a ton of great food overall, not just soup. Budapest is full of cuisines from all over the world. I got sushi at a Vietnamese restaurant. Thai noodles at a Japanese restaurant. Traditional Neapolitan pizza. Traditional Hungarian fish soup and bean soup. Pudding! And lots of great vegan food! I was pleasantly surprised by all of the vegan restaurants I found throughout my trip. I have no pictures of all that delicious food, so please take my word for it. But I do have a couple of pictures from Nagy Vásárcsarnok, or the Central Market Hall, with food in them. I got some cherries and apple strudle there. Do not get the plates of traditional Hungarian food at this market. It’s a tourist trap. The food is insanely expensive. No idea if it’s good or not. Produce is good and cheap though.

I had a great time photographing Budapest. With the Danube river running right through the middle of the city, and plenty of nice vantage points, opportunities for big cityscapes are plentiful. There are also several grand buildings, such as the parliament building and Buda Palace, to serve as compelling subjects.

I think I took this from the dome of Buda Castle. You can access it from the National Gallery.

The photo below was taken at St. Stephen's Basilica. This is the ceiling. I took this handheld holding my camera below my waist. It’s hard to tell but the center of the photo is a huge dome. I am very happy with how this photo came out. It’s not perfectly centered but pretty close!

One of the big attractions in Budapest is the Parliament building. I took a lot of photos of this building. And it managed to make its way into many of my cityscapes. It is an amazing building. From close up you can see the insane amount of ornamentation and detail that covers the exterior. I think you can take tours of the interior, but I did not opt to do that.

Another big attraction is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. They were doing a lot of construction of this bridge while I was there so it was closed to pedestrians, and the lights were different every night, but it was still a fun subject to shoot.

I’ll leave you with one last cityscape, taken right around sunset. It can be a tough choice to decide between the colors of the sunset, or the colors of the city lights for a photo like this. I could blend exposures, but I generally like to stick to single exposures and am happy with the color and lighting of this shot. I’m actually struggling with some of my cityscapes taken later in the night due to the intense lighting on some of the bridges and buildings around the city.

Budapest was great. Good food, good sights, good vibes.

Slovakia

Vienna

Mike Levine