Budapest - I'm "Hungary" To Return Some Day (Budapest)

Member Name: Nibelung

Product:	Budapest
Date:	16/03/07 (230 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful setting. Architecture. Ease of getting around

Disadvantages: Could be VERY sultry in high summer. Trying to understand the language

I can't pretend that what follows is a true travel guide to Budapest, since we only went there for a long weekend, but it's a taster. Rather than try to see everything fleetingly, we opted for one of two items that took our fancy, vowing, no doubt, to come back again. Since going there, which is MONTHS ago now, there have been riots in the streets of the capital in protest of a government that lied to its people - Londoners will feel entirely at home.

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JULY 2006 - It had been a long time coming, but starting in the previous year with a weekend trip to Prague, which I never did get round to writing about, the eastern European cities are now on our personal agenda - somewhat belatedly in some of my friends' view.

You know the kind of thing.

"Of course we were there 10 seconds after the Iron Curtain came down - I expect it's ruined now, all MacDonalds and KFC".

Well Budapest isn't 'ruined' - yes of course it's got a MacDonalds; after all, with the exception of Barbados (and now Twickenham, wooo-hooo!) where Golden Arches had to close down through lack of interest, where hasn't?

I dare say it's true that a lot of western money has poured in to smarten the place up, but Hungary was looking west long before the final 'iron curtain'. Hungarians were holidaying in Austria and aspiring to imported cars well before the break up of the Soviet bloc.

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is really a pair of twin cities, i.e. Buda and Pest, lying on either side of the mighty Danube River, here known as the Duna, and which flows from North to South through the city.

As a quick way to remember which is which, Buda is the more picturesque of the two settings, with several cliffs, and fine buildings to dominate the skyline from above the western river bank, whereas Pest is almost entirely built on the flat, and is therefore a lot bigger. This makes Pest the commercial 'capital', although it does contain the magnificently ornate and huge Parliament building right by the river - now there's a novel idea!

GETTING THERE

Just about the ONLY advantage of living near Heathrow is the ability to hop on a scheduled flight to practically anywhere in Europe, using our accumulated Air-Miles to take the sting out of real BA prices. In this case we paid out 1600 Air-Miles and £85 for the taxes on two return fares - thank you Tesco supermarkets and Shell garages.

The flight from London Heathrow to Budapest Ferihegy takes around 2.5 hours, the return time being dependent on how many times you have to circle Epping Forest before CAA reckon that you're dizzy enough and lets you land!

STAYING THERE

There really is no shortage of hotel choice here. In amongst the 'silly money' prices like €480/night at Le Méridien, or The Four Seasons Gresham, you'll find little gems like the Hotel Victoria on the river bank in leafy Buda. This was set at a more likely price of €118 per night per double room, including as large a breakfast (hot or cold) that you could handle. It only has 27 rooms spread over 9 floors, giving the building, albeit modern, a rather Amsterdam-like skinniness. All rooms had massive picture windows overlooking the Danube, with the Parliament building in one direction, and that icon of Budapest itself, the famous Danube Chain Bridge in the other. One thing I would say though - try to get a room above the 4th floor, so that your view is above the tree line, especially in summer.

You soon become aware as you approach reception that EVERYONE in the tourist trade speaks very good English, even to the point of colloquialism. This is just as well, given that the Magyars speak a language that is only distantly related to Finnish and nothing else, therefore the list of reasons for learning their language is pretty short, consisting of 'working there' and 'marrying one of them'!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

It's not something tangible, but there's an odd feel to being in a 'landlocked' country. It must be something to do with living on an island, and if I'm honest, I rarely set foot in another country that hasn't got at least some coast line, however far away.

We'd arranged to be picked up at Ferihegy airport, and everyone was smart and politely friendly. The journey into town takes around 30 minutes, and unlike some cities, does not take you through too many of the grotty bits with which airports always seem able to surround themselves. I have to say that I'm glad I don't have to drive in Budapest, as they all seem blessed with that 'driver's myopia', i.e. driving close to the car in front so that they can see their brake lights properly!

