Category: Budapest

Final word from Budapest. Really a lovely city, but like the three cities of this trip Warsaw/Krakow, Sarajevo and Budapest, they all have complex and compelling histories that require an effort to understand which, in fact, makes visiting them intriguing with lots to learn.

Today, I wasn’t going to do much, it gets a bit exhausting, and it seems to have heated up here in the last few days. So I started meandering around the shops but the shops didn’t have much to interest me…it seems to me that there is little you can’t buy anywhere in the world so I have bought very little on this trip (heads up!!).

Then I decided to go to the Palace District. Another area full of gorgeous buildings, many of which are old palaces. First stop was the National Museum, one of those grand colonnaded buildings that don’t inspire much interest in me. I didn’t go in, the thought of another Museum just doesn’t grab me. The totally hopeless little Budapest book I bought (and it is hopeless…I’m back to my LPG in future) recommended a restaurant that oozed the ‘belle epoque”… well the dish I ordered, veal something or other, seemed to me to have been cooked in the Belle Epoque..it was so tough I almost dislocated my jaw to be able to swallow it. It was next to the Museum and it did have a gorgeous interior but that’s about all.

I wandered around the area looking at some lovely examples of art deco buildings but once again I was walking down beautiful streets that were being dug up and looking at beautiful buildings (The Museum of Applied Arts) that were behind hoarding and all you could see was the glorious green tiled roofing above the hoarding. Such a shame. But lovely squares to rest in. After I finished walking I jumped on a tram and a bus and had a good sense of where I was heading so got back to the hotel very efficiently albeit, again, very hot and sweaty.

I’d had some cheese left over from dinner last night which I asked them to pack up for me so I bought a bottle of wine and haven’t descended for dinner tonight as I start to get organised and packed up to go to the airport in the morning. I’ve worked out the public bus that goes to the airport so should be able to manage that. Tomorrow Roma. I think Chris is picking me up from the airport although I have told her I don’t need the service, but having said that it’s always nice.

As I said,it’s been great but with only a week left my thoughts are increasingly turning to getting home.

Today has been one of the hottest days in a while. I stagger back to the hotel around 5 in a pool of sweat and a face like a beetroot (appropriate in this country where beetroot is used a lot). But another interesting day despite the extreme heat. I walked up to the Square near here and got on the bus to take me all the way up Andrassy Avenue which is a lovely wide boulevard lined with gorgeous buildings, although many of them, including, to my disappointment, the Opera House which is supposed to be gorgeous but I couldnt see a thing, are covered in hoarding with works under way. The avenue links the city centre with the lovely City Park which is where I was heading in the first instance.

The Park starts with the predictable Heroes Square with massive monuments to warriors of times gone by. Then I walked up to the Szechenyi Thermal Baths. Of course I didn’t have my bathers, I’d chickened out of that one but I went in to have a look around at the entrance which was gorgeous and I must say I was already so hot I was wishing I had been braver. Then I went to Vajdahunyad Castle, also in the Park. It is a replica castle but interestingly built in 1896 for an exhibition of Hungarian architecture so it had a bit of everything…Gothic, Baroque and Romanesque all combined into a very pleasing whole. I enjoyed wandering around there for a while.

Then back and onto the bus to get off half way along the Avenue to go to the House of Terrors. I didn’t hold out much hope for this museum. I very erroneously thought it was going to be like the Italian Museums of Torture. But NO!! It was the best Museum I’ve been to. So interesting and finally it put some sense into the whole WWII/ Russian occupation horror. In fact I’m still reading about it because I took away all the information from the Museum but it is a little like Sarajevo. A country caught between enemies that became the epi-centre in the last year of the war. I spent ages there and found it extremely moving and it taught me a lot.

After I emerged from there I walked along the Avenue some more and then veered off to find the Restaurant Will thought I should go to…Mazel Tov. I found it and had a lunch of Israeli food which was a nice change. Then more walking back to the Hotel.

I ate a dinner here and am done for the night. Only one more day here and I think less running around.

First blister since Poland. What’s going on, I thought I was over that phase!! Still, I shouldnt die of cellulitis before I get home. There are a lot more things to worry about in that department.

