We arrived in Budapest from Vienna, by Austrian railways train. which Ive said before are excellent. (If yours was late, that was my fault. they held it up for me)
Egress was the opposite of access, simple and painless. Right away, although somewhat ornate, the rail station was definitely shabby, exit to the city, steps. But we were waved up to the far left (facing out) round the side of the reception hall to a perfectly flat exit.
Outside there’s the usual pile of taxis, theres usually someone in control who waves a taxi of a particular shape or size over to you, pile in tell him where you’re going and take off.
Of course you wonder why he laughs. It’s a good thing he says there is only the one hotel with that name. ‘My friend’, and he waves at one taxi. ‘They’re away to find, one of a well known chain of which there are four of them in the city and they don’t know which one’.
Well we launch into the traffic which is the same everywhere which is strange on the wrong side of the road, keep an eye on whats going on as we speed to the hotel and get dumped at the front door. it looks very ornate and imposing. as soon as we get into it’s square and thoroughly modern.
And that seems like a reasonably accurate description of Budapest and Hungary in general. The oscillation between the old and the new and their wary coexistence.
Given where they’ve been as partners in an empire, not only does Hungary have to adjust where they’ve been and what they’ve come through but where they are going and what they hope to achieve. Future trouble in Budapest doesn’t look too unlikely at all.
Right time for a pint. The hotel is listed as disabled access, the front door has a huge step and a revolving door. . Someone flings open. a side door and a large wooden ramp is carried out, dropped on the pavement and i’m waved on to that. its unusable if anythings parked in the street as theres nowhere to turn if you stick to the ramp, you’re straight into the side of the parked vehicle. Or the road.
We dispensed with the ramp, and lifted the scooter in and out. It was less trouble.
Out of the hotel and I turned right. on down towards the main shopping area. we were on the verge of the jewish quarter and passed the facade of a an old synagogue, (Pic)
Further on, down towards the city centre , on the same side and there’s the main working synagogue, always a young crowd milling about. Conspicuously Armed police standing around, pretending not to watch. and if you sit for a bit you can see the unconspicuous security. Which now seems to be the norm all over continental Europe.
Budapest reminded me of a soup plate, it’s in the flat bit and surrounded by hills and you can usually work out where you are by what you can see around you. Most of the big statuey stuff have ben left there by the Russians.
We did find a junk shop with interesting bits, I knew what I was looking for, but the response when I asked about a certain item convinced me staying around any longer was a waste of time.
Strange, maybe I’d inadvertently stumbled into someone’s front room. Or possibly the past wasn’t that far back.
We did find a blues Bar, they were in the process of setting it up. I’m now convinced they played whatever the patron who came in wanted to hear.
Keb Mo. Chickenshack. Peter Green. No problem sir. The ones who came in behind me got Kylie and ‘I should be so lucky’, if it was so desired.
There was a thing called a ‘ruined bar’ where a selection of bars and wine bars all set up under one roof in a previously abandoned building. I’m sure it’s described as chic in some circles, but it’s ragged. The gentleman’s facilities (forget about disabled access) the ‘gents’, one of them, was honking. Door open, up the step and in. Do your thing and leave.
Obviously a young persons bar I half expected to see rats nibbling my laces as I was having a wee. (Cf a place known as ‘The Pound’ Belfast in the 70s) The Docs are now replaced with Timberlands. One of the more noticeable things about this place, allied with the obvious fondness for graffiti and painting or carving your name everywhere, there was a corner with extreme right wing, patches, slogans and stickers.
Maybe the socialists stick to the other end.
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Budapest seems like a more ragged and tatty Prague. Im not sure which part of Buda or Pest we were in. But it was warmer than Vienna.
“Whats the river’?
‘Danube, idiot”
‘Its a funny colour’.
What looked to be the main drag, smooth pavements, nice dropped kerbs. zebra crossings again, make sure the cars stop before you go. and on the other side watch out for the cycle lane. Because where you get a cycle lane which shares the pavement theres no kerb or bump as you get to the other side the road. Just keep an eye out for cyclists, as they should for you.
Budapest doesn’t seem to be a massively bicycle friendly city. Then you realise why, its surrounded by hills.
Now theres not much to say about Budapest its smooth doable, its got everything. Bars, shops, theres a chain of what I can only describe as angel and demon bars which provide cheap beer. and plays out 70s rock. Sabbath, Free, Deep purple, Rainbow, and the young people at the next table think your’e some sort of idiot savant. Spotting the tune in the first three bars..
Bus tour, get a sense of the size and scope of the place. Its all very sort of nice. Buildings churches and architecture. The Russian involvement is rarely mentioned apart from the statue of whatever it is on the hill. The liberty statue
Once you’ve had that pointed out, you can see it from wherever you are in Budapest. It shares that bit of the hill with a bishop who was tossed off it. (I should rephrase that)
Famous bishop, big story. The runs go back and across the riverand up the hill. Believe me even the Americans accept its a hill, theres the castle.
Hooray we’re back at cobblestones again, electric vehicles, tourists, tours and it looks very pretty.
OK theres the castle, if its your thing. its not going anywhere any time soon.
Theres a WW1 centenary exhibition at the Varkert Bazar down the hill from the castle. Its across the road from where the tour buses stop. Two huge soldiers and a massive, FN Browning handgun at the entrance
Hungary lost 660,000 in that conflict. Inside fully accessible and a very interesting non allied take on WW1. They’re kind of rude about our royal family, almost like we were the aggressors in that particular conflict. But its extremely well put together. i’ve no idea what it costs, but i’m sure it costs money.
I’m not saying its biased or anything, what I’m saying is that it gives a different perspective. Which is fascinating.
OK you’re not into museums. I get that, we’ll thats not true. I don’t.
Back on the bus, theres a bit of a traffic jam and there’s the source. A stuffed van, parked, empty, with a worryingly massive scuff on the side of the transit at head height on a bicycle.
The cops arrive and block the bridge and the roads, some poor soul has had it. They don’t usually block the road for a shunt, nothing would be moving. Back into town and we stop for food and beer. Budapest is I think cheaper than Prague, a lot cheaper (and warmer) than Vienna.
Lot of young people milling around the place, everyone seems perfectly civilised. I think we were on Kozell (like Prague) perfectly acceptable. Food I suppose is alright Three countries and the best meal I had was in Prague Turkey schnitzel and Russian potato salad.
The Hungarian stuff was perfectly unmemorable. including the breakfasts, Coffee, toast, marmalade and a collection of cooked meats.
We did stop in an Italian place. on the route back to the hotel. Ordered Calazones (Which weren’t half as good as those in Londonderry) ediblesh , Hungarian wine. That was ok too.
Disabled loo. Yes yes, (Now everywhere else was fine) Down two flights of stairs and locked. she managed to pull the door handle off. We left it there in lieu of a tip.
A seriously weird place. one of the staff spotted my wristband its a charity thing, ancient, usually grey, but as I had just crept out of the shower it was Red, grey and green. Orban colours, the right wing guy running Hungary.
He was hustled off, ‘Any problem’ I asked.
‘No, no, no no, very good’ and we got more Hungarian wine and finished off our calzone.
back to the hotel, for a couple of drinks we had an early start for the airport the next morning.
ironside Travel 