Being a bit of a transport buff, I was very impressed to see that Budapest's got 'the lot'; a metro*, trams, trolley-buses, buses and taxis, not to mention a clutch of mainline terminus stations so getting there by rail from the direction of Vienna or Moscow looks pretty easy.

*In fact, the first metro on mainland Europe although London's steam-hauled version was earlier - some very early Piccadilly Line trains were even built in Hungary.

Despite what we'd been told about the local taxis being a rip-off, we always travelled by metered cab at less than the equivalent UK mini-cab fares, say around £3 for a 15 minute ride. Don't worry about language - they point at the meter and grunt, and then you pay with a slight rounding up of bank notes (no specific percentage tip is necessary or expected) We found that the best way to get a cab was to ask the hotel or restaurant to call one for us, using the business card supplied by the hotel. Not once did we feel exploited as tourists.

Only down in the vast subway beneath one of the terminus stations did we feel any element of the 'third world' about the place - it felt curiously Turkish, yet another language for which I don't have any grasp and maybe that's why.

The only really bad impression I got was that Budapest's local authorities have all but given up doing anything about spray-painted graffiti (if only they really WERE graphite 'pencillings'). Maybe they figure that once the walls are full, they'll have to start going over each other's 'work'. So my advice to any budding 'street artist' is; get to Budapest quickly - there's not much wall left!

Best of all, Budapest is a city to feel at ease in. The only people trying to sell us something were leaflet carriers trying to get us to go to classical concerts, a phenomenon we were introduced to last year in Prague. We just spent much of our time merely wandering, and stopping for the odd local beer and snack.

FIRST WANDERINGS

As our hotel was on the Buda side, on 'Bem rakpart*' right on the banks of the Blue Danube (did someone say 'Blue'? - it's the same colour as any other river as far as I can see), we were, as mentioned before, only a short walk from the famous Széchenyi lanchid, the Chain Bridge which spans the Danube in one vault like Hammersmith Bridge on steroids. I did read that this bridge was in fact the inspiration for its London alter ego. On reflection, the Chain Bridge at Marlow looks even more like it, having similar stonework.

*Curiously, street names only give a capital letter to the main part of the name, as in 'Oxford street' or 'Piccadilly circus'. Like wise, streets and other areas named after people have their name reversed, like a telephone directory entry, thus Adam Clark Square (named after the designer of the bridge) becomes 'Clark Ádam tér'.

You need a decent-sized map, if only to get the full length of some of the street names in!

I have to admit that I'd forgotten what a really big river looked like. Despite being several hundred miles both from its mouth in the Black Sea, and its source not a million miles from Lake Geneva, the Danube in Budapest manages to be considerably wider than the Thames in central London, with a constant strong downstream current!

We'd already got all three nights' dining reservations made via the internet before we left home, so our time really was given over to strolling rather than keeping a weather eye open for likely-looking eateries. Once over the river via the Chain Bridge, you are immediately in 'downtown Pest', with a clutch of famous-name international hotels all vying for the best bit of waterfront. It's from along this riverfront that many of the short-duration Danube cruises leave. Curiously you might think, we decided not to bother, since the Danube is so wide, that everything must looks quite small from the middle, and anyway, despite the UK's continuing heat wave at that time in late June/early July, Budapest stayed resolutely duller, with temperatures around 24°C (bliss!), so 'photographic opportunities' were limited.

WHAT WE DID SEE

We did give into the pressures of mass tourism and went on a slightly-more-than half day city sightseeing tour. Our very knowledgeable multi-lingual guide visibly shivered when she realised that she'd got a complete coach load of English-speakers on board, all bar two Germans. This of course meant that her entire time was spent speaking, flip-flopping between two tongues, and what it also meant, was that it was never quiet on the coach for one single moment.

It was whilst we were touring the streets of mainly the shopping area that we discovered cows - not Yogi Bear's 'moo-moo type cows', but full-sized fibreglass ones, each one an example of local student art, and great fun they were too. I tried to 'collect' as many as possible with my camera.