As usual I have my cappuccino and croisant of a morning and then off I go for the day before arriving back at the hotel around 5 for my glass of wine and rest.

Today I did the Parliament Walk…but extended version. I wandered through lovely streets just full of beautiful buildings of all types including Art Deco. I went through the beautiful undercover market of the area and had Cappuccino #2. I wandered around looking at all the lovely Hungarian produce. Then kept going to Freedom Square which has a Memorial to the Russians(obviously erected by the Russians…the Hungarians couldn’t give a fuck about the Russians) who died in the seige of Budapest, alongside a statue of Ronald Reagan..God knows why that is there, I haven’t got to the bottom of that one.

Then at the other end is the Anti Fascist Monument erected by the Hungarian Govt with the Nazi Eagle swooping down on the Angel Gabriel. But in front of that monument are memorial memorabilia (can you say that?) and the one that explained it all was a photo of 2 elderly Hungarian Jews with a note in English saying this is my grandparents, they were herded into the ghetto by HUNGARIAN Gendarme and then forced on a train to the concentration camps by HUNGARIAN Gendarme. In other words there are many who think erecting an anti-fascist memorial is whitewashing the role of Hungarians. Am I going on too much about this. Sorry!!

On I went, more lovely buildings, it is such a beautiful city. I walked arounf the parliament building and on down along the river. The most moving memorial is the bronzed shoes lining the river where hundreds of jews were forced to take off their shoes before being shot and falling into the Danube. It hits you between the eyes. Overwhelming and incredibly poignant.

I walked up to the Chain Bridge but then jumped on a bus to go to Buda Castle and the National Gallery. There was an exhibition of Surrealism that I went to and then did a quick flip around the Permanent Collection. I was particularly interested in seeing the work of Mihaly Munkacsy, Hungary’s most famous artist. Then walked back to the bus and back to my hotel. I got a txt from Will yesterday telling me about a restaurant he loved called Mazel Tov. I was going to go there but I couldn’t be bothered taking off again to be honest, so that will wait until tomorrow. Going downstairs to the restaurant here is getting boring to be Honest but it is seductively easy.

I set off this morning to explore the Jewish District and learn a little more about the Hungarian Jewish experience in WWII, although I already knew from my visit to Auschwitz that it was horrendous, so took another of those deep breaths before I headed off.

I thought I was way ahead of the pack as the first stop was the Grand Synagogue (or the Dohany Utca Synagogue) which didn’t open til 10 and I was ahead of time thinking I’d be the first there and waiting!! I was greeted by a massive queue curling down the street. I cursed and debated whether to join it, decided to because I didn’t know if it got worse later.

Actually once the ticket offices opened it moved quite quickly. There was the usual security with metal detectors and screening. Fortunately I’d anticipated this and had taken my scissors out of my handbag. Then when you got into the synagogue you had to go and wait according to the language you spoke. So all the English speakers had to group together and wait.

A guide arrived to take us through. A very anxious guide who kept telling us how this affected him and about the problems he had breathing when he got anxious. But actually he was quite cute!! It was, of course, a powerful and confronting story. I find it interesting in Hungary that they have a bland way of describing events. For the Jewish story which has nothing bland about it at all, but it is in some conflict with the Hungarian pride. It’s hard to explain what I mean but the Hungarians and the Germans had a sort of on again off again alliance during the war. In the end the Germans occupied Hungary (after an alliance of sorts) to prevent them from making a pact with the allies. Then in marched the Russians and above everything it is clear that the Hungarians have much to hate the Russians for. They cut off supplies of water, energy and food as the siege and battle for Budapest progressed. God, these countries have suffered beyond our ability to imagine.

After the synagogue I followed the walking tour my guide book suggested of the area that was once the Ghetto, witness to thousands of deaths by every means – murder, deportation, starvation, infection and hypothermia. But now it is a funky area full of cafes, shops, bars and it takes some effort to imagine what it would have been like in 1944.

I had lunch there, not in a Jewish Hungarian restaurant (as I had anticipated), but a very quirky, kitsch sort of place all painted pink with clouds made out of cotton wool. After lunch I headed off slowly down to the Danube and took the leisurely sightseeing option of a boat along the river. As I paid my ticket and boarded the boat I looked up at a very grey sky and thought uh-oh. And yes, it rained but not until I’d got my photos of the parliament etc. It cannot be denied that this is one of the most picturesque cities you’ll find anywhere.

