A COUNTRY IN FLUX

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Random Musings

First, let me end your suspense about our run in with the local ladies and young men of the night. Evidently our hotel is in the Times Square of Budapest (not the new cleaned up Disney version of Times Square, but the real seedy Times Square, pre Bloomberg). When we came up from the metro from dinner last night, I wanted to see if I could access the ATM, I could not figure out how to open the door, but this woman knew the trick. I thanked her and we walked on. Next thing we know we keep hearing the word sex, you want sex, we laughed and said no thank you. Then 3 seconds later a lovely toothless woman approached us asking the same simple question Sex? Sex? Again we politely just said no. We then turned the corner and lined up against the wall were 3 more women and one young man all waiting to server your sexual needs. We just walked on to the hotel. Later when Jerry was out having his before bed smoke, the same toothless woman approached inquiring if he wanted Sex, he said no, this time she said why not, so he just said I am tired and going to be so no sex tonight thank you.

The hotel is not seedy; it is very nice, it just happens to be in an interesting neighborhood. I titled my entry as I did, because Hungary is truly a country in flux. Budapest was heavily bombed during WW II and then suffered under a long reign of Communism. You can still see the war damage all around, as the Soviet government was terribly concerned about rebuilding the Country.

I don’t know about the rest of the country, but Budapest is a city of extremes. There are homeless everywhere, just like Portland, but there are also expansive shopping districts and they are rebuilding everywhere and trying very hard to do so in a green and sustainable fashion. The metro is a good example, it is efficient, but not very easy to understand, the line 1 and 3 cars are very old, the line 2 cars more updated, none of them heated or air conditioned. The trams are a bet more modern, but again no AC. The buses range from new and efficient and AC to very old. The transit system is expansive and you can get anywhere you need to using it. However, there are cars everywhere and traffic is horrible.

The people, I have been trying out how to describe them. First, again it is a fairly white population but certainly more ethnic people than Austria. While there is a lot of Hungarian spoken, it seems everyone knows some English, even in the Jewish Bakery in the heart of the Jewish Quarter. There is also a lot of Russian being spoken, and they don’t appear to be tourists. The men range from the older traditional Hungarians, not caring about appearance and steeped in tradition, to the young Portland like hipsters or the for lack of a better work “Twinkie Boys” )if you don’t know what that is ask your gay male friends). But what I notice most about the men is the machismo, but not in the American Macho way, they are very body oriented, like to work out and make sure their clothes fit so you know they do so, they check women out like construction workers (on on escalator I was standing behind a women dressed in a very tight short red dress, stiletto pumps and a leather jack, all the guys going on the down escalator almost snapped their heads of turning around to check her out). Yet even these testosterone filled men, follow the European tradition of the hello kiss on each check to with their buddies. The women are even harder to figure out, the majority of them appear to dress conservatively, the older women being more traditionally, but then you have some that dressed, well like they should be on that Jersey reality show.

The Hungarian people are friendly for the most part, especially if they are in the tourism industry, but there is also the element like at the train station, rip you off any way they can. My best comparison is this, it is a mix of Palermo Italy (meaning in a rundown state, but at least they are changing that) with a dash of New York, and a lot of Portland. Budapest is very much a European Portland, with more history and more people. It is like the older generation still remembers the harshness of communism and respects the freedoms they now have and the younger people seem to have no concept of what their country has been in the recent or distant past and try too hard to be like young Americans (and for the most part that is not a model I would recommend on anyone). What Budapest is not, in my humble opinion, is the Paris of Eastern Europe, it might have that potential, but from what we have seen there is really zero comparison to Paris. It is a crossroads of Europe for sure, and in 5 years if they keep pace with their current construction it will be a much different city then it is now.

Let me further explain my Palermo comparison. The first trip that Jerry and I ever took together was London, Paris and two weeks in Italy. We both thought that visiting Sicily would be a nice experience. We were very wrong. While the food was great, the city itself was run down with little attempt to restore (mainly because of the Mafia, which they deny exists) it was dirty and the people just seemed angry. We hated it so much we left an entire day early. So Budapest has a bit of Palermo feel to it only in that it is run down (but being renovated) and the population does seem a bit unhappy, but that is probably to be expected when you are one of the poorer countries in the EU. The major difference between Budapest and Palermo is that we would come back here, I am not sure we will ever go back to Palermo.