Any first visit to a large city is likely to be overwhelming to say the least, what with stopping off at grandiose squares full of the statues of national heroes, and being taken up to splendid viewpoints in Buda overlooking Pest, for example, the Fisherman's Bastion; an almost fairy-tale battlement with pointy roofs and all. There's an enclave of cobbled streets and picturesque architecture giving a village atmosphere to the immediate area, but I just can't believe that they let them build a totally-out-of-place Hilton Hotel within the walls. Apart from its decidedly whistle-stop nature, the whole touring 'thing' wasn't helped by the resilience of Budapest's coach drivers to requests to 'turn some air on'. They don't care; they've got their window open. Maybe they're bonussed on fuel savings - maybe they just don't want to admit that the air-con doesn't work.

For once in our lives, we'd arrived somewhere just as something was about to happen, unlike Barbados, where we've managed to miss three 'Cropover' celebrations by two days. In July (and August), the famous Chain Bridge is closed to traffic at weekends, and given over to walkers, cyclists, jugglers and those idiots who insist on dressing up in a bed sheet, spraying themselves silver and standing stock still. At either end, there is a craft fair and music festival, sometimes showcasing folk dancing, other times the jazz-funk virtuosity of a Magyar hippy with dreadlocks and a bald patch (wow, what an image that conjures up! Ah, so THAT'S what happened to Level 42!) - it was all very free and easy.

Our other preordained visit was to a curious momento called The Statue Park. Unlike other ex-Communist bloc countries, Hungary has decided to incorporate its memorabilia into its sightseeing calendar, rather than melt down the evidence to make car hub caps. The garden is reachable by courtesy bus leaving the city centre of Pest near Le Méridien Hotel. You pay once there at the Park, and this includes your return bus ticket, thus absolving the driver of any need to handle money, or speak foreign languages (annoyingly including phrases like 'can you turn on the ventilation please?')!

The park is a strange affair, feeling somewhat austere to the extent of agoraphobia, but maybe that's the idea. Maybe there are many more statues and edifices being restored prior to re-erecting them. As you'd expect, many of these are 'celebrations' of years of fraternal amity between the Soviet Union and Hungary, which is a bit like sending an anniversary card to your spouse knowing that he/she wants a divorce! Not being able to read Russian to any great extent and not knowing a word of Magyar except 'etterem' (restaurant) and Zsa Zsa Gabor didn't help, but I did manage to identify one statue for myself since it listed a whole gamut of Spanish city names. This was the memorial to the Hungarian contingent to the International Brigade that fought against Franco in The Spanish Civil War in 1936.

There's a gift shop for those that really must, and nearby, an East-German 'Trabi' Trabant car lends an air of austerity whilst stirring party music (er, The Communist Party's music that is, not Peter Stringfellow's) is played through a vintage radio cabinet.

THE STUFF YOU SEE WHILE JUST WANDERING

Well, firstly, there are those fibre-glass cows. The bus tour only showed us the teat of the iceberg. You needed to be on foot to see the udder half.

British Embassy - what shock this was. I'd heard about how the US government has had Grosvenor Square turned into a fortress in the capital of their 'closest ally' (what a joke that is), but the same has happened here.

Hydraulic ramps, anti-tank defences and armed guards; what a mess in what had been a fairly pleasant street, now entirely commandeered as a no-go area to keep our embassy safe. I slunk away in search of fibre-glass cows. At least they wouldn't have an opinion on Iraq!

Shops - I have to say that I can't get too excited about the new god, shopping. Once you've seen one picturesque pedestrianised street turned over to The United Colours Of Bennetton, DKNY and Subway, you've seen 'em all. Prague was no different there either. There are however some splendidly-ornate arcades, some a bit forlorn, waiting their turn in the queue for Linda Barker.

THINGS WE DIDN'T SEE

On my agenda for next time, if there is one, would be the Childrens' Railway, a national facility for allowing children to get first hand knowledge of working with trains. This had previously been the Pioneers' Railway, with a stricter agenda, i.e the recruitment of railway workers from an early age but is now more of a 'work experience' opportunity for kids with an interest in trains. However, for safety reasons, adults get to drive the things - so no change there then.

Typical - you get a full-sized train set for Christmas and Dad won't let you near it till you're his age!

