Budapest

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Buda and Pest shape an awesome city divided by the Danube river. The first thing I thought when I saw the Danube was: "wow! it's huge!". The second thought (right away) was: "oh, but it is not blue...".
Why "The Blue Danube" waltz, then? who knows? maybe Strauss was color blind... haha.
The Danube banks are World Heritage Sites. The views from the Buda Castle quarter over the river, with the great Parliament, the bridges, the churches and the beautiful buildings on Pest side are just breathtaking. But of course, there are many other interesting places in the city...

I was there for a symposium and visited the city in the free time, mostly in the evenings. The first day I walked the Andrássy Boulevard and reached the Heroes Square, where I visited the Fine Arts Museum. There is a good collection of paintings from many dutch, italian, spanish and french painters and I enjoyed it very much. On Sunday morning, I walked around the Opera theater and visited St Stephen's Basilica, the largest church in Budapest. At that moment, there was a mass celebration (in hungarian or magyar, this is hungarian in hungarian). It was interesting that, even though I could not understand a single word, I could figure out what the priest was saying... . Then, running to the conference place... got a little lost in the metro. Actually, I like that feeling of being "a little lost", I mean... I knew (more or less) where I was in the city but did not understand a word of the signs and so I was doubting if should I take a direction or the other one, with people rushing around me... and adrenaline running inside my blood... and consequently, happily lost. Somebody explained me how to recognized the directions, actually it was pretty easy... . All the metro stations were super-clean, and some trains were very old; in fact, one of the metro lines, the yellow one, is the oldest one in Europe... although these trains are actually the nicest ones in Budapest, with a funny carousel music sounding at every stop.
The following day in the evening, I crossed Margaret Island, in the middle of the Danube and saw and gorgeous sunset over the hilly Buda, on the other side of the river. I came back in the night to see the iluminated bridges, palaces and churches... very nice!
But the biggest "wow" came with the opposite view, actually: the view of the flat Pest from the Fishermen's Bastion, at the top of the Buda hills. The Parliament, the Chain Bridge, St. Stephen's Basilica... .
The last day I visited Szecheny Thermal Baths. Budapest has many health and thermal spas: some very ancient, some very stylish. Szecheny is said to be the largest medicinal bath complex in Europe... the buildings are very nice and the pools with different temperatures, jacuzzi, saunas very very relaxing. I specially enjoyed the whirlpool... a ring-shaped pool with a current that made me laugh so much that everyone around me finished laughing... I almost drowned... haha.

Even in a short stay, I still felt a little of the comunist past of the city. This is specially easy to feel in the suburbs of the city... where buildings are not so awesome, let's say... not so Parisian-style, like those in the city center... . It is also kind of funny seeing old cars still running... only a few... maybe one percent or less... but still some. There are many other things about Budapest that are not in a map, that you need to feel yourself: food is very good and people are nice, very polite and very relaxed. They have something I would define like "dignity"... you may see homeless people but it is not easy to see beggars, for example. I remember an old lady selling flowers. It was in the night, it just rained and her poor dress was wet. She was walking with some flowers in her hands, stopped briefly in front of everyone, smiled and keep walking. I don't know... I felt she was very professional.

Hope I can come back some day!

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Comments

[DuDu]

WOW!
Hey JC Budapest looks so awesome, another one to my to-do list thanks to you. Looks like a real city, a city with character, alive not synthetic...I hope you know what I mean, am I mistaken?

[Karthik]

Color Blind???
I don't think Strauss is color blind...but I know for sure, the author of this blog is color blind!!! I have evidence from Smoky mountains!

[Juan Carlos]

haha... color blind? I saw colors in Smokies... green colors... hahaha

[Juan Carlos]

I know what you mean... Yes, it's a "real" non-synthetic city, very alive, with "alive people" inside, with its own "personality", so yes... add it to your list!