Budapest
So I'm off on my Eastern European adventure. Mic's mom is in town
for two weeks and I want to give her time alone with her baby boy. Plus, summer
has hit Malta with a vengeance and it's hot, hot, hot! I had long wanted to
visit several countries in Eastern Europe, mainly Hungry and Poland. I figured
now was the perfect time.
I had booked an apartment called Bebop Mátyás Apartments and was really
impressed with the apartment and staff. I had several communications back and
forth with them and Marton met me at the apartment when I got in at midnight.
The apartment was a one bedroom loft in a very old building with a lot of
character. It was a good end to a frustrating day. That morning I picked up my
cell phone from the repair shop. It had a scratched camera lens and the
microphone needed to be replaced. Neither was repaired properly and now my
tablet was broken too!
Monday morning I started out with a plan to use my phone for
navigation, as I always did. Oh great, now Google maps isn't working either! So
here I am in a strange city, completely lost. I'll have to do this the old
fashion way; with an actual city map. My apartment was in a great location,
with lots of restaurants, shopping and a metro stop just around the corner. I
soon found myself at the central market. It was a huge building with 3 floors
of stalls selling food and souvenirs. The smelly fish venders were in the
basement, but they also had many stalls with pickled produce, including every
vegetable you can imagined. Some of the displays were quite whimsical, with
smiley faced onions with pimentos looking back at you as you perused the goods.
On the main floor were meat shops on one side and fruit and veggie stands on the
other. The fruits looked fantastic, so fresh and ripe. They had beautiful corn
on the cob, something you just don't see in Malta, so grabbed a few for dinner.
They had regular cherries but also something I had ever seen, like mini
cherries. They were much cheaper so I got half a kilo to taste. They were
good, but not as robust as the bigger ones.
I headed up to the 3rd floor where
they were selling all things Hungarian, including street food. At 10 in the
morning, they were selling hearty meals like sausage and sauerkraut, meat and
potatoes, or chicken and cabbage. It was a bit more then I wanted that early.
I came to a stand that had fried dough pizza, both sweet and savory. I will
admit the sweet ones were pretty tempting, with jelly filled centers, lined with
powdered sugar and drizzled with chocolate on top. Instead I asked for a mini
ham and cheese calzone like sandwich. Instead, I got a traditional Langos which
is a huge elephant ear/fried dough pizza with ham, cheese, what looked like a
full sliced onion with salad covering the whole thing. I had no idea how you
were supposed to eat this, so I looked around. Apparently, you just fold it
over as best you can and shoved it in your mouth. At which point, most of the
topping promptly fell in my lap. Well, it certainly filled me up and was
surprisingly good.
After dropping my groceries off at home, I headed back out, by now
my GPS had decided to cooperate, so things were looking up. Budapest is a city
split in two by the Danube river. One one side is Buda, which is the quieter,
more residential city. Pest, (pronounced Pesht) is the more happening city and
where I spent about 90% of my time. As I walked around this very walkable
city, I was surprised at how many interesting statues and sculptures there were.
They were everywhere, as were green spaces. There were several decent sized
parks, but even the medians were covered in flowers, grass and fountains.
I made it to the city center to buy a tour bus ticket. As I walked
up, 2 buses pull up. I told the ticket taker I want a 1 day ticket, he says
7500 HUF (23 euro). He asks where I'm from, I say Malta. He's excited, says
we're neighbors, he's from Tunisia. He says "I like you, I'll give you a 3 day
pass for the same price". Sure, I hand him a 10,000 HUF note. He steps up the
chatter then hustles me on the first bus saying "hurry, they leave without you".
(2nd bus still sitting there) I get on the bus and realize he never gave me my
change, about 8 euro worth. Half a block away I make the bus stop and let me
off. It's been less then 5 min. I go back, but he's gone. I go to another
ticket seller (different company) and explain what happened. This was a young,
local Hungarian girl. She says "I know it's racist, but you don't buy tickets
from those people". She points me to another guy with the right company. He
says, "oh he told me he forgot to give you your change, but he's gone to lunch.
Come back later". I don't think so! After a heated debate, he hands over my
change. I get on the other bus, which has been sitting there all along and head
out again. Who is working the next stop but my Tunisian buddy, who supposedly
went to lunch. I looked at the brochure for the tour and realize he charged me
for the 3 day ticket, not the one day that I asked for. I reported him to the
ticket office, but the girl isn't a supervisor, she suggested emailing the main
office. When I got home, that's exactly what I did. They sent a profuse
apology, a promise to look into it because that's not how they do
business, and 2 free tickets for our next tour.
These guys had quite the double scam going. I'm sure many, if not
most, tourists would either not realize they didn't get their change or if they
did, would figure it's not worth going back for. He didn't hand me the brochure
till he was rushing me on the bus, so I couldn't see the price printed on the
front.
I did enjoy the tour, despite the rocky start. It was a good deal,
they were in the process of buying up another company, so there were several
lines to take and I did actually end up using it for 3 days. As the bus drove
around the city, I noticed even more interesting statues and fountains. I have
never been interested in architecture, but seeing the fantastic buildings all
over Europe makes me want to learn more. Because the cities are so old, you see
such a fascinating mixture of styles and how they have changed over the
centuries. Since all the buildings in the US are basically only a few hundred
years old, and made mostly from wood, we simply don't have the elaborate stone
cathedrals and other buildings that may have taken hundreds of years to finish
and that have stood for centuries. To us, a one room schoolhouse still standing
from the late 1800's is a wonder.
