You won’t get a much sharper contrast in European cities than the first three stops of my trip. This was slightly intentional, because one of my favorite parts of travelling is being able to quickly compare and contrast cultures. It has been incredible to go from the posh and grand city of Paris, to the naturally beautiful Zurich right into the ancient Budapest on the banks of the Danube and it’s volatile history.
For those who want to read more about happy travels, sun filled beaches and the local food and drink, I suggest ignoring the starred section at the end of this post, as it could be a bit dark, but it would be unfair to leave out the thrilling aspect of learning about the history of Budapest.
Ok, on to the fun parts of Budapest. I was again very fortunate to have a great place to stay and personal tour guides. It helped on so many levels, whether it was interpreting Hungarian, planning a day, getting around town, finding the right places to eat, cleaning my clothes, having a traditional Hungarian dinner cooked for me, and most importantly, having a great place to sleep in a perfect location.
A couple months ago, on a random night out in London, I met Krisztina and Gabi. Kriszti is a fashion designer and artist who lives in the hills on the outskirts of the city. Gabi works in sales and lives just blocks from the Danube and Parliament, which is a stunningly beautiful building. They’re both incredibly friendly and graciously offered to host me if I ever made the trip to Budapest. So after hearing many positive reviews of Budapest from various friends, I made sure that it made its way into my August itinerary.
Upon arriving, we went to a very traditional Hungarian restaurant for lunch, where my meal consisted of a peeled potato covered in spinach, and two pancakes with fillings, one with mushroom and chicken and the other with apples. It was delicious. Later that evening we went out for drinks to a neat outdoor place overlooking one of the main train stations and intersections. A couple of Gabi and Kriszti’s friends met us out. I wouldn’t be able to spell their names, but they were really nice guys, just a year or two younger than me. Ironically, one of the first topics with them was Michael Jordan’s minor league baseball career. It was so odd, I haven’t even thought of that in many years and here it comes up twice in conversation in two days, in an Eastern European nation. Crazy. Later that night, we went to an island on the Danube where there is some great nightlife. The places were primarily outdoors and on the banks of the river, making for a cool setting.
The next day, I was on my own, while my hosts were working. So I took the underground out to a park with a couple museums and bath houses. The bath houses are very popular in Budapest. Basically they’re more elegant swimming pools, usually situated in a very cool old building and the actual pools are surrounded by stone sculptures. Many of the bath houses have been around for a very long time and are kept unchanged over the decades. It’s a very relaxing environment and a great way to start my day.
Afterwards, I walked to Heroes Square, full of monuments to the history of Hungary (the bright parts). The square is so scenic that it was left untouched by the occupying regimes. The square was at the northeast end of Andrassy st, walking down the street takes you past many embassies, museums, and other great sights.
We went out again that evening, and met up with one of their other friends, who is an advisor to the president of the European Union. So that led to some very interesting conversations about the past and current political climate in Hungary and the EU. My last day in Budapest included a trip to Statue Park (described below) and a night hike around the city.
Right now, I’m on a train to Vienna. There was a slight change of plans as one of the two people who was going to drive with me up to Vienna, has been sick, so I had to make the journey on my own. The train is very crowded, so it’s not quite as relaxing as my previous journeys. However, it’s just a 3 hour trip to the Austrian capital, so it’s no big deal. As much as I want to catch a quick nap, I’ll probably take a pass given some of the dodgy characters in my immediate vicinity. When I got to the train station in Budapest a couple days ago, I overheard two people talking to a policeman about their bags being stolen, and I’ll be cautious to avoid the same fate.
As I said in my last post, I’m starting a period of intense travelling. I will not spend consecutive nights in the same place for the next 8 days. Starting with spending last night in Budapest, my next 7 nights will be spent in Vienna Austria, Prague Czech Republic, Munich Germany, on a train between Munich and Venice Italy, then in Venice Italy, Milan Italy, and on a boat between Athens and Chania.
I uploaded my Zurich and Budapest photos. I didn’t get time to label them and I think unlabelled pictures will be the norm going forward. It just takes too long to load them onto Flickr and I rarely have time to do even that, let alone label them.
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I will try my best to accurately portray the history of Budapest and Hungary. Admittedly, I was relatively unaware of the depth of Budapest’s long and oppressed history. I knew that Hungary had fallen into the hands of the Nazis of Germany and the Communists of the Soviet Union. I didn’t realize that it had been less than 20 years that Hungary has been a democratic society. Due to this fact, there is a lot to be learned and the landscape and mentalities of the people are well versed in the dark past of the land.
I had some great conversations with my Hungarian hosts and their friends. One interesting concept is how a city and a nation handles emerging from a very dark past. The main decision is whether you destroy the relics of the past to try to erase the bad memories, or whether you retain it to help remember the accomplishments of emerging from the dark days and even to mock your former oppressors. Budapest chose the latter and it was interesting for a foreigner like myself to become educated as much as possible over a short period of time.
No place was more chilling than the House of Terror. This was nothing like the tourist trap haunted houses you find in many European cities, it was the real thing, the home address of the dark history of Budapest.
There are two main dark and bloody periods in Hungary’s past. Being that Budapest is the capital city, the fascist and communist regimes, both foreign and home grown, setup shop on Andrassy street, the main drag in Budapest. The exact address is 60 Andrassy and a visit to the museum was nothing shy of chilling. Upon entering, there is a background of Soviet and German music that sets the atmosphere immediately at a very dark and serious sense. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed, so I can only describe the inside. An old Soviet tank is in the main lobby of the building, with a wall detailing all the names of those who were murdered inside the house. Then the first half of the tour winds through the upper levels with offices and broad stories of the inhabitants.
The second half of the tour is where it gets downright scary. After going through a couple of the upper level rooms and learning about the history in well lit rooms with more of a history book account of things, it was time for the elevator to the basement. I didn’t know this was coming, which helped set the intense atmosphere, but we were led into a glass elevator to head to the basement. It was bright until the doors shut, at which time the lights went out and a television in the elevator came on. It was of an old man giving a detailed first hand account about how prisoners lived their last moments before being hung in the basement. The combination of my slight case of claustorphobia and the context of the words, made for an absolutely freaky environment.
Once the elevator reached the basement, we were released into an area of great horror. The below ground level contained the prison cells and torture rooms, complete with actual artifacts. The audio guide described the methods and processes used to torture and kill the Hungarians. It was definitely not a museum for the light hearted, but a great experience all the same.
The second most memorable site was the Statue Park out in the suburbs of Budapest. Over the years of occupation, many monuments were constructed around the city commemorating the “great friendships” created by the nazi and communist foreigners who controlled Budapest. In 1989 when Hungary achieved a democratic state, they were still left with a city littered with these statues. They decided to take them down and put them all in a park for the locals and visitors to see. Fortunately I had an interpreter to help me with understanding what some of the inscriptions said. Most of them were along the lines of “We are so grateful for the Soviets for making our life great” or “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”. Since those days are long in the past, the park serves the purpose of mocking the dictators of the past.
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