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Traveling & Training in Liege, Belgium

Reasons to go: Finest waffles, chocolate, and craft beer of all the world! Modern city convenience, old European city charm, museums, beautiful churches/castles, unique cultural festivals, open air markets, holiday markets, good public transportation, reasonably safe for solo female travelers (there’s a few sketchier areas to avoid, especially after dark), many English speakers.

This Trip

I was only in town for a handful days passing through from Budapest to America on this trip, so spent the majority of the time hanging out with my very wonderful aunts and uncles, tying up a few loose ends, and of course – training! Having lived in Belgium for 2.5 years previously though, I’m quite familiar with the city, so wanted to take a moment to share with you what Liege and beautiful Belgium has to offer.

Belgium

Belgium is culturally split roughly in half between the Dutch-speaking Flanders region to the North, and French-speaking Wallonian region the the South. There’s a very tiny German chunk to the far East as well, giving the country 3 main national languages. One thing to keep in mind when traveling between the three regions is that the city names change based on the language of the region. Take the French name Liege, for example. This city is also known as Luik (Dutch) and Lüttich (German).

Some of you might already be familiar with Belgium from the (now retired) massive BJJ Globetrotters Summer Camp in the small university town of Leuven. When people visit Belgium, they typically see Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp – all of which are quite beautiful and rich in culture, art and history. Liege (a medium-small city with the river Meuse running through the center) isn’t generally thought of as much of a tourist city but despite that, I think, still has a lot to offer!

Out and about in Liege, Belgium!

Liege

Belgium (Liege especially) has a very special place in my heart. It’s the city where I was born and was my first destination upon leaving the US. Most of the days in the 2.5 years I stayed there were like living in a fairy tale, a feeling which never entirely wore off despite becoming quite familiar the city. It’s a medium sized city with a very elegant old European city vibe mixed with the modern. Walking down the pedestrian cobblestone streets near city center though, it’s easy to look at the buildings and imagine what the city was like a couple hundred years ago. My days in Liege were filled with fun times, great food, beautiful strolls, and a million happy memories. I arrived in Liege a stranger with a handful of distant memories from past childhood trips, and left there with a second home city.

Form the beginning, I felt a much stronger sense of community and connection in Liege than I previously had in any other American city. This was, I think, due to a big combinations of things. Part of it my attitude. Outlook towards a place does so much to change your experience and perception of it, after all. I’d dreamed about living in Liege for a very long time, and very much wanted to be there. Another part was my history, knowing this was the city where I was born and the land of my ancestor. Another part was my family. I’d grown up in America with parents and brother, but without any other extended family. Suddenly living in a place with so very kind and welcoming aunts, uncles and cousins nearby was a very cool new experience.

Stronger sense of community in Liege is also due, I think, to the layout of the city (and most European cities) compared to the American cities. Most American cities have a very poor public transportation system, making it excessively time consuming and impractical not to simply drive there yourself. Also, distances to get anywhere are much larger. This results in an immense amount of time spent alone and isolated inside a car. Liege is a very pedestrian friendly city. There’s a very well developed public transportation system and almost everything you need can be reached within a 20 minute walk from city center. Seeing the faces of people in your community and many small interactions helps foster a sense of community which isn’t developed when constantly driving from place to place. You experience a city much more directly when walking or taking public transportation than when driving everywhere.

Logistics

Language

Most people you meet will speak very good English (though they’ll probably very modestly tell you that they speak terrible English).

Public Transportation

Liege has a very good public transportation system, made up mostly of above-ground buses. There’s one major train station in the city (Gare de Guillemins) which connects to a couple smaller stations within Liege, stations in all the nearby villages, and stations in other major cities all throughout Belgium.

The bus system is called TEC. Bus rides can be paid for in cash when you enter the bus. You can also purchase a 10-trip bus card from the Public Transportation Building near Place de St. Lambert (one of the two main city squares). Make sure you you keep your ticket while on the bus as ticket agents do come through periodically to check passengers.

