Eurotrip: Budapest

I arrived to the site of snow in the lovely city of Budapest. I got off the plane in my Spain garb of just my sweatshirt, one pair of pants and one shirt under my sweatshirt. That my friends was the mistake of my life. We had to walk on the tarmac to the terminal and it was literally freezing at 0’C. 

Now I was rather excited to get to Hungary because they don’t use the Euro, they use the Hungarian Forint! Since I’m a currency freak I was really looking forward to using a new currency and bringing some of it home. So I made for the cash machine and… my card was declined. I started freaking out! I went to the exchange desk to see if maybe it was the machine. Nope. It was my card. So I had a long freak out moment then dug around my purse and found 10 Euros. I figured all I need to do is get to city centre and Martin’s house and I can sort it out. So I got my 10 Euros changed into 2,305 Forints. Now $10 is about 2166 Forints for easier conversions.

350 Forints went right to my ticket to city centre. I had about 7 hours before I met up with my host Martin. So it gave me time to see some of Budapest. But let me tell you since I wasn’t bundled up and had my 10 Kilo pack on me it wasn’t that much of a fun day. I was cold and counting down the hours till I met up with Martin. Plus on top of all that I was afraid I wasn’t going to have a bank card for the rest of my visit. But I still managed to have a good walk about and a laugh. Check out these garbage cans. One for plastic, one for paper, one for cans and one for…. Dog poop!

My camera battery was also low so I had to pick and choose what it was that I wanted to take pictures of that first day. So I really didn't take a lot after all I had three more days before I left and that was plenty of time to go back and take pictures. So I just marvelled at the fact that I was in Hungary!! Before I left when I was talking about where I was going on my trip while at work one of the girls I work with didn’t know where Budapest was so when I finally arrived here thinking about that made it feel like and even more foreign land. Before when I’d travelled places I knew enough Spanish to get me places and sort of read signs. Italian wasn’t too hard to get the general idea of. And I picked up French pretty good. But Hungarian… well what a new thing that was. I had seen Lenka type in Czech a couple of times and they have all those crazy accents over letters and Hungarian looked a lot like that. So pretty much I was like a fish out of water language wise. As scary as it was it was rather exciting to be somewhere so new.

^The Little Prince^

I walked across the Chain bridge

And went to met Martin and his family. He was nice enough to let me use his internet so I could sort out my bank card. Then he took me and his daughter up to the citadel so I could get some pictures and see the city by night. It was snowy and a tad over cast so that’s why they aren’t too clear but they still look stunning.

The next day I had to be up early since Martin and his girlfriend were leaving for work around 9. This was good motivation for me to get my butt up and go see the city! Martin was taking the tram somewhere so we were headed in the same direction and he helped me buy a 72 hour transport pass for Budapest. And boy was I glad I did.

You see Budapest was cold. No colder then what I normally deal with but it was a dry cold! And it made me freeze to the bone so when I started getting really cold I would hop on a tram or a bus and ride about till I warmed up. And mind you I had on an undershirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, and my winter jacket plus leggings under my pants and I still froze. The coldest it got while I was there was -2’C (28.4’F) but it felt WAY colder! 

I’ll add this little note of the fact that I still was without a working debit card there for I packed my water bottle and power bars to stave off most of my hunger. But I was in Budapest so I didn’t mind.

So before I get into the what’s what of Budapest le me give you a bit of history!! God I just adore history, so bare with me! Maybe before we get to history actually I’ll give you a quick geography lessons. You see Budapest is bisected by the Danube. The west bank is Buda and the east Pest. Buda has the citadel and the castle. Pest has pretty much everything else. I liked Buda best because when you went to the castle you could see everything….

How old is Budapest you ask? Well  there’s a lot of old things there but the oldest settlement found dates back to the Stone Age. Bronze Age sites have also been found. There are also Roman influences, te Roman base of Aquincum, separated into civilian and military districts, was the capital of the province ofz Pannonia and flourished during the second half of the 2nd century BC. Then came the Huns in the 5th century AD and set up a new kingdom in he area that is now Hungary. Then in 1000 Stephen the King of Hungary set up a feudal state and introduced Christianity. With this “more civilized” state set up traders from central and west Europe settled in Buda and Pest. n 1241-42 Mongols stormed the Danube towns of Buda and Pest.  A few years later the construction of the Castle of Buda was completed. The royal court moved to Buda in 1347 again, when work was begun to expand the fortification into a palace in contemporary Gothic style. From then on Buda became a royal town, while Pest developed into a prosperous trading centre. In 1526 the Turks took Buda and Pest. Under Sultan Süleyman I (the Magnificent) many churches were converted into mosques, fine bath-houses constructed and defensive works modernized. Buda became the seat of a Grand Vizier. In 1686 Charles of Lorraine took over Óbuda, Buda and Pest for the House of Habsburg. In 1848-49 there was a civil revolution led by liberal nobles. The Chain Bridge was opened in 1849, with the aim of helping Óbuda, Buda and Pest to merge more quickly. Drum roll please…. of Pest, Buda and Óbuda  were finally united in 1872. To me 1872 doesn’t seem all that long ago in the grand scheme of things, that was also the same year the Ulysses S. Grant was elected. When the three settlements united they became the capital city of Hungary and started the cities golden age. After the First World War Budapest suffered economically. During the Second World War Budapest became a front-line town and suffered severe damage, especially in the castle quarter where units of the German army were barricaded in. From February 13th 1945 onwards Soviet troops controlled the whole of Budapest and thereafter it was ruled along strict Soviet lines. In the autumn of 1956 political turmoil and economic hardship fuelled popular uprisings which were savagely put down by Hungarian and Soviet forces. Martin told me that during the Second World War all the bridges were ruined and there was no way across the river but boats. To read about all the devastation of the World Wars made me wonder how the city still looked amazing and old. Well in the 60s and 70s there was tons of reconstruction as well as renovations and extensions to the underground. In 1989 there were huge political changes and the Iron Curtain on the Hungaro-Austrian border  was taken down. From then on tourism has increased and Budapest is now the great city that I saw.