Final thoughts for now on overall impressions of Budapest. It is still a huge backpacker party town. There are more hostels here than other places we have been, many bars are very oriented towards the young crowd and there is a thriving late night life here. In addition, the sex business is alive and well, not only our neighbor working girls and boys, but sex shops throughout the city. Prostitution is legal here, but does not appear to be very regulated.

Buda

Most of our day was on the Buda side of Budapest. We first took a quick stroll through the Jewish Quarter, which we are in the heart of, and went to a specific Jewish bakery where we had some breakfast. Don’t ask me what it was, I didn’t have my notebook so couldn’t write it down, I do know what we both had was good and the espresso strong. From there we walked to the Synagogue, it is the largest one in Europe, the largest on in the world is in New York. Now, I have not seen many Synagogues in my life, but from the outside this one rivaled any Catholic Cathedral, Muslim Mossc, etc. From there we took a brief metro trip to the Elizabeth Bridge and walked over the Danube, we finally saw it and to Ruda’s. Ruda’s is the second oldest thermal bath in Budapest. Our plan was to make massage reservations for later in the day and then soak in the healing mineral waters. The greeter was very nice and assured us that no reservations were needed just come back when we were ready and we would get our massage appointment then.

So off we went to the base of Castle Hill. On top of the hill was the site of the Palace where for centuries Buda was ruled from. However, over the years it was very much destroyed especially during WW 1 and WW II. It has now been rebuilt but some of the original building is still present. There is a funicular at the base so you don’t have to walk up the hill, but the lines are long and it costs 1000 Huf for a one way ticket. You can get to the same spot by taking a city but up, and with your Budapest Card, there is no cost. We took the bus.

When we got to the top and got off the bus we both let out a collective groan, we found the tourists, of course we are tourists as well, but who wants to be lost in a sea of tourists. We only had one museum we were interested in today and that Budapest History Museum which is located in parts of the palace and contains some of the original rooms. This museum was free with our Budapest card (well ok it was included with the cost of what we paid for the card). Amazingly there was no line for this museum and it wasn’t very crowded once we got in, I think many of them went to the Hungarian National Museum (which is full of Hungarian Art). In any event we went in showed our card and got our map, which isn’t very helpful by the way. We also paid 800 forint for a photo card, which allows you to take all the pictures you want without flash. We could have paid another 1800 forint for an audio guide but opted out. (I am sure you have figured out by now, that while the museum entrance was included with the Budapest card, they get you with all the extras).

A word of caution when you first enter, you may think you have made a mistake, the first floor is typically reserved for special exhibits and has some 14^th and 15^th century sculptures, of which you have no idea what you’re looking at unless you purchased the audio guide. But stay the course all the good stuff is on the ground floor and in the cellar. This is where the parts of the original palace remain. You can go to the cellar, the steps to the old tower, a garden area and the original chapel. This part is very interesting and worth seeing.

While we were in the museum, another thunder and lightning storm came in. It rained pretty hard. We decided to make some changes to our schedule and skip a couple of places we had plan on seeing up on castle hill. We instead decided to spend the rest of the day at the thermal baths I mentioned earlier. The good thing about the rain, it cleared all the tourists out, I guess they will melt if they get wet. When we exited the museum, it really wasn’t raining, more a good Portland Drizzle, so us being the hardy Oregonians, braved the weather and made our way back down the hill via the short bus (not that kind of short bus) just a small city bus to navigate the hills and narrow roads. Not that there weren’t hundreds of huge tour buses all over the hill.

Before I move on, you could easily spend the entire day on castle hill. There are several museums, all included with the Budapest Card, a church and some Jewish sites as well. We just hit our one museum a day limit and opted for some relaxation.

