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Published: April 11th 2006
Statue Park
My 'arty' shotEd:
Our trip to Budapest began with our first flight using Easyjet. Now, if you’ve read Matt’s description of Easyjet’s main discount competitor, Ryanair, well this was the same but with the added extra of an underclass clientele! We had the pleasure of sharing our flight with two buck’s night groups, a Z-grade middle age rugby team, a hen’s night, and the local junkie which just happened to end up sitting next to Matt. It was the rowdiest, smelliest and most unpleasant leg to date. The junkie next to Matt (who looked like he had taken a big gulp of methadone before boarding) sat the whole way picking at his scabs and emitting rather unpleasant odours! Let’s just say it was a very long two hours, especially for poor Matt!
We got into Budapest at around 8pm, glad to be in the fresh air! After checking into the hotel (no free upgrades this time) we headed into town for a meal and a couple of drinks. After doing a lap of the main restaurants strip in Pest, we settled into a restaurant called Karma Café, which was very intimate and served great food (Matt ordered the Goulash and I
Budapest
View from Palace Quarter... tried the wild boar that came with these potato croquettes which were just divine). We ended up staying there for a few more drinks then headed home.
The following day we started off early and headed into town at 9am. We hopped on the trams, which are very old and rickety but fairly regular. They also worked out very cheap as we used a single 40c ticket for the 2 days. Although you’re supposed to pay for each journey, we couldn’t figure out how to validate the ticket once on board so just kept using the same one over and over again. It’s a wonder we didn’t get arrested for fare evasion!
So once in town we joined one of those bus tours with the open top deck (although this one didn’t have an open top deck… long story that involved some rude Hungarians). The tour went for about two hours and the guide was a seedy old man who knew lots about the hotels and the strip joints around Buda and Pest and nothing about the monuments or palaces in the city. He was completely unfunny and had nothing interesting to share about Budapest, so after getting
Budapest
View of Buda from the Pest side our bearings of the city, we decided we couldn’t tolerate it any longer and jumped out and decided to explore around by foot. That’s right - I chose to walk over sitting comfortably on my butt so you can imagine how bad this guy was!
The day was a warm 20 degrees and had blue skies and the city looked gorgeous. It’s very much a mix of Roman and Baroque architecture, with the odd concrete block from the communist era thrown in to remind you that poor old Hungry was right in the middle of the battle between the Soviet Union and the rest of the world. The Buda side has the best views and bigger palaces & churches, but Pest has the more ‘European’ city feel with plenty of statues, café’s and squares.
So we jumped out of the tour bus at the parliament house on Pest, then we walked along the Danube bank and headed towards the funicular on the Buda side. Matt had seen this on an episode of Amazing Race and was determined to experience the thrill of the race. The funicular ride was all of 2 minutes (so not thrilling!). This took us
Parliament House
The biggest in Europe (the tour guide didn't tell us this) up to the Castle Quarter which holds the more historical monuments. First up was Kiralyi Palota (Royal Palace). From here you got the best view of the city and the Danube. The palace was impressive, with lots of fountains and statues around the gardens. We then walked across to Matyas Templom (Matthias Church) and Halaszbastya (Fisherman’s Bastion) which was this awesome looking structure that resembled a Middle Eastern castle.
From there we went in search of one of the many thermals baths that Budapest is famous for. So after walking for 40 minutes to the one recommended by our guidebook, we were met by a ‘closed for renovation’ sign! So after consulting our trusty guide, we walked for another half hour and found one near our hotel. The baths themselves were amazing. The ‘medicinal’ water is maintained at a pleasant 38 degrees, and the walls had mosaics and statues built throughout. Unfortunately, the people working in them were very rude. You couldn’t ask a question without receiving some indignant look like you had just interrupted royalty. Aside from this, it was great to relax after walking for most of the day.
