REFECTIONS ON BUDAPEST

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My thoughts and feelings towards Budapest are very mixed. Let me start by saying I think I had over romantized the city. Everything we had read and or heard about Budapest said how beautiful it was and how much it was the Paris of Eastern/Central Europe. What wasn’t mentioned was anything the resembled the truth of Budapest. It is a beautiful city in places, of course the food is amazing but it is not the Paris of Eastern, Central or any other part of Paris. I am not saying that it was a mistake to come here, because it wasn’t. I just wish I would have known the truth about the city, my mind set would have been quite different.

When we went to Bangkok, I knew what to expect, the travel guides did not hide the truth of the City. The Frommer’s guide while pointing out some aspects of the darker side of Budapest, in no way painted an accurate picture of what you should expect upon your visit. We will come back at some point, I believe the city has tremendous potential, but there needs to be some pretty significant attitude changes on how they treat tourists, even tourists from their own Country.

That all being said, the following is my perception of Budapest, I am not being critical, but rather trying to paint an accurate picture of what a visitor should expect.

When visiting there are a few things one should keep in mind 1) 60% of the city was destroyed during WWII, that takes time to recover from and they are still rebuilding and renovating 2) after the war, they were ruled by a very oppressive communist regime. This I think helps explain the trying to make a buck anyway you can and the undercurrent of corruption. 3) It is an easy city to navigate by foot or transit (in fact the transit will get you anywhere you want to go easily once you figure it out (directions are not very helpful at time) 4) not knowing Hungarian is not really an issue as it seems most everyone speaks some English. 5) Hungary is not a first world country; it is clearly a second world country still trying to find its place in the European Union. 6) There is a wide disparity between those that have and those that do not; there is a significant homeless population. Finally, it is very much still on the backpacker circuit and a party town. Hostels abound and party going Euro Trash and American Hipster backpackers abound, they are all about the party not the culture.

Once you have the above clearly in mind, you can enjoy Budapest for what it is. A very old city with lots of history and cultural to absorb. There are museums a plenty and numerous cultural events and it is possibly one of the cheapest cities to attend the opera at, they have tickets as low as 2 Euros, which is about $5. There are high rent areas, completely renovated areas and numerous places that are and will be under construction for quite some time to come.

The most important trait to have in Budapest is perseverance. The culture is about making money, they are not trying to rip you off, but they up sell where ever possible and don’t make it easy to get what you really want. They will tell you they are out of something less expensive so you order something at a higher price, but if you push them, you will get what you want because they aren’t really out they just want more of your money.

My biggest disappointment is of course was the thermal baths; it was just such a racket and not at all what they publicize. They put out multipage brochures for tourists and others advertising the glories and wonders of the thermal baths, but don’t let the marketing scheme fool you, all of the big ones are just a big party place and yet another way to take your money. This is true regardless if your Hungarian or from someplace else. My suggestion and what we will do in the future, is dedicate a day to attending one of the smaller less popular facilities. This way you can navigate your way through the maze and hopefully have a more enjoyable experience.

While the spas may have disappointed, the food did not. It was everything we hoped it would be and more. There wasn’t really a bad dish to be had, yes more raw vegetables would be nice, but overall it is a great city for food. However, if you have gluten issues, are a vegetarian or worse a vegan, than you will not do well here. Almost everything is in some way touched by meat and gluten abounds, noodles, dumplings, spetzle, pastries, the list goes on. Vegetarians would fare better than vegans, but it would be difficult. Vegans, you might as well just give up, it is in no way possible to stay true to a vegan diet. That actually holds true for most of Europe not just Budapest.

There are many improvements that could be made in the City, not structural they are clearly working on that, but they could make things a bit easier for people to enjoy and learn about their culture and history. The museums, while have many interesting things, are not easily navigated and not overly informative. It is as if they need to hire better curators to step up the preservation of their culture and museum artifacts.

I fear that they may in fact lose their identity, the young seem to be trying so hard to be American, how they dress, how they look, what they eat. The number of McDonald’s, Burger Kings and KFC in the city were insane. Columbia Sportswear was a major sponsor of one of the children’s parks along the Children’s railway museum route and don’t even get me started about Starbucks. The corporate mass media and marketing of American corporations is all that is bad about America. In my humble opinion, it is no wonder that everyone thinks Americans are rich, when all the American companies promote that in their marketing.

A note on the Budapest card it is worth the price just for the transportation aspect. You do get into a few museums at no extra charge and there are some decent discounts on other sites and attractions, but the real value is the transportation, they are very serious about monitoring if you paid or not. There are 2 to 4 inspectors at most stops, sometimes they are on the train, sometimes they are at the exit, and the fines are huge. It does seem if they would just make the entrance more like Paris, London and New York (turn styles that don’t let you in without a token or ticket) that it would be more efficient and perhaps less costly.

Conclusion: Budapest is definitely worth going, you just need to know what to expect. 4 nights and 3 full days are probably sufficient for your initial visit. More than that could probably just overwhelm you and exhaust you.

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