Travel Log: Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary

 You may have seen on my Instagram that I recently visited Germany's Pfalz wine region, famous for its Riesling Trocken (dry Riesling), with a full week's itinerary planned by our dear friend for our group of 22 people. After our week in this stunning wine region, my husband and I decided to visit two new-to-us cities to complete our European adventure: Prague and Budapest. You can find my Budapest travel log here, and today I am sharing our visit to the Fisherman's Bastion within the Buda Castle District with the sole purpose of taking photos. Budapest is made up of the Buda side and the Pest side, once separate but officially united as one city in 1873, and the Fisherman's Bastion is on the Buda side. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most popular photo sites in the world--it has been on my list for a while to visit and you have probably seen someone you follow post photos from here! Please continue on to see more photos from this stunning location as well as some BTS (behind the scenes) shots just for fun.

Early morning photoshoot at the Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest

Did you know that the Fisherman's Bastion was built as part of a series of construction development for the Hungarian State's 1,000th birthday? That must be why so much thought was put into making it visually stunning! Built in Neo-Romanesque style, the Bastion was constructed in a "T" shape around Matthias Church with a panoramic viewing terrace for people to enjoy rather than being designed as a military stronghold. Since this area is so popular for photos, we arrived just before 8:00am on a beautiful summer Tuesday morning. The weather was ideal and it was not too busy yet, plus there is no entrance fee before 9:00am. We started by walking around and taking in Matthias Church with its Romanesque style and colorful ceramic tile roof.

After you take in Matthias Church you are naturally drawn to the viewing platform with its symmetrical columns and jaw-dropping views of the Pest side of the city. There are seven spired towers or turrets that represent the seven original Magyar Chieftans who settled their tribes in the area. Since we visited early, we were able to find space to take photos and enjoy the views without anyone right on top of us.

After taking in the stunning views from this angle, we walked to the right and ascended a set of stairs to access one of the turrets for more photos and additional views. We encountered a few other tourists and a couple of locals walking their dogs, but again had no trouble having space to ourselves for a few minutes to take photos. I absolutely recommend visiting early in the day to be able to enjoy the views without crowds.

You can also walk below the viewing platform for better views of several of the turrets, and if you have time I think it is worth walking all around. We were able to take photos and enjoy the views from a variety of angles. Also, if you are curious about my dress, it is a Missoni-esque print at a fraction of the cost and I found current similar styles here and here.

Finally, I want to show you some BTS (behind the scenes) shots of our photoshoot at the Fisherman's Bastion. As I mentioned, this is a very popular place for photos and there were already a decent number of people there when we arrived just before 8:00am. It was not an issue for us, as we didn't mind finding creative angles or being patient to wait for space to open up. If you go, just be prepared to be a bit patient especially during the summer months. In addition, there were some adorable pups who came over to "photobomb" and they were too cute to not capture.

Have you visited or seen photos of the Fisherman's Bastion before? If so, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment to let me know how your visit was or if you hope to visit sometime. Thank you for coming along for our European summer adventure travel logs and I hope you have a wonderful week!