As we relaxed, we decided that it
Danube
The whole city looked like it was about to flood but no one seemed that concerned... would be great to see a performance at the Opera House which looked really grand and lavish. So at around 4pm in the afternoon - we went in search of tickets for a performance. After going to four different ticket offices all over town, we ended at the Opera House box office, who informed us they were playing Puccini’s La Boheme, however they were sold out! So sadly we headed back to the hotel. On the way we spotted an internet café and decided to check listing for clubs for the night. By chance, Matt checked the internet box office which then led to a local number. Luckily, the woman on the other end of the line said she had 2 seats, although were not together. So without much thought, we agreed to take them. So we rushed back to the hotel to get ready and then headed back to the Opera House.
The building inside was amazing: grand staircase entrance, marble arches, red and golden boxes and murals on the roof. Everyone was dressed so elegantly. Women wearing their finest evening gowns, encased in gold chains and sparkly jewels. Men donned their dinner suits with bowties and waistcoats.
Bridge
Matt on a bridge... (with lots of bubbling water for him) And there was Matthew and me. In jumpers, jeans and sneakers. Yes, amidst our preoccupation with getting tickets, we completely failed to realise that we didn’t have anything suitable to wear. We definitely made an impression!
Aside from the odd look here and there, the night was incredible. The music, set and performances were great. I did learn one thing - I don’t get the Opera! Especially when it’s sung in Italian! Ha ha.
Later on we headed out for a late dinner to Mensa. It was described by our guide as a parody of the 1970’s communist diner - although I think it has been refurbished because it was decked out in funky retro and there was nothing parodist about it! The meal was still great though! (PS. All the walking is not compensating for ALL the eating and drinking either!)
The following morning we decided to head out to Statue Park, which holds the giant monuments that occupied the streets of Budapest when Mother Russia was in charge. The tram, which takes you to the depot to catch the bus to the Statue Park, is right outside our hotel. Somehow Matt managed to completely miss
Funicular
It looked FAR more exciting on the Amazing Race... still was cute though. this and we ended up taking 2 trams and the underground train to end up back at the hotel (and an extra 45 minutes later).
So after finally getting to the bus depot we found out we had just missed the bus and would have had to wait another 40 minutes for the next one. So in the end we just hailed a cab that took us to the statues. The driver seemed like a sweet old Hungarian, especially after he offered us to wait for us and take us back to the bus depot for free. Somehow, though, meter still ran in the way back and he charged us full fare. We weren’t about to argue with a man who had survived behind the iron curtain!
Anyways, the statues themselves were quite impressive. It was all part of the propaganda the communist had enlisted to get the people to sway to their ideals. It was kinda weird just seeing them scattered on this vacant ground, like some useless scraps at a junkyard.
After getting back into town, we did some more sight seeing and went to Hero Square, which holds a 36 metre column with a
statue of the Gabriel at the top and the bottom sits a tomb of an unknown soldier. The square is mostly ruled by punk teenagers on skate boards and roller blades. Straight from there we headed down Andrassy Avenue, which has some gorgeous houses dating from the 19th century. One of these houses was the former headquarters of state police which would torture anyone that so much as had a disapproving thought about the communist ways. They have now turned this building into a museum called the Terror House. The museum itself was quite amazing - visually anyways. Had all the modern high tech plasma screens and had spared no expense - however, in terms of actually teaching anything it felt very short.
After wondering there for a couple of hours, we headed out to a square which we spotted earlier and was holding some markets. We sat here for the afternoon and soaked the sun, sampled more local cuisines, and wrote out some postcards for back home. As we enjoyed a dessert, the plaza was overtaken by thousands of people bearing placards and Hungarian flags! Turns out elections are coming up and one political party were holding some
demonstrations. Luckily it was nothing like Paris and everyone was quite friendly and no police intervention was needed.
The rest of the afternoon we went shopping and exploring around some more, heading back over to Buda and checked out the statue of St Gellert which sits on the side of a mountain, at the spot where he was stuffed in a barrel and rolled into the Danube. Those Hungarians have such charming ways!
Thankfully, the return flight was much more peaceful, with most of the parties obviously exhausting themselves from a weekend of drinking and partying!
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Elaine Mccarron
non-member comment
The Best Dressed
Never mind about not dressing well for the opera I really don't think people would have been too upset, you guys look great in anything. Love Mum