At the end of my 2 week trip that included Amsterdam & Vienna I spent 4 nights in Budapest--my 3rd visit in as many years, just there last May and it's reached the point that I can't visit Europe without including a stop there as it's my favorite place to be. I've been slowly learning Hungarian, which is mostly simple sentences and an increasing vocabulary right now--and it actually came in use when I visited the Ecseri flea market. Plenty of English spoken in tourist areas, but get a bit outside the main area and it gets a lot more challenging. I've done the major sites already: Parliament, Terror House, Dohany Synagogue, Castle Hill, National Gallery, Neprajzi Muzeum, etc, no interest in the baths.
I arrived via train from Vienna around 1:30 pm at Keleti and immediately went to the mid-level and got my transit pass, then down into the metro to catch line 4 to Fovam ter, from there just a short walk to the Residence Baron on So utca--I stayed there last May and really enjoyed it, very friendly & helpful staff, big room with a view of the Danube and very quiet, excellent breakfast included. My first item on the agenda was to visit Margit sziget again and see my storks--discovered the little nature reserve there last year and as they are favorites I couldn't wait to see them again. Kossuth Lajos metro station is closed right now, the one that serves Parliament, and for some reason tram #2 stopped right there and we all had to get off, though later in my trip I saw the trams going all the way to the end. So I walked several blocks down Falk Miksa to get to Szent Istvan and catch the 4 or 6 to the middle of Margit hid, hoping to then catch the bus on the island to get closer to the reserve. Epic construction going on and no bus so I kept on walking, it started to drizzle and I became worried the reserve would be closed. But sure enough, soon I could hear bird noises, and got to spend a good hour observing the storks. There are 2 nests and they take turns sitting, and otherwise doing charming stork things like adding grass to the nest, preening, and doing their beak-clacking mating thing--and you can get within a few feet of them, unlike Amsterdam. With all the construction at this point I don't recommend a visit out there unless you are a bird lover like me, or want to go jogging as the track is undisturbed.
Back to town and caught the spring festival going on at Vorosmarty ter--nice selection of handmade items and all kinds of food booths, all very cheap. I had beer and a grilled chicken langos, then headed a block down Vaci utca to Kristof ter as I wanted to buy a Budapest ring at a little watch shop called It's Time. The ring is sterling and features the silhouettes of Budapest all around, Parliament, Szechenyi bridge, Liberty statue, etc. It was approx. $100 US and I'm enormously pleased with it.
Saturday I accomplished finding the Ecseri bolhapiac, flea market. It eluded me my first visit and this time I had iron-clad directions and made it--I was SO EXCITED! Very simple, really: tram 2 (direction of Kozvagohid) to Haller utca, cross tracks to bus stop (still heading in the same direction) and get on either bus 54 or 55, ride about 25 minutes to the Naszod utca stop, cross the highway bridge and there it is. Return bus stop is right in front of market. Some outside stalls, more inside and they pack up starting around 1 pm though it's open til 3. I spent about 2 hours and it was all old stuff, no clothes or new stuff like socks and deodorant. The dealers are open to bargaining, but prices were cheap in my estimation. Lots of Soviet era items, plenty of household stuff and lots of what I was after, pottery from the 1930s-40s, specifically Komlos. I ended up with 4 pieces and now I really can't wait to get back there again.