Arrival in Pest!!! You could tell from first glance that Hungary and Budapest were not among the richest of European nations. BUda and pest were two old towns seperated by a river, which now make up the city Budapest! THe city is very eye-appealing with all its views and the several bridges connecting the two towns. Pest is very flat, but Buda is all hills. I found a cheap hostel for only 10 euros/night so this would be Big P´s first experience of sleeping in a hostal! It was small so there weren´t a whole lot of people there and it really wasn´t so bad. I even made a friend from Australia-Dean.
I spent the first day in Budapest hiking from one end of Buda to the other-seeing a church built in a cave, statue park, the royal palace, Matthias Church, and the fisherman´s bastion. THe coolest part of Buda was the amazing views from the tops of all the hills of the rest of the city, the bridges, etc. There´s not much more to tell of this hike-so i´ll let the pics do the talking. I went back to the hostal to get ready for dinner plans with Andras,
who i met in Berlin. Despite having to leave the next morning at 6 and still having tons to do, Andras took time out to take me to dinner and show me what to do party-wise in Budapest. We went to a lesbian-owned restaurant in the theater district and sat outside to a nice meal. I tried Hungarian Goulash soup and had steak (everything in Budapest was a lot cheaper-a nice break from the expensive Euro!). After dinner, Andras had to run and i went venturing out on the town. I went to AlterEgo. Having got there pretty early, the club wasn´t really happening yet so i visited with the friendly bar staff and had a few drinks. Hungarian men were funny to me. As the club got more and more crowded, i attempted to mingle some, but the guys are so shy! It´s like they don´t even believe you´re talking to them (still a very conservative culture). I must say the first couple hours at this club were a little awkward. I eventually met a beautiful Polish couple named Bart and Damien. We truly connected and ended up dancing the night away together. Also, the hungarians loosened up as
the night went on. Some of the same guys who were too shy to talk to me earlier were coming up and cracking jokes with me later.
The next morning, i hiked around pest and took pics of some big landmarks, the chain bridge and the parliament. Intrigued by what these "baths" were all about I met Bart and Damien at the Gellert Baths to unwind in the sun. We chatted the afternoon away beer after beer. I really enjoyed the connection i shared with these guys and made some of the coolest friends i´d make on my whole trip here in budapest (they had come to budapest to see kylie minogue and stayed the weekend after). I went to check out another "bath," the Szechenyi Baths -next to the millenium monument. THe baths are like overdone pools, with wave pools, whirl pools, saunas, hot pools, cold pools, indoor-outdoor, etc. Budapest is on top of a bed of hot springs, which is why it´s so hot, and the locals visit these baths to unwind and be massaged by the spraying fountains and relax in the warm water.
That evening, after pub hopping with the Australian from my hostal,
Dean, and i met back up with Bart and Damien at another gay bar which was dead, so we went back to alterEgo and danced the night away. Before meeting them, i got a bit lost and met 2 hungarian men drinking wine. THey were nice enough to let me walk and drink with them as they were going the same way i was. THey showed me to where i was supposed to be and we chatted about economies, how hungary´s oppressed, etc. One of them went on about the jews, so i get the impression that there´s still some animosity towards Jews with some Hungarians (once again-these are the moments on this trip, i will remember and cherish the most-the people i meet and have brief conversations with whom i´ll never see or talk to again, but for that moment we shared a connection).
At alterego, i was having a blast. NOt ready to leave, i bid farewell to my new Polish friends with hugs as i had to leave to catch another train....onto Zagreb!
Hungary's Flag
Map of Hungary