Then home for my afternoon routine of sitting down with a glass of wine in the bar. Up to my room for maintenance time and then downstairs for some food (and another glass of wine). Then back up to my room to write to my(tiny) fan club and get organised for bed.

I set off today with one plan and ended up on quite a different path. As I walked off in the direction of Parliament I espied the bus that went up into the hills above Buda Castle so I jumped on and up I went, rather blindly, as is often the way, ending up at Matthias Church. The church itself didn’t open until 1pm, it being Sunday, and I was there before 10am. But I went to the Fisherman’s Bastion which has the most splendid views over the city. I was quite spellbound by the magnificence of the views and the amazing buildings dotted along the Danube. The only problem was the masses of tourists, predominantly Chinese, intent on their photos.

I wandered around the streets and shops of Upper Buda and loved it. Then I went down to the Hospital in the Rock and did a tour of that which I enjoyed for the extraordinary history attached to it and the complexity of the Hungarian experience through WWII and the Russian occupation. Their alliance with the Germans makes it hard for them to explain the seige of the city by the Russians, who are clearly much hated. Anyway, most interesting.

Then I went back up to Trinity Square, found a place to have a bit of lunch and walked some more. By this time the Church was well and truly in operation so I bought my ticket and went inside to have a look around. Very lovely really despite the fact that this iteration is post WWII, nonetheless it has been beautifully reconstructed.

Then back on the bus and back to my hotel for R&R & washing. The Danish couple I chatted to last night told me about a restaurant they loved so I foolishly decided I’d find it tonight. Foolishly because it cost me a total fortune. I decided I was there so I might as well make the most of it, but it was definitely a once off. The name of the restaurant was Cyrano (Kristof St) and I had gooseliver (Hungarian specialty) and Bass Fillet. Very nice, very up market and 2 glasses of wine cost a massive fortune as well. Anyway, once in a while you do these things I guess.

Then back here to puddle around in my lovely room. Tomorrow I think I’ll head off for the Jewish Quarter.

My first hot and sweaty day back on the tourist trail in Budapest. My every intention was to have an easy day and just to soak it all in and get my bearings. But of course this entailed a lot of walking and a lot of sweating!

I had a coffee and a croissant at the restaurant here and then set off. First thing I wanted to do was buy a public transport pass for 7 days. This was a complicated exercise but a man popped up to help me, an elderly man who looked like he was paid to help tourists but he didn’t speak English, so another lovely young man also popped up to help…so lovely really. So I got my pass and have been working out the trams and busses with limited success.

Off I went for a bit of a meander through the streets, poking my head into the touristy shops to get a feel (I’m afraid little to buy). I had some Bosnian Marks left over (about $40 worth, so it was worth trying to change them), I had no luck for ages in the many change places all over town. But luckily I eventually found a place to take them.

I then walked over the bridge to the Buda side but didn’t start climbing any hills, just turned around and walked back over the bridge and up to St Stephen’s Basilica, which I explored for a while. By this time it was well and truly afternoon and I decided I was hot and sweaty enough to retreat to the hotel for a break. I had soup and a glass of wine and came up to my room to cool off and do some washing and read until now.

I’m looking at Melbourne prices for a glass of wine here…a bit of a shock. I looked at booking on-line for a tour of Parliament House but the price for a non-EU citizen is double an EU citizen and is around $40 so I looked at reviews and have decided that the outside will do me.

There are large groups of tourists everywhere, there are Danube Cruise ships bringing in the masses, including many Australians…including those in corked hats drinking beer. They should have their citizenship removed and be sent back from where they came from!!! Someone tell Dutton.

Now it’s food time again and maybe an evening stroll, or maybe not, I’ll see how I feel.

Well food time took ages. I got talking to a lovely Danish couple which meant the time passed very quickly. Nice meal. I had duck but I confess it was a bit tough. It was also expensive. In terms of cost of living Hungary is something of a rude awakening. Time to rest now to be ready for whatever tomorrow brings.