I'd also like to do a proper cruise up or down the Danube. It's even possible to start in Rotterdam on the Rhine, and then veering into the Main at Mainz, and thence by canal to the Danube, ending up at the Danube's mouth; North Sea to Black Sea without going near salt water! The cost would be astronomical, but it's 'proper travel' in my book, on a par with Moscow to Vladivostok by train. It'll certainly have to be put on the back burner till my wife retires from teaching, since the availability of cabins is limited, and even more so during school holiday periods.

Budapest is also famous as a spa city, and the beautiful baths in the Gellert Hotel are world famous, as are various other Turkish Baths.

The square or basilica to the Cathedral of St Stephen gives an inspiring view to the frontage of this magnificent church. I didn't actually go in for two reasons. I'm no expert on ecclesiastical architecture and can't tell my 'flying buttresses from my apse', but more so, this is a place of calm and worship, and it just doesn't feel right to mingle with the devout who've just come in for some peace and quiet and maybe to pray; and there's me with my Nikon - flash deployed. Anyway, there were more of those cows outside to snap.

You can also take a tour of that great rambling Houses of Parliament, which is considerably larger than ours.
If you fancy a stroll in a park to see Budapesters (well, it's as good a plural as any!) having some outdoor fun, go to the Margeret Island (Margitsziget) which is a 2-kilometre long park in the middle of the Danube. You access this by half crossing the Margeret Bridge and then accessing the ramp down into the park. The perimeter track is used by joggers, in-line skaters and cyclists too, so strollers beware.

NOSE BAG MATTERS

As I said before, we'd made our restaurant booking in advance for the three evenings that we were there. Our first night, a Friday, and timed to coincide with a World Cup semi, was spent at 'Arcade', an excellent restaurant in the more modern western suburbs of Buda. The location was decidedly ordinary, being at the bottom of what appeared to be a block of council flats, but being ushered straight from our taxi to our table by a waiter with an umbrella was nice! (It was drizzling at that point).

Yes, they'd ushered in a TV to watch the footie, but no, it wasn't intrusive, and there was really only the barman facing the right way to see it. The menu was superb, being an eclectic mixture of Hungarian and 'world food'. Sure you could have Goulash, (I'm never quite sure if it's runny stew or thick soup!) but I opted for the pea soup and marinated goose breast. The pea soup wasn't the thick green emulsion we're used to, but a clear soup made with plenty of mint and fresh garden peas. At this time of year, be prepared for them to be doing wonderful things with dark cherries - the sauce with my goose for a start.

My wife's starter was a mixture of platters; goat's cheese and then wild boar pâté, with onion marmalade and fresh pumpkin-seed bread. She then followed this up with sea bass, but since Hungary is land-locked, there's little prospect of this being locally caught!

"Tibor, why have you caught no sea bass today?" "Well, Ern, the tide goes out 600 miles in Budapest and my line got tangled on a cruise boat in Bulgaria!"

Hungary has some famous wines, Tokay and Bull's Blood being two of them, but what they export does them little credit at all. What they keep for themselves does!

My wife did some digging around on the web in advance and what we did drink was excellent.

Our second dinner was pretty good, being of the same management as the first, but it was dearer being more central, and there was a mood of despair amongst English guests who'd come out so as not to watch England getting trounced.

Ironically, what you'd expect to have been the best meal, at a restaurant that claimed to have survived from pre-WW2 through the Communist era, to have reinvented itself for the 21st century was obviously leaning on its laurels (and microwaves) rather too heavily.

Lunchtime eating with local beer and snacks was excellent and cheap.

THE COME AGAIN FACTOR

Unlike Rome which I've just written about within days of getting back, remarking that I wouldn't make any immediate plans to go back, Budapest is different. It didn't assault my senses like Rome, but that can be good as well as bad. It's taken me months to get round to writing this which in itself is a measure of how it has seeped into my consciousness rather than beat me over the head.

Yes, I'd go back - not straightaway perhaps, after all it's big world, and if the Tories get in next time, weekend jaunts by air may just become a distant dream to all but the stinking rich. However, there's always the train when it comes to crossing Europe, and a friend of ours who is part Magyar herself has just bought a flat in the city centre.

At least it'll be a floor to sleep on.

Summary: Twin Cities of Buda and Pest, the capital of Hungary