Budapest: Baths, Danube, and Goulash
Buda and Pest is divided by the River Danube, one of the longest rivers in Europe stretching from the Black Forest in Germany to the Black Sea. The former, Buda, is home to the famous Castle Hill, and the ladder, Pest, is the commercial heart of Budapest filled with smoky bars, cafes, and restaurants.
St. Stephen’s was next on our itinerary; a neoclassical Roman Catholic church built in 1904, just half mile down the road from The Great Synagogue. If you are interested, you can also visit the nearby Lutheran Church on Deak Square.
Budapest is a lively city — much bigger than Prague and just as beautiful. Joining the EU in 2004, along with 9 other nations, prices in Hungary remain affordable even on the American dollar, but I am willing to bet the favorable exchange rate won’t last long, so if you get an opportunity to visit Budapest in the near future, I highly recommend it. It’s an interesting city, or as my English colleagues would say “wicked!”
We spent Friday evening strolling along World Heritage designated Andrassy Avenue, Pest’s main commercial artery linking Elizabeth Square to City Park, Budapest’s answer to Hyde Park.
After dinner, we enjoyed local brews and local Hungarian wine at Ring Cafe, a sleek and trendy bar near the Opera House…well we enjoyed the quiet atmosphere until the music turned from mellow jazz to quasi-techno/house and a huge group of people walked in for a “fancy dress” party (read: costume party). We saw everyone from the Blue Man group, to trampy French maid, to Genie in the Bottle; to a Jailhouse rocker. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was Halloween weekend here in Budapest, not Valentine’s Day weekend. Anyways, we left just as the waiter was passing out tacky party hats and party blowers…wait, was this also an English-style “Christmas Do” (Do = party; or a social gathering)? If we missed the topic of office Christmas parties in the U.K., we promise to write about it next year — quite amusing!
Saturday we spent the morning soaking in the outdoor thermal baths at Szechenyi Baths; an elaborate complex with some 15 indoor thermal pools, saunas, steam rooms, and one large outdoor pool set in a beautiful surrounding in City Park. Along the way to the famous bathhouse, we got a few photos of Heroes’ Square and the sights inside the park. As you can see, Budapest was still covered in snow, but by no means was it was thick as St. Petersburg.
Heroes’ Square:
City Park covered in snow:
Szechenyi is well-organised and not too touristy, which is great as you can really get a glimpse of the Hungarian way of life and the Hungarians sure love a good soak, and so did we as evident with our pruney fingers and toes after three hours of thermal pool-hopping. Relaxing way to start off Saturday morning.
Szechenyi Exterior:
Outdoor thermal pool:
We had lunch of Hungarian home-made specialties of goulash and paprika-covered pork chops at Fakanal Etterem inside the Great Market Hall. Also, a great place to get souvenirs, Tokaji wines, and Hungarian tapestry.
The Great Market Hall is located at the base of the Szabadag Bridge on the Pest side, a great place to start your stroll along the Danube Embankment. It’s a lovely walk along the scenic riverfront to the famous Szechenyi Bridge.
You can’t miss the impressive Buda Castle, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was destroyed several times over throughout history, and each time was meticulously restored to the architectural style of choice.
Beautiful Sczechenyi Bridge — I think it is better than the Charles Bridge in Prague:
View overlooking Pest from Buda Hill:
The Fisherman’s Bastion and Mattias Church:
Beautiful Views from Fisherman’s Bastion:
After a long productive day of relaxation and sightseeing, we enjoyed a long and cosy dinner in the Jewish Quarter called Koleves (Stone Soup) — great artsy atmosphere, friendly staff, and good food. As we recently went to the ballet and the symphony, we opt for a jazz concert that evening. Great music, great wine, and great vibe.
The next day we woke up to beautiful sunny blue skies, but cold!! Nonetheless sunny — time to get our biweekly dose of vitamin D. A walk along the Danube past the Szechenyi Bridge takes you the gorgeous Parliament building. Take a good look at the architectural design; probably reminds you of Westminster in London as it is built in the same Gothic Revival style.
Szabadsag Ter (Freedom Square):
A different view of St. Stephens’s against the blue skies:
A Lesson in History by K.V:
If you follow this blog then you’ll know that one of my favorite parts of travel is viewing the place I’m visiting within the context of its history. You can’t visit a city or a country without a view to the events and experiences that shaped what it is you’re seeing. Like most of Europe Hungary is a country with a long history, but to fully appreciate the beauty and splendor of its capital Budapest, you must have a basic grasp of the country’s recent past over the last century. For me, the twentieth century is the most fascinating period of history to study; two world wars, a great depression, industrialization and decolonization, numerous revolutions, and a global cold war together complete a dramatic and compelling story that is still being played out in our present. Hungary, like many of the countries we have visited over the last few years, was yet another nation at the center of these events as they unfolded.
Part of the dual-monarchy of Austria-Hungary, after 1918 and its defeat in World War I, Hungary became free of Hapsburg rule and struggled during the inter-war years to maintain a stable and consistent form of government. The Hungarian Democratic Republic was short-lived and lasted only one year until a revolution in 1919 installed the Hungarian Soviet Republic which also lasted only one year, ending in a violent anti-communist counter-revolution that restored the monarchy and set the stage for the Kingdom of Hungary. Throughout the twenties and thirties Hungary began a slow, but steady shift to the right and had become a full member of the Axis by 1941. The fascist Arrow Cross Party, the Hungarian national socialist partner organization to the Nazi party, had by now usurped complete control over the country and Hungary had been thrust into yet another world war and was a vassal state of Nazi Germany. Towards the end of the war, Churchill and Roosevelt had given Stalin carte blanche to do as he wished in Hungary, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, in exchange for his assurance of non-interference in Greece or Austria, as well as other areas liberated by the Western Allies. By 1945 and the defeat of the Axis powers, the Soviet Union had invaded and occupied Hungary. However, along with the other Eastern European countries to fall under Soviet occupation, to call it liberation would be an ignorant misunderstanding at best and outright denial and historic revisionism at worst. Tragically, Hungary was essentially just another bargaining chip in the Allies’ post-war plans and the result was that it ended up exchanging one repressive regime for another. It lasted as a communist Soviet satellite state until 1989. My writing in this post cannot due any justice to describing the horrors set upon the Hungarian people during Nazi and then Soviet occupation, but Budapest’s “House of Terror” which is housed in the former prison of both regimes reveals atrocities that conjured up images of our visit to the notorious S-21 Prison of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Victims of occupation:
When considering the history, it was only the final decade of the twentieth century that the Hungarian people experienced any genuine freedom. Even amidst the new found liberty, the nineties were defined by difficult efforts to rebuild a sincerely damaged national psyche and attempts to establish a functional governmental infrastructure comprised of a legitimate and democratic framework.
This is why the vibrant and bustling Budapest of 2010 was such an impressive sight to see. Having joined the European Union in 2004 the Hungarian capital boasts a swagger and cosmopolitanism that would have seemed impossible just over twenty years ago. The ingenuity and resolve of the Hungarian people have allowed this grand city to rediscover itself and as a result, Budapest is in the midst of a cultural Renaissance. Given its relatively rapid progress against the odds, this country has a lot to be proud of and much to be excited about.