Some of the sights I saw over the next few days included the amazing
Parliament building. I did an evening Danube river cruise and the only way to
see how absolutely massive, and stunningly beautiful this building is, is from
the river. The Hungarian Parliament Building, Országház, translates to House of
the Country or House of the Nation. It is the seat of the National Assembly of
Hungary, one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings. It is currently the
largest building in Hungary. Its a relatively new building for Europe,
construction was started in 1885 and completed in 1904.
I also did a tour of Matthias Church (Hungarian: Mátyás-templom).
Originally built in 1015, it was destroyed in 1241 by the Mongols. The current
Gothic style building was constructed in the second half of the 14th century and
was extensively restored in the late 19th century. The outside of the building
was breathtaking; there was so much detail in the stone carvings and the spires,
which are all different from each other. In addition to all the stone carvings,
there are wonderful brown tile designs laid into the roof. I found a great blog
post if you want more details. http://cannundrum.blogspot.com/2014/03/matthias-church-budapest.html.
Just behind Matthias Church is Fisherman’s Bastion or Halászbástya.
It is basically part of the city wall, built between 1895 and 1902, with seven
towers representing the seven Magyre tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin
in 896. It is named in honor of a group of fishermen who defended that part of
the city wall during the middle ages. The towers were really picturesque, even
more so with the scenery behind it. You have fantastic views of the city and
the Danube from the towers. There is a small cafe at the base of the wall
advertising goulash and fresh fruit drinks. By noon they were all out of
goulash, but that's the only food they served. Perhaps a lack of planning? The
strawberry lemonade was wonderfully refreshing and you certainly couldn't beat
the view of the Parliament building outside the widow.
Hero's Square was the next stop, or Hősök tere. This is a major
square in Budapest, although it's not really in the city center and was not as
crowded. This is where their Tomb of the Unknown Solder lies. While they say
tomb, its not like the one in Arlington Cemetery where there are actually
remains of a soldier. This is a cenotaph (a sepulchral monument erected in
memory of a deceased person whose body is buried elsewhere) dedicated "To the
memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our people and our
national independence." The statues on the columns feature the Seven
Chieftains of the Magyars as well as other important leaders. On either side
of the square are the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Art. The main
structure is called the Millennium Memorial (Hungarian: Millenáriumi
Emlékmű) and was built from 1896 to 1900 to commemorate the thousandth
anniversary of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin and the foundation
of the Hungarian state in 1896.
As a side note, sightseeing was a bit more complicated in Hungry
because unlike most cities I've visited, all the names were in Hungarian. Go
figure right! But most major cities recognize that English is a common language
that many tourist can speak or read. Or at least I have always been able to
figure out what the spot was because it was similar enough to English. In
Budapest, I was constantly cross referencing the tour bus map with Trip Adviser
or just looking at the pictures.
Next up on our tour, The Citadella or Citadel. The U shaped
fortress, which sits on top of Gellért Hill, was built in 1851. The bus takes
you up this long hill, but drops you off before you reach the Citadella so you
don't see just how big it is. (220 meters long and 60 meters wide) As you walk
further up the hill, you get magnificent views of Budapest and all 8 of the
bridges spanning the Danube. There are venders selling ice cream and cold
drinks as well as souvenirs of all kind. You are so busy taking in the views to
the left of you, that you hardly notice the massive wall behind all the food
carts. You come around the bend and see the Liberty Statue or Freedom Statue
(Szabadság-szobor) high above your head. It commemorates those who sacrificed
their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary.
Budapest is knows as the City of Spas because it has so many thermal
hot springs. There are 118 springs all over the city, pumping out over 70
millions liters of water every day. The temperature varies between 21 and 78
Celsius or 78 to 172 Fahrenheit. The Romans were using the hot springs in the
2nd century, but the baths were not really popular until the Turkish occupation
of Hungry in the 16th century. Today there are some 15 public spas in the city,
one of which is Széchenyi Thermal Bath. It's in fact, the largest spa complex
in Europe, so of course I had to go! It's also the first thermal bath of Pest,
built in 1913. The hot-spring the water comes from contains calcium,
magnesium, hydro-carbonate, sodium and sulphate, with a significant content in
fluoride and metaboric acid. There are 2 huge outdoor pools and 15 indoor pools
with varying water temps. I will say I tried every pool there, but spent most
of the time in the largest outdoor pool because like Goldilocks said, that one
was just right. The other outdoor pool was too hot. Some of the indoor pools
were nice, but much smaller and a little too intimate because the best ones were
pretty crowded. The main outdoor pool was pretty cool, in the middle of it was
a bubbling hot tub with a lazy river circling it. Around the outside of the
lazy river was a wall and along the wall were benches and shower jets, all in
the middle of the pool. I ended up spending the whole day there, just soaking
in one pool after another.
One of the last sites on my list was a memorial called The Shoes on
the Danube Bank. This memorial is composed of 60 pair of iron shoes in all
sizes; men's, women's and children's. The shoes represent the Jews who were
killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. The
victims were lined up, ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the
edge of the river, and their bodies were carried away downstream. Apparently
the shoes had value on the black market.
I really enjoyed my time in Budapest, I could totally see myself
going back for a longer visit. The people were really friendly, everyone spoke
English and the public transport was great. It was really cheap too,
my apartment cost about $125 for 4 nights. The food was great, I quickly became
addicted to the hollow round sweet bread called Chimney cakes or Kürtős kalács.
They are a hollow, cylinder shaped bread and you can have them rolled in
powdered sugar, cinnamon or crushed nuts. They are sold in food trucks all over
the city In fact, they were also in Prague and Krakow, but in these cities, you
could have them filled with ice cream, or coated on the inside with different
cream fillings. I liked the plain ones, rolled in nuts.
Pictures
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