Alex and I spent the last two and a half weeks exploring Central and Eastern Europe. The weather was a bit colder than we've been used to, but the cities we saw were amazing. Here are our top takeaways.

1. The Holocaust, World War II and post-war Communism have really impacted these countries in a meaningful way. From the killing of innocent civilians to economic hardship, we definitely felt the lingering effects as we explored. We made a point to see many of the museums / monuments dedicated to these horrible times in our history along our trip and they left a lasting impression on us.

2. That said, we found it a bit jarring that in each place we went there seemed to be a competition of sorts about who was worse off during and after the war. Obviously each country wants to tell its story, and there were absolutely atrocities that occurred in each place we went, but we would've preferred to hear the history without the "Oh, you think Poland had it bad, let me tell you about Hungary!" attitude - it felt like some tour guides were unintentionally minimalizing the experience in other countries to highlight their own.

3. On a lighter note...wine is really cheap and the "house" varieties are quite good! Most people probably think more of beer in this area - which is definitely popular - but we continued to find that the local wines were great (and about $2 per glass!).

4. Meals are hearty and perfect for cold, dreary days - comfort food perfected! We loved the meat and carb-heavy dishes after a long day of walking around outside. And it went well with the cooler weather we had in each city!

5. Architecture is stunning and charming - the castles are straight out of Disney movies and fairy tales. Even walking down a quiet street we were in love with the old buildings (Mama Foster would be proud!).

6. While not as obvious as in India, there are definitely people aiming to take advantage of tourists. Taxis were our biggest problem but after our first unfortunate incident we were always on the lookout.

7. Waking up early for the sunrise has many benefits - not only did we get to enjoy beautiful scenery, but virtually no other tourists were in sight. We were then able to walk through the most touristy locations alone - very different than during the day!

8. All the cities we visited were very pedestrian friendly. Not only were the urban areas condensed enough that walking around wasn't a problem, but we found that motorists almost ALWAYS stopped to let pedestrians cross at crosswalks. A similar courtesy would not be extended in New York City!

9. Train travel in Europe puts everywhere else (except Japan) to shame. Our trains were very clean, ran on time and had top-notch amenities. Our sleeper car from Prague to Krakow seemed like the Four Seasons compared to our overnight trains in Thailand and Vietnam (though that's not really a fair comparison...).

10. English is everywhere. We thought that when we got to Europe we'd have to fend for ourselves with the local language more often, but so far everyone we've encountered has spoken at least some English. Makes it incredibly easy to get by!

Peak: Budapest. A completely unexpected gem and our favorite city in Central / Eastern Europe. HIGHLY recommend to anyone looking to take a trip to Europe!

Pit: Cab scams - be prepared for a hassle in each of these cities (though to a much greater degree in Budapest and Prague).

Next Stop: Amsterdam

Budapest was the first stop on our completely reworked European itinerary and neither Alex nor I knew much about the city...or really Hungary in general. We weren’t even sure it was “worth a visit” given we only have so much time (I know, it seems ridiculous) but we are both happy we made a point to spend three days here!

Our Friday night Ryanair flight from Athens was quick and we were at our hotel in the Castle District by 8pm. It was drizzling but we wanted to maximize our time in Budapest so we headed out for a local dinner near the river and down the hill (the Buda side of Budapest has lots of steep hills, by the way).

We ended up at Kacsa Etterem, a charming local place I found on TripAdvisor (obviously) that served a fixed menu with wine pairing for $30 a person. Apparently, Hungary is famous for its locally produced wines (we are starting to notice a theme here!), which went very well with the meat-heavy dishes we had for dinner. Standouts from our night include the live music, crispy duck and free bottle of rose to take home (Alex later realized that we had accidentally tipped more generously than the locals expected!). Our walk back up the hill was a little more grueling, especially since we were so full from dinner, but we both made it to our beds before falling into a deep food coma!

We spent Saturday morning walking around Castle Hill, which was a convenient stone’s throw away from our hotel. We dodged the various tour groups – we later learned that most were on a Viking Cruise down the Danube river – and explored Fisherman’s Bastion, Matthias Church and the Buda Castle area.

Matthias Church. I couldn't get over how cool the roof looked!

Fisherman's Bastion was beautiful, even with a cloudy sky on Saturday morning.

Charming homes and cobblestone streets in Castle Hill.

Another shot of the courtyard in front of the Ludwig Museum.

A lion in front of the Budapest History Museum.