Train tickets are slightly discounted Saturday and Sunday. If you plan on traveling frequently between cities by train in Belgium, purchasing a 10-trip Rail Pass will save you a lot of money. The Rail Pass is a physical ticket with 10 slots for details of each trip which you fill out yourself. Be very diligent to actually fill out your trip details before or as soon as you board the train, as ticket agents come through very regularly checking tickets and absolutely WILL charge you a much higher price if you didn’t fill it out in advance when they come around. You won’t get off the hook by claiming you forgot or get any leniency for being a tourist. This happened to me once as an honest mistake… lesson learned!

Belgian rail pass, train at Gare de Guillemins station in Liege

Business Hours

One thing to keep in mind: many shops in Liege are closed on Sundays. Additionally, many shops in Liege close much earlier than an American person would expect them too. Grocery stores often close around 8pm, for example. No late night grocery shopping trips in Liege! Also, there’s much less of a “customer is always right” attitude. Living in Liege taught me to be a much more patient person, overall.

People

People in Liege have a reputation for being exceptionally friendly, so don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything. A kiss on the cheek is the normal greeting between relatives, friends, and even between casual acquaintances, regardless of gender. Coming from America, it might seem a little odd to have people you don’t know well (and sometimes even strangers at training) greet you with a kiss on the cheek but, you get used to it quickly. And, of course, can always decline if this makes you truly uncomfortable.

Tourist Time

Montagne de Beuren (Beuren Staircase)

Liege Beuren StairsThis is one of Liege’s biggest tourist attractions and isn’t a mountain but is actually a giant staircase. It’s 374 stairs high arranged in a series of flights in a straight line up. The staircase doubles up as outdoor gym for various fitness enthusiasts – you’ll often see people people jogging or sprinting up, or even doing extra push-ups and squats at every flight of stairs for additional workout, solo or in groups. I once saw a really hardcore looking guy carrying a 25kg plate up!

This is the story I heard explaining the staircase…. In the past, soldiers and armies needed to reach the city center from the barracks on the perimeter of the city. Before the Beuren stairs were built, the only way to get to city center was to pass through a labyrinth of smaller streets filled with bars and working ladies, resulting in many soldiers being delayed, arriving drunk, or altogether not reaching their destination. So, someone built the stairs to give the soldiers a more direct access to the city center with fewer distractions. Wikipedia has a different explanation though, so I have no idea if any part of this story is actually true.

Fort de la Chartreuse (Abandoned Barracks)

Tucked away on the North side of Park des Oblats, surrounded by a small park forest in the middle of the city is the Fort de la Chartreuse – a series of giant abandoned army barracks and handful of other buildings. It was built around 1817 by the Dutch (before Belgium was even a country), then used by the Belgians to house troops, then used by the Germans as a prison, then used by the Americans as an army hospital, then at some point abandoned.

This places is HUGE and basically completely opened to the public! It’s a good place for entry-level urban exploration, though make sure to bring good shoes as there’s some broken glass on the floor of some of the rooms. The insides are filled with graffiti, rubble, and nature reclaiming the ruins. Most of the buildings are in amazingly good state, though some of the upper levels are collapsing in a few of the buildings, and I haven’t ventured into any of the basement levels. On the walls in some of the rooms, beneath and among the graffiti, you can still see remnants of some of it’s past lives with much older little paintings of soldiers completing tasks in their everyday life. It feels eerie, beautiful, peaceful and mysterious all at once.

I must have returned here at least a dozen times. Most of my Belgian family and friends don’t understand my fascination with these crumbly, dirty old abandoned buildings. The thing is, this place would NEVER exist in America! First, we simply don’t have much history and older buildings. Second, it would have been fenced off and destroyed a long ago, deemed a safety hazard and eyesore, certainly not left open and accessible to the general public.

The last time I was here (Fall 2018), part of the buildings were fenced off, and I heard a rumor that part of the buildings were going to be rebuilt as housing. Not sure whether or not that’s actually true, or if the plan is to eventually demolish the entire set of buildings. So, there’s a chance this place won’t continue to exist in the future.