Thermal Bath Attempt 1

We made our way back to Ruda’s and went to the cashier to make our appointments and buy our tickets. What I noticed, but Jerry did not, was that there seemed to be a large number of young men everywhere. Ruda’s is men only most days and this was one of those days. Since it is written about in the travel book, I didn’t think it was that kind of a bath house, and for the most part it really isn’t, but today, I just got a strange vibe based upon who I saw there. Not to worry, we never made it in. We couldn’t get massages until 5:30 and we still needed to pick up our laundry before 6. It also took like 30 minutes just to get that part booked, so we just left and decided to let our hotel books us in to one of the two places they have a relationship with. We were looking forward to Ruda’s because it is the second oldest thermal bath in the city and is done in the Turkish style. We remember fondly our time in the Turkish bath in Seville and were hoping for a repeat experience, but it was not to be today.

From there we headed to get our laundry. We hopped on the 18 tram to take us to the 2 metro, when we got to the transfer point; it took us 20 minutes to find the metro. Like I said, they are not good with transit signs here and you really just need to know where it is, or ask like a stupid tourist. After finally finding the metro entrance we easily made our way back to the Laundromat and picked up our laundry. It was all nicely washed, folded and bagged wafting for us. We then took a tram back to the hotel.

Once back the hotel we did an itinerary revamp so we could fit in a different thermal bath on Saturday. Then we went to the lobby to have them make the appointments. They didn’t’ have the time slot we wanted, but what they did have we could easily make work. So we will end our sighting seeing day with a nice soak in the healing thermal waters and an hour long massage,

However, my feet are now beyond hope and it is time for serious foot care. Earlier in the day we had walked by a Thai Massage place that did foot massage, it was only 3 blocks from our hotel. I went there and had an hour of painful bliss. I say painful bliss, because Thai massages tend to be a bit rough, but in a good way. How such a small person can have so much strength in their small hands amazes me. Now it was not near as good as the ones I have had in Thailand, but it did to wonders for my feet.

Dinner Snag

As I walked back to the hotel I notice that there seem to be a growing number of police. Again, we are staying in an area that is very youth oriented and there apparently are a lot of clubs in the area. I didn’t pay much attention and just went to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We had reservations already, and it was suppose to be for a hard to find place with good traditional Magyar food. When we got there, it was not to be. Not even the description of the outside resembled the book. When we were seated, I took one look at the mojito menu and new this was not the place for us. Now if we were in Cuba we would have loved it. But I am not sure I want to eat Cuban food in Hungary, especially at a bar that says its Hemmingway’s favorite bar, which I know for a fact is not true as one of those bars is in Key West, the others are pretty much all in Spain.

So we left went back to the Hotel and asked them for a recommendation. Turned out to be a perfect choice for us. It was 1 bock from the hotel and was also a Jazz supper club serving traditional Hungarian Fair. It was great. The food was simple but very tasty and the Jazz Standards were a huge added bonus. They even sang our wedding song Night and day. It was fun listening to them sing because while they sang in English a few of the words just didn’t’ come out the same way. It was very enjoyable and again, close to our Hotel, which pointed out in my Vienna blog, alway seems to be the case that often the best places are the closest to where we are staying.

As we walked to the first restaurant the police presence had grown, but they time we left the second restaurant they were shipping them in in vans. Even the hotel now had a security guard and the front door was locked, you had to be buzzed in. The working girls (no boys tonight) were out in force, so it appears it might be a wild Friday night in Budapest. Not for us, Jerry is already snoring as I write this entry.

Tomorrow we have a full day, but with much built in flexibility and a wonderful relaxing time at the thermal bath.

Today’s Food

Breakfast – Kosher Jewish Pastry at the last Jewish sweet pastry shop in Budapest

Dinner at the Lado Café: Jerry – Green Salad and Pork medallions with ratatouille (doesn’t sound Hungarian but the ratatouille was full of wonderful Hungarian Paprika. Chris – Garlic Cream Soup (loaded with garlic) Grilled steak with a fantastic green peppercorn sauce)

Opted out of dessert but id have a nice Hungarian Rosé with dinner (2011 Bock Villáangi Rosé).

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Photos

Fokhagymakremleves fuzszeres semlekockakkal
Garlic Soup

Magyaros Szuzeremek
Pork Medallions