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Published: June 27th 2009
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Cycling home at night
Szabadsag Hid Bridge in the distance. There are 4 main bridges that light up at night. They join the Pest and the Buda. Budapest: 19th - 26th June 2009
We made a list of impressions and topics for the Budapest blog when we got here: not expensive, it rained a lot, easy to bike around (contrary to what guide book says), etc. But, one subject took on a life of its own and overshadowed everything, and it started off with a short statement on the list: “Budapest is a very interesting city because it has been on the front line of the struggle between Islam and Christianity.”
If you'll pardon the post-9/11 oversimplification, my observation was the result of learning that Budapest had been conquered by the Turks in the early 16th century, less than 50 years after the fall of Constantinople, and thus became yet another Ottoman city. Their rule was to last for about 150 years and ended after an unsuccessful attempt to catpure Vienna, which galvanized Christian Europe to push the Ottomans back towards Asia Minor.
As they did in Constantinople, the Turks announced that all churches were now mosques, God has a new name, and all seating will be rearranged in the new mosques so that the congregation points in the proper direction: south-east (toward Mecca).
Turkish Prayer Niche in the Inner City Parish Church
One of the few remnants of the Turkish Occupation. This mihrab (prayer niche) indicates the direction of Mecca Having been in the Middle-east so recently, and also remembering how much we enjoyed Istanbul (the new name for Constantinople), I immediately started looking around for remains of Budapest's Ottoman past. However, this was difficult because when the Turks vacated Budapest in the late 17th century, their successors effectively eliminated most traces of the Turks' presence in Hungary.
But there are a few remaining vestiges: a few original Turkish bath houses (still in use today), a few windows in one church added by the Turks, and a Muslim prayer niche that remains in the Inner Parish Church (added when it was a mosque). Have a look at the grainy 2 megapixel mobile phone picture nearby...to the right of the lectern on the far wall, behind some spare furniture, is a small niche that has “Allah” written in Arabic script, along with some writing of a similar devotional nature. The niche was intended to show worshipers the direction to Mecca.
As we dug deeper into the remaining Turkish influence in Budapest, we found one more site of interest: the tomb of Gul Baba, which means “Rose Father.” Legend has it that Gul Baba was a poet and a Dervish
Gul Baba
View of Gul Baba's tomb with Parliament in the background who brought roses to Hungary, not to mention a close associate of Suleiman the Great, the Ottoman leader who led the campaign to expand the Ottoman Empire into Europe. Gul Baba was killed in the campaign to capture Buda (the western bank of the Danube of present day Budapest), and Suleiman declared him patron saint of the city. The guidebook gave a very superficial description of the tomb with an uninspiring photo of a wall fountain. But, with so little remaining Turkish influence in the city, I wanted to see what else might be there.
Gul Baba's tomb is in fact an impressive octagonal shrine topped by a golden crescent moon set amid (surprise!) a rose garden with several fountains and a pool. The tomb survived the siege to remove the Turks from the city, and was converted to a Catholic chapel by the Jesuits (St. Joseph's Chapel, to be precise). But in the late 19th century, the Ottomans (still an Empire, just smaller) commissioned a Hungarian architect to renovate and restore the site. Gul Baba's statue is also a recent addition.
The elimination of Budapest's Turkish past was therefore not sweeping and indescriminant. Someone said: “Destroy everything,
but leave these few places alone.” The spas offered a valuable public service, but Gul Baba's tomb and the prayer niche at the Inner Parish Church have direct Islamic anti-Christian relevance. Why were they spared? I can't find find any explanation.
Fast-forwarding to the modern age, I think that the local residents got tired of their city being destroyed by invaders and liberators because when the Russians left, the Budapest residents had a chance once more to erase evidence of their prior occupiers, in this case statues of Marx, Lenin, et al. But this time, they did something different. While they didn't destroy anything this time, they did remove the Soviet “artwork” from Budapest's public spaces to a new place on the very outskirts of town called Memento Park so everyone could see these pieces and remember the past. However, one statue didn't survive: Joe Stalin was sawed off at the knees during the 1958 uprising.
So that's the history lesson.
Apart from pondering Budapest's past, we spent a week there enjoying the sights. The weather wasn't stellar, but the rain let up enough for us to see the sites. Armed with our bikes and guidebook, we
Stalin's Boots
This is what's left of a a statue of Stalin. first charged up the ramparts of the castle, where we spent an afternoon enjoying Buda's old town. Subsequently, we visited Mararet Island (in the Danube) that has been developed into a lovely city park. On one rainy evening, we did find a nearby cinema that shows films in English and watched the film “Knowing” (with Nicholas Cage).
Next, we wanted to check out the local hot springs. As mentioned, a few of the original Turkish bath houses are still open, but they're relatively small, and are thus all men or all women depending on the day. But, Rayma and I wanted to go to the same spa, so we went to a larger, more “modern” spa at the Gellert Hotel which, even though it's newer, is still pre-1989 in origin, providing that authentic “Peoples Republic of Hungary” experience today. Here's the deal: if you have ever been to a Japanese onsen (hot spring), you better forget the Budapest bath houses. You're too spoiled. The water won't be hot enough, the facilities won't be clean enough or maintained well enough, and nobody bows. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.
On the flip side, we were lucky to have Depeche Mode
Russian Artwork that was moved to Memento Park
Can you see Doug? He is as tall as the statue's calf. in town while we were there, and we went to their concert. This band originates from the '80's, and we were eagerly looking forward to turning the clock back...er, 20+ years. But, I have to admit that these guys keep writing new material, and have good music from 30 years to draw upon. We were amazed how many fans knew all the words (in English, notable in a place where English is not spoken all that much). And the band put on a great show with the lead singer dancing around the entire time. These guys aren't an 80's band...they're a band!
In the end, I'm not sure what we expected to find in Budapest. We knew it wouldn't be like Vienna.
But like Vienna, there are quite a lot of fantastic historical sites to visit. But, unlike Vienna, there is still what can only be described as a “dark cloud” hanging over the city (even when the skies were clear) that felt like the shadow from an oppresive recent past. But, underneath that dark cloud is a bustling modern(izing) city. One of the local shopping malls looked like any mall you might find in America, complete with TGIFriday's.
This was perhaps the most surprising aspect: that there were places in Budapest that could be mistaken for anywhere in the US. I'm sure many travelers would wish that gravitation toward the modern and typical would stop, but that would be selfish and unrealistic. Character will be traded for convenience, but how much is ultimately up to the Hungarians. They've still got a lot up their sleeves.
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Ali
non-member comment
Babababababaaa
"Hi, yes I'm afraid Suleiman is here and yes that it about a hundred thousand hungry armed Ottomans with him. But hey, I brought you roses!" I'm going to change my name to Gul Baba, I just love the sound of it. Now can you explain to me how Dervishes don't get dizzy? I'm mystified.