Liege Fort de la Chartreuse (abandoned barracks)

Every Sunday: Marché de la Batte (Market)

Through the center of Liege flows the river Meuse. Every Sunday along the waterfront is La Batte Market, where a 3.5km long portion of the street is blocked off and lined with vendors selling wares. It’s one of the oldest continuously running markets in all of Europe! Here you can find fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, spices, fine cheese and meats, an assortment of fresh street food (like giant baguette sausage sandwiches and waffles), cheap household goods and clothing, plants, and small livestock. If you’re there close to closing time (between 2-3pm), you can get some really AMAZING deals on the last of the fruits or veggies! But might end up with impractically large quantities (like many cases of a single type of fruit or veggie). It has a very old-market ambiance, crowded with locals purchasing groceries and vendors loudly advertising their wares.

People say to keep an eye out for pickpockets (like in all crowded places). I grocery shopped here regularly, was mildly cautious, and never had a problem.

Liege Marcher de La Batte (market)

Marché de Noel (Christmas Market)

In addition to the regular Sunday Market, in December the city’s two main squares (Place de St. Lambert and Place de la Cathedrale) are filled with vendor stands for the yearly Christmas market. Here you can purchase winter clothes, craft gifts, snacks and candies, and lots of delicious fresh vendor food.

Four special treats found mainly around the holidays are baked marzipan, nougat, and mulled wine, and fancy boudin. Marzipan is a very sweet almond paste, sold in blocks or small candies. Nougat is sortof like hard marshmallow, with various other things (species, fruits, nuts) mixed in. It’s not especially Belgian, but there’s a lot of it sold at winter markets for some reason. Mulled wine is hot red wine spiced with a mix of cinnamon and orange zest (which I LOVE), great for staying warm on a chilly night. Mulled wine isn’t especially Belgian either, most European countries do have some variation of this. Boudin is a kind of blood sausage. It’s sold all year round, but comes in extra varieties around Christmas.

Liege Christmas market

Gaufres (Waffles)

Waffle aisle of a regular grocery store in LiegeLittle known to Americans, there are actually MANY different kinds of waffles. There’s what Americans called “Belgium Waffles”, which is usually a light dough topped with fruit and whipped cream. There are smaller wafer thin cookie waffles. There are big square fruit-filled waffles. And there are dense doughy Liege waffles, with solid chunks of pearl sugar baked into the dough (my favorite!). Try them all!

Bier!

Beer glasses in a grocery store in LiegeNo post about Belgium could be complete without mentioning the beer: Belgians are the undisputed MASTERS of craft beer! There’s a million different varieties to try, and plenty of cozy little cafes all around town where you can relax and have a drink. One word of warning – most beers you will find here are MUCH stronger than those typically found in America. If you like collectible things, every beer has a unique special glass you can purchase. The breweries change the design of their glass every year, and also release special editions. Around the holidays, you can also purchase “advent calendar” cases of beers and try a fancy new holiday brew for every day of the month!

Special Events

The city of Liege has many organized many special events for its citizens throughout the year, some with paid entry requirements but many totally free. This includes music festivals, concerts, expos, special exhibits, jogs, organized walks/hikes, theater performances, firework shows, fairs, sports displays, markets, and picnics/breakfasts. Also, every first Sunday of every month, most museums are free to the public.

Nocturne des Coteaux de la Citadelle (October Candle Festival)

On the night of the first Saturday in October, the Beuren staircase and all the neighborhoods surrounding it are closed off to vehicle traffic and lined with thousands of tiny candles in cups for one immense evening block party. There’s live music, drink and food, performers telling folklore stories or wearing elaborate costumes, and huge crowds of people walking around having a good time. The Beuren stairs are decorated with thousands of little candles in an elaborate pattern. Very festive, crowded, loud and lively!

Liege Nocturne, neighborhoods packed with people

Montagne de Beuren in Flowers (Beuren Staircase in Flowers)

Every two years in June, the Beuren Staircase is decorated with thousands of potted flowers arranged in an elaborate pattern. It’s up for a week or so. Once the event is over, citizens from Liege are welcome to take the flowers for their homes.

Liege, Beuren stairs covered in flowers

Enterrement de Matî l’Ohé (Burial of the Festival Bone)

This festival spans from August 15-16 and takes place in the Outremeuse neighborhood, which is on a sort of big island where the Meuse river splits then rejoins itself. The first three days of this festival are pretty standard – lots of live music, food and drink, a parades of the statue of the Virgin Mary, bands, and also parades with giant figures of characters from religious and folkloric stories.

