Taken from their website: "FREE BUDAPEST TOURS is an independent project of professional Hungarian guides started in 2007. Our mission is to entertain & to educate as many as possible. We understand that not every traveler has the budget to pay for a private tour, we belive in the fair way of tourism. That's the reason we are not asking for fixed prices. We also try to helo our customers to find new friends, travel buddies during our walks. "
ESSENTIAL PEST TOUR FAITH-TERROR-COMMUNISM Departure: 14:30 every day - Duration: ~1.5 hours Meeting point: in Deák tér - Budapest Sightseeing Bus Stop (Hop On Hop Off green tourist buses) - see: map below! Itinerary: Elisabeth Square - Saint Stephen's Basilica (outside) - Liberty Square - Soviet monument - Imre Nagy Statue - Parliament (outside) & sites of the Communist dictatorship and the 1956 revolution Cost: no fixed price - BASED ON TIPS
The guide was really nice, even though outside it was absolutely freezing and windy.
Elisabeth (Erzsebet) square - Danubius fountain. Square was named after Sisi, wife of Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph. The fountain symbolizes the rivers of Hungary.
Szent István-bazilika. The church is named after St. Stephen I - the first king of Hungary. You can go up to the dome (which I didn't) by escalator or by climbing 364 stairs, for a supposedly great view of Budapest.
Christmas trees even in churches
Our guide
Szent Istvan's hand
Apparently an affordable Hungarian restaurant
Liberty Square
Underground bunker originally disguised as ventilation system
Soviet monument
Huge calf-sized hound keeping dogs and people away
Ronald Reagan's statue, ironically facing the Soviet monument and not the US embassy
Nagy Imre statue
Parliament
Parliament
Mental note: Spar next to Parliament has wide selection of cheese and mushrooms. Must investigate.