Ahhh the brilliance that is Budapest both past and present! Now onto the fun stuff… the pictures!!

^St. Stephen's Basilica^

^Old tram^

^A bit of Parliament^

^Matthias Church^

^Mini Matthias and Big Matthias in one picture^

^Buda Castle^

^A super cool fountain at the Castle^

Hősök tere

The Opera House

Funny story about this opera Der Fliegende Hollander... I saw it about 3 years ago at the Met.

See isn’t it a gorgeous city! 

Now let me tell you about a little trek I made. There is an island park called Margaret Island. You hop off the tram in the middle of Margit Hid. When you cross the street you can catch a bus. I opted to walk since on the map I saw that there were ruins to see and don’t get me started on my fascination with ruins! So I walked.

And might I also point out that there were literally thousands of blackbirds in the trees at this one spot and they were all talking to each other and what a racket they made!

It was cool and a bit creepy all at once because there was only me around and it was snowy and quiet and then there was just all these blackbirds. Might I make a point that the blackbirds in Europe are a good deal bigger then those that we see here in America. Like they really look like they could eat your face and still be hungry.

Well after I had walked down the whole length of the island I was feeling a bit tired of walking so I found the bus stop and waited for a lift back to Margit Hid where I hopped on the tram and warmed up a bit.

Let me tell you a bit about the trams of Budapest. The ones of the 4 and 6 line are lovely and new and talk to you about what stop is next. The ones of nearly all the other lines are these old things and heat is hit or miss yet they had character of their own!

I did some more wandering of Budapest at night before heading back to Martin’s to warm up and go to be early. When I got back to my surprise I found that they were hosting another woman. Martin had mentioned that he was expecting another woman from Argentina, Corina. So it wasn’t that big of a shock. I was a little awkward at first but turns out she was really fantastic. We were McDonald’s Wifi buddies.

The next day was my last full day in Budapest, still I was without money. This morning I decided to splurge and get some bread and cheese at Spar spending a whopping 350 Forints. I set off to the Castle again because it was a clearer day then before.

^Fishermen's Bastion (Halászbástya) ^

It is only 100 years old. In medieval times, the fish market was nearby and the bastion was built to commemorate the fishermen who protected this part of the city.

^The Synagogue^

Check out this Market... I wish I had had cash on me... another time

I headed back to Martin’s early intending to go to sleep early so I could get up early and see the rest of the city before heading to the airport. Corina had mentioned that she wanted to go on a river cruise and Martin had looked up the details. As we headed for city centre I was excited because I had checked my email and had been told that my card was working. That as a matter of fact was a lie, it was still not working. But I was able to purchase my boat ticket with my credit card. At first I wasn’t sure how the cruise would be… it turned out to be really great. It was hard to really capture it with pictures… but I still tried

Before we went on our way home we went to this hipster bar. It was a condemned building and was due to be wrecked down but since it was an old building it was bought and transformed into this patchwork of rooms of different themes and it was pretty cool. I would totally make a bar like this.

After the bar Corina and I went to McDonalds again and I found out my card should work… so I chanced it and ordered a burger. It worked. And how ironic that I my first real meal in Hungary was at McDonalds. I did not order an American item I ordered the Rosztiburger. And damn was it good. I just had to take a picture…

There was bacon and cheese on top of the bun. Then the burger, and bacon and on the bottom there that was a potato patty.  I enjoyed it and was happy to know that at least my bank had that working even if my card wouldn’t work at a cash machine. Because when I travel I use my card strictly at ATMs so I don’t get slammed with fees so to have to use my credit card and bank card as well… credit cards was something I wasn’t a fan of. You see I think using the local currency is a sort of bonding experience with a country (even if it is the Euro) to buy things with foreign currency is something very unique. So I was rather depressed I had so few Forints to bring home. And what was even sadder was that I had only seen the coins and the 1000 bill.

Little did I know that my little moment of blabbering about currency on the cruise had caught Martin’s ear. You see when we got back to his flat later he pulled out his Hungarin Forints! Just look at how pretty they are!

And he also had a ton of other currencies… sadly I don’t quite recall where they are all from. But they’re still pretty to look at. And I got to touch them! It made me want to travel to places that didn’t use the Euro… maybe next trip. But just look at them!

^LOOK!! IT'S GOT A SEE THROUGH SPOT!!!!

My last day dawned bright, clear, and f***ing cold! But I had a few places I wanted to see. Mainly the Roman Ruins!!

See they were totally worth it. And it was off to the airport after that because I had a 15h00 flight to Brussels to catch. I was hoping to leave behind the freezing cold… and well that’s the next post.

Just a few more pretty pictures from my last morning in Budapest

Cheers,