The last day is when it gets really special: the burial of the bone. This consists of a large parade of people wearing black (sometimes very elaborate) funeral clothes, waving branches or bunches of celery (yes, the vegetable you eat), following a procession of official people carrying a giant fresh bone in a casket through the neighborhood streets. Anyone is welcome to wear black, get some celery, and join the parade! The mourners alternately cheers/dances or cry/mourn according to music. The idea is that the previous day’s festival is now over, all the food and drinks have been consumed, nothing remains but the bare bone and people are mourning the end of the party. I have no explanation for the celery though!

I sincerely regret that I can’t find photos of this from previous years.

Other Attractions

For more traditional tourist attractions, I recommend the following….

Church of St. Bartholomew: church with very beautiful exterior and interior, including a baptismal font.

St. Paul’s Cathedral: another big pretty church, located in front of one of the city’s two main squares. The decorations of the main square area changes every couple months. Usually it’s patterns made of plants and flowers, but for a couple months in the winter it becomes a covered ice skating rink.

Grand Curtius: a HUGE museum, often with special exhibits. 

Museum of Walloon Life: offers a great overview into the history of Belgium and Liege, including large collection of black and white photos in slide-viewer glasses which make them appear 3D. The building it’s located in used to be a monastery.

Courtyard of the Palace of Justice: the small courtyard is actually a parking lot but is lined with decorative stone pillars, each with a unique design.

Science Museum: aquariums in the basement with a HUGE ancient taxonomy collection upstairs, including a really impressive whale skeleton!

Parc Boverie: nice park with a rose garden and art museum at the center. On hot days in the summer, it’s packed with people sunbathing and having picnics. 

Liege Cathedral, Church of St. Bart, and Palace of Justice pillars

Training!

Gracie Barra Liege

I trained at Gracie Barra in Liege for 1.5 years towards the beginning of my BJJ career, and take every opportunity I can to drop in when passing through Belgium/Liege. It’s always a pleasure train here, and see how much the group has progressed in my absence. 

There are three main instructors here: Florent Minguet (black belt, gym owner), Jordy Peute (black belt head instructor of Gracie Barra in Maastrict, who also gives class in Liege twice a week) and Valere (brown belt instructor). Valere and Jordy are probably the two individuals who have contributed the most to my BJJ career thus far and helped give me a very solid understanding of the foundations of BJJ. Both compete regularly, with Valere occasionally participating in MMA fights as well. Their classes are very detail oriented, professional yet casual, and fun – I always looked forward to training.

The gym includes both gi and nogi classes, and has evening class 5 days/week with Open Mat on Sunday afternoon. Classes are given in both French and English. Here, you’ll find a huge rage of students from total white belt beginners to very experience, fast, fierce hardcore athletes. 

How to get there: A note on finding the place – it’s actually located in a building called “Le Pole Image de Liege” which appears to be some kind of television and recording station. You need to enter a gate to get to the main building, then ring the doorbell labeled “Gracie Barra” to enter. Once inside, go down the main hallway past the bathrooms and the cafeteria until you see some stairs leading upwards on the left. On the second floor, go down a (much smaller) hallway painted with bright, bold graffiti letters to get to the gym.

Gracie Barra Liege. Small part of the group who trains here, selfies with instructor Valere

 

Budget Flights Overseas

I left Belgium from Brussels, flying to Los Angeles on Wow Air, an icelandic budget airline. I’d already been accustomed to flying on budget airlines within Europe, but this was my first time using one for an international flights. I had more than a few doubts about this after reading terrible reviews for this company online BUT, having found an incredibly great deal on the price of the plane ticket, decided just to go for it anyways.

Honestly – it was totally fine! The airplane was smaller, there were no little TV’s on the back of the seats, no blankets or pillows, and no meals, water, or snacks included, and no checked baggage included (without paying extra) – but those was the only real difference between this and a standard carrier. These differences didn’t make the trip significantly worse and were well worth the money saved, in my opinion. I think a large part of the negative reviews online can probably be attributed to passengers not understanding how a budget airline functions and probably expecting the service and amenities of a standard carrier. Anyhow, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with Wow or another international budget airline again in the future. 