We walked across the Chain Bridge and headed to Hungarikum Bistro for a traditional Hungarian lunch. Alex and I shared the goulash, a must when in this part of the world, and a daily beef special – both were delicious. The blustery weather outside definitely called for comfort food and I sense this is going to be a theme for our time in Eastern Europe! The place was packed by the time we left and we were thrilled we got a table after watching the hostess turn away many other couples.

The Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary.

Both of us were pretty happy to dig into some hearty Hungarian food on a cold day!

After lunch we checked out the Parliament Building and the nearby Holocaust monument, Shoes on the Danube. Like in many other nearby countries, Nazis inflicted unspeakable horrors on the Hungarian Jews and there are various monuments in the city to commemorate the many lives lost during the war.

The Hungarian Parliament Building is the second largest in Europe.

Alex took a picture of me taking in the gravity of the monument.

We continued to walk east until we reached St. Stephen’s Basilica, where we popped our heads inside and got to see a wedding taking place!

Alex took this cool shot of the back-side of the Basilica as we continued our walk through the city.

In need of a little warmth we headed to the famous New York Café, which deserves its notoriety as the World’s Most Beautiful Café. The prices were a little steep so we just sipped our drinks slowly and enjoyed our gorgeous surroundings.

We waited on line to get inside for about half an hour, but we both think it was worth it!

We need to buy our train tickets to Vienna, our next stop, so we headed to the train station before walking over to Heroes' Square. The walk was longer, colder and less scenic than we were expecting so we decided to call it a day after checking out the various monuments in the square.

Found some other tourists to take our picture at Heroes' Square.

Obligatory picture of me in front of a Budapest sign at Heroes' Square.

Our day wasn’t quite complete though – we were tired, cold and hungry and subsequently without our tough tourist armor when our taxi driver totally scammed us. We paid quickly as we hurried into a restaurant, only realizing after we were inside that he'd overcharged us (we're not quite used to the Forint / Dollar exchange rate) and, even worse, upon closer inspection of the change we got, he'd given us a mix of Hungarian and INDONESIAN currency. And Indonesian currency is worth basically nothing. We were both pissed off and frustrated that we had let our guard down...we ordered drinks and resolved to be back on our A-game for the remainder of our trip.

We woke up to a beautiful day in Budapest on Saturday so we headed back to Castle Hill for coffee and strudel. Alex’s apple was way better than my poppyseed (I felt compelled to try the local specialty) but really I still couldn’t complain – plus Alex gave me a bite! The weather was so much nicer and we were happy we got to take in the sights with a beautiful blue sky background.

Beautiful view of Parliament through the Fisherman's Bastion.

Looks a little different in the sunshine!

Compare this to my picture yesterday - what a difference a clear day makes!

We took care of a few trip-planning logistics and then headed back over toward the Parliament for lunch at Culinaris, a smaller version of Whole Foods. On our way, we passed a monument dedicated to all the victims of Hungary’s German occupation. The monument was covered in protest signs and other items so we spent some time reading and learned that the monument is in fact very controversial among Hungarians and Jews.

This is the view of the monument covered by protest signs and memorial tokens.

After refueling at lunch, we walked to the House of Terror to learn more about Hungary’s time under Nazi and Communist rule, which was certainly terrifying.

The museum - a building formerly used by both the Nazis and Soviets for central operations and torture - has been redone in quite a striking fashion.

A wall of photographs of the many victims inside the museum.

The museum was informative and very visually striking but honestly it was a little too much reading. Every room – nearly 20 – contained a handout, some of which were multiple pages, in 12 point font. Alex and I are notoriously not museum people, but we do enjoy a good history lesson; this was just overkill.

We had planned to go to a Hungarian Bath at this point, but unfortunately we ran out of time. We stopped back at our hotel and then had another great dinner nearby at Hunyadi Café. After dinner we walked to the water, where Alex managed to capture this impressive shot of Parliament lit up at night!

I can see why Travel & Leisure featured his shot!

This morning I battled Alex for best photographer by waking up and watching the sun rise over Budapest. Incredibly, I had the entire Castle Hill area to myself and managed to capture a few beautiful shots.

Recreating my shot of Parliament through the archways - can you blame me? — Recreating my shot of Parliament through the archways - can you blame me?

One of my favorites. Most impressive was the fact that there was NO ONE else around. During the day, this entire area is teeming with other tourists! Enjoying the sunrise alone was really an amazing experience.

One more of Matthias Church right after sunrise.

After five hours of sleep, I’m pretty exhausted but the experience was definitely worth it! We are currently on a train to Vienna and I am trying to stay awake so we can explore the city once we arrive!

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