“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a plane ticket to Budapest. And that, pretty much, is the same thing.” mysuitcasejourneys.com

“To me, it doesn’t matter whether it’s raining, or the sun is shining, or whatever: as long as I’m riding a bike, I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” Mark Cavendish, British pro racer

Ok, Ok, I know this is silly. Riding around on a little bike with tiny 16-inch wheels. I’ve heard it all before, “Steve, you look like a Shriner in one of those weekend parades.” I don’t care. That diminutive contraption puts a smile on my face every time I get on it…especially in Budapest.

There’s the sacred and the mundane (riffing on philosopher Mircea Eliade), the carefree bike ride with the wind at your back, without time constraints or obligations, except perhaps those you’ve made to yourself. And, then there are those rides with a specific destination and required arrival times-like my daily bike rides from where I lived in the Old Jewish District to my school to teach English. But even those obligatory rides took me through Varosliget, that city’s version of Central Park, and along the majestic St. Stephen’s Boulevard with its old mansions and museums celebrating Hungary’s glorious past.

“Budapest”, according to M. John Harrison, “is a prime site for dreams: the East’s exuberant vision of the West, the West’s uneasy hallucination of the East. It’s a drempt-up city.” And that is pretty much what I did–routinely steal away on Budapest’s 200-kms of bike routes, as if I was the main character in a private dream.

Budapest is richly described as a tale of two cities: Buda, the hilly, green and succulent western side of the Danube, and Pest (Pesht), with its gritty and urban feel, more recently characterized by the old ruin bars in its aforementioned Jewish Quarter.

The popular bike lane along the Buda side follows the meander of the Danube, which divides the city in two. You can stop and gaze at jaw-dropping views such as the beautifully lit Hungarian Parliament Building at night, or the dignified Lions’ Bridge, linking as it does, the centers of both parts of the city. How about a picnic in a world-class park filled with flowers and expansive lawns and a fountain synchronized to classical music? Well then, it’s just a short ride over the Margaret Bridge to the 238-acre island of the same name.

One of my personal favorites is the ride along Andressy Boulevard, often described as Budapest’s version of the Champs-Elysees. It’s a safe enough route to allow the occasional day-dream instigated by the classical 19th-century buildings that line the entire path from Heroes’ Square on one end, to the Budapest Eye on the other.

Wherever I bike in the city, I am often overcome by the scent of rich roasting coffee wafting over whatever bike route I may be on. I pull over, fold my Brompton, and carry it into the cafe tempting me at that particular moment. My favorites include the tiny Matinee near Varosloget, Madal, a few steps from the Parliament Building, and the Starbucks on the Oktogon rotary, or across from the Nyugati Train Station in Pest–and countless others offering caffeinated wings to my biking experience in Budapest.

So, experience Budapest, and see at least some of it, the best of it, by bike. And like a gaggle of local Hungarian riders do, see Budapest on a silly little bike, a Brompton, if you can.