Budget flights overseas

Winter in Budapest, Hungary

Reasons to go: Affordable, great food, many historical sites, buildings/sculptures/monuments of breathtaking grandeur, ruins pubs, thermal baths, caves, markets, great public transport, pedestrian friendly city center, safe for solo female travelers, many BJJ gyms

Budapest Parliament building

Budapest is SO grand! Everything about it is on a scale just a little larger than a normal life. The streets are spacious, city center is huge. Concrete buildings span block after block many stories high. The facades of even ordinary buildings are beautifully ornate with carved stone textures and romantic figures. It really seems like you can’t walk 5 minutes in any direction without running into another beautiful monument, statue or city view!

Budapest statues

Budapest was originally 2 separate cities (Buda and Pest) which were combined in the 19th century and now function smoothly as one. The Buda side (which has nothing to do with the Buddhist religion/philosophy) is on the left, the Pest side on the right. The Danube river run between the two sides of the city and is crossed by 8 bridges – massive things spanning many lanes of traffic, with spacious sidewalks on both sides and tram lanes down in the middle. You can feel the vibrations of the trams in the soles of your feet as they pass while you’re walking across. Each bridge is built in a different style and has a unique history about how it was built.

Budapest bridges

The Pest side is mostly flat. Standing on the summit of one of the low hills on the Buda side looking across the river, you see a grid of tall buildings stretching to the horizon in every direction, broken up periodically by the rounded domes churches and pointy castle towers. 

Standing on the banks of the Pest side near city center and looking towards the Buda side, you see low hills covered with building. Depending on where you are, you might be able see Buda castle on a summit overlooking the city, or the tree-covered Gellert Hill with giant statue of lady holding a palm leaf above her head (the Liberty Statue) on the summit.

Budapest (at least near city center, which is huge) is very much a tourist city. Art, history, castles, cathedrals, monuments, museums, markets, city parks, caves, dining, spas, nightlife – this city has it all, and could easily entertain a visitor for days. It’s also a very accessible city due to great public transportation. Wide boulevards crisscross the city in a fairly regular grid pattern making it easy to find your way around.

Budapest

I was in Budapest twice for this portion of trip: for 2 weeks in October on the way to Serbia, and for a bit less than a week returning from Serbia, heading to Belgium. The reason was this was partly logistics – it’s an easy connection from Budapest to anywhere using budget airlines. But it was also due to my desire to see Budapest (again). Despite three visits, still I feel like I’ve only just grazed the surface of what the city has to offer. It’s grandeur beautiful and breathtaking. It never seems to get any less impressive and there’s always new things to discover.

Logistics

Transportation

Transportation consists of buses and trams above ground, an underground metro, and boat (which I didn’t try). The airport is quite far from city center, but very accessible due to buses/metro that run there and back frequently.

Public transportation passes can be purchased from a ticket counter at the airport or from ticket machines at almost any tram/metro stops. The passes are simple small paper receipts, so make sure not to throw them away on accident! Multi-day (unlimited ride) passes work on an honor-system basis – passengers are responsible for having a valid unexpired ticket but don’t swipe or show it to anyone upon entering the tram/bus. You can purchase an unlimited rides pass for 1, 3, 7 days, or a full month which is valid for all means of transportation. There’s also an option single ticket 10-packs of tickets.

Budapest tram and ticket

Alphabet and Language

The main language spoken in Budapest is Hungarian though many people speak English as well. The Hungarian alphabet is Latinic, so most of the letters look similar to the American/European alphabet, though it does include some additional accented letters, trigraphs (chunk of three letters together with specific significance) and digraphs (two letters together with specific significance). Also, Q, W, X, Y weren’t part of the original alphabet in the past but are now often included to spell foreign words.

Tourist Time!

Food

Hungarian food is SO good, and comes in really generous portions! The meals I tried consisted of hearty stews, pasta/veggie/meat combos covered in thick sauce and served with pasta or rice, and street food of veggies and sausage or other meats served on pita-like breads. Hungarians love paprika, make it well, and use it in just about everything.

Budapest christmas market food

Food near the city center is, of course, much more expensive due to tourism. And, have been told everything on the Buda side is about 10% more expensive then on the Pest side, but by chance I didn’t happen to dine there so can’t confirm from personal experience. 

For those who like alcohol, two noteworthy drinks are unicum and tokaji. Unicum made of a mixture of herbs and taste bitter, a little like Jagermeister. Tokaji is a special wine from the Tokay region, which is supposedly very sweet (I didn’t get the chance to try it). There’s also mulled wine (hot red wine with spices) in the Christmas markets (which I personally LOVE), but most European countries have some variation of this so I don’t think it’s an especially Hungarian treat.

And then, there’s chimney cake! It’s a doughy holiday pastry with a slightly crispy exterior, coated with topping of your choice, cooked over coals and served hot. I tried the cinnamon sugar variety, which tasted a little like a cinnamon roll. Very delicious! One cake is probably meant to be shared between a group of people (they’re pretty huge), but I ended up eating the entire thing myself. No regrets! 

Budapest chimney cake

Central Market

Here you’ll find fresh veggies, cheese, meats, drinks, pastries, spices, textiles (lace and pretty embroidered cloths), cookies, many handcrafted goods, and a wide assortment of souvenir items. It’s quite a big space with many rows of shops and two floors, with most of the non-food items upstairs. The atmosphere is colorful, lively, busy yet casual. The customers are a mix of local people purchasing weekly groceries and tourists checking out the ambiance and souvenir items.

Budapest central market interior

Christmas Markets

Christmas markets in Budapest used to be smaller events for primarily local people, but have recently become a huge tourist attraction. It’s a cheerful and lively atmosphere, with many enticing smells of cooking food and pastries as you walk through, holiday lights and music in the evening. Here you can find great street food (warm meals, chimney cake, mulled wine and unicum), an assortment of handcrafted goods, spices, winter clothes (like cozy wool socks), and various holiday stuff (such as small ornaments).

Fisherman’s Bastion

This area consists of Matthias Church, a statue of King Saint Stephen on a horse, and seven towers representing the seven original Hungarian (Magyar) tribes. It’s situated on a hill with one side offering an amazing panoramic view of the city and Danube river below. All the buildings and walls are made of pale tan/grey stone, with brightly colored geometric patterns on pointed church roof – very beautiful.

Be warned, it’s not that big of an area and is a HUGE tourist attraction.  Expect the area to be filled with hordes of people taking selfies and guides leading large groups around – you won’t find much peace and quiet here.

Budapest Fisherman’s Bastion

Shoes on the Riverbank

Along the banks of the Danube near the Parliament on the Pest side you’ll find a memorial that consists of 60 normal-size shoes made of irons in styles that men, women and children. These are a tribute to the nearly 20,000 Hungarian Jewish people that died during World War 2. Here, Jewish people were lined up along the banks and shot so their bodies fell into the river. Before being killed, however, they were forced to remove their shoes, which the soldiers later resold for profit. People today leave small offerings of flowers, candies and money in the shoes.

Budapest monument of shoes, tribute to Hungarian Jews

Pálvölgyi Cave

Budapest has an extensive system of caves formed over millions of years by hydrothermal water. I took an “adventure cave tour” and thoroughly enjoyed the experienced, which consisted of wearing caving suits and helmets then crawling, squeezing and climbing through a network of tunnels in total darkness (except for the headlamps) for a couple hours. The group was quite small (just two others besides myself and the guide). The guide was a passionate caver herself, and knew much about the history of caves in Budapest. At different points throughout the tour, she gave us a couple different options of which paths to take depending on whether we wanted more climbing, crawling, or squeezing through tiny spaces. Good times, well worth the money!

Budapest Pálvölgyi Cave

Thermal Baths

Mineral rich thermal springs underneath Budapest supplies naturally hot water to many baths throughout town. These were first created by Romans (who believed they had miraculous healing properties), further developed by the Turkish and Austrian people who later inhabited the city, and are still quite popular today. Those on the Buda side are Turkish in origin, which doesn’t mean anything significant as far as what you’ll experience there – it just refers to the time period from which they originate.

Things to know: In some smaller, less touristy places, certain sections of the pools or certain days are restricted to either men or women only. Also, the water is often a little murky. This is because of the high mineral content, not because it’s dirty. You should plan to bring your own swimsuit, towel, and sandals (though you can pay to rent one if not). 

Széchenyi Baths (on the Pest side) is the biggest and grandest of them all, featuring 15 indoor thermal pools, 3 outdoor pools, and a spa/massage place upstairs. It’s a very impressive space in size, architecture and decorations. One word of warning though – it’s a very popular tourist hotspot and can be quite busy/crowded.

On my most recent trip, I tried a much smaller bath called Veli Bej (on the Buda side), off the tourist path, to see what a more local, authentic experience was like…. and also because my hostel gave me a coupon for 20% off, making it less than half the price of any of the others. Cheers to the budget life! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a real hidden gem. 

Veli Bej bath house consisted of one large hot central pool, 4 smaller cold water pools (which I didn’t touch because I hate the cold), and a handful of very small (3-4 people) sauna rooms. The decor was simple but elegant – rough stone walls and a glass ceiling showing the night sky in the exterior hallway, large arched doorways encircling the central main pool, and dome ceiling high above punctuated with a geometric pattern of holes. Small lights at regular interval give the space a cozy, dimmed atmosphere. It was moderately busy, but not to the point that it was obnoxiously crowded, with a very local vibe. 

I think the Romans’ belief that the water has mythical healing properties might actually be true. One of my fingers has the cuticle all roughed up and damaged from training, which had been painful and irritated for the last two weeks. But actually looked and felt MUCH better after my evening in the thermal water!

Around Hero’s Square

This area (on the Pest side) consists of a very large park crisscrossed with walking paths, a small lake, Vajdahunyad castle (small but very pretty, with a handful of nice sculptures), and Hero’s Square. It’s a nice area to go for a walk/jog.

At the center of Hero’s square is a huge pillar with sculpture of archangel Gabriel on top, ringed by the seven chiefs of Magyar on horses at the base, looking SO majestic and fierce! Behind them are a series of columns with more statues of important historical figures, all beautifully rendered with great detail.

Budapest, Hero's Square

Gellert Hill and Liberty Statue

Gellert Hill (located on the Pest side) consists of a large tree covered hill with meandering paths and many splendid lookout points providing great city views (especially at sunset). The summit features the Liberty Statue, a larger-than-life statue of a lady holding a palm leaf symbolizing freedom, liberation and prosperity dedicated to the soldiers who gave their lives in World War 2. Besides it are two smaller (but still huge) statues of figures holding flames in dramatic poses. It’s a really nice place to go for a walk/jog, though be warned – the summit is another huge tourist attraction and often very crowded.

Budapest Gellert Hill

Training

Partly due to the large number of gyms throughout the city and partly to the shorter periods of time I was here, I didn’t have a “home gym” in Budapest but took the opportunity to visit many different locations instead.

Carlson Gracie is the biggest team in Budapest, with an incredible 14 locations throughout the city! Oddly, most of these don’t show up on Google Maps when you search for BJJ, but you can see a nice map of their locations throughout the city here: https://carlsongracie.hu/globetrotters/

CG Titan Team
One of the smaller locations a bit further away from city center, but super welcoming and friendly atmosphere! The gym had just moved to a new location so the facilities were very modern and bright. Besides BJJ, the gym offers personal training and fitness classes. Instructor Körmendi Dezső was one of the first people I talked to about training in Budapest. He and introduced me to the instructors of a couple of the different locations around town, I had the opportunity to join him for the advanced class at the Headquarters location as well. Giant thanks!

CG Headquarters
This location was the largest in terms of facilities and number of students, and had the greatest number of higher belts. Upon invite I joined for their advanced class expecting some very challenging, tough and technical rolls – and they certainly did deliver on that!

CG Warrior Team
The location of this gym actually doubles up as an archery gym and shop by day! When it’s time for class, the students roll up the floor in the archery shooting range to reveal mats underneath, which I thought was pretty unique.

CG Blackout Team

CG Casca Grossa

In addition to the Carlso Gracie gyms, I had the opportunity to train at the following two ZR gyms.

Pit Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ZR Team

ZR Team Hungary