Budapest

Just to wrap up Pecs I should also mention the insane storm that rolled through the city in the early morning hours. The rain was so hard that it woke me up even with earplugs in. This was still before the thunder and lightning began. Once that started, there simply was no way to sleep. You could see the flashes with your eyes closed and the strikes must have been incredibly close to earth since I did not even have time to think “one” between the lightning and the thunder. If every second is 1 km, then these strikes were probably a couple hundred meters away. The entire apartment shook.

From Pecs we were lucky enough to get a ride to Budapest with one of Tamas’ friends (also Tomasz). Once there, there was no time to be wasted. We found a really nice hostel (Home Made Hostel), with the quaintest dorm rooms ever and a fantastic atmosphere and immediately began our exploring. Having read about the beautiful opera house we made that our first stop and were lucky enough to get box seats for that night’s performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

Since the forecast had been for rain and yet we had gorgeous blue skies, we decided to make the most of it and headed for the Danube. The views from the Chain Bridge up to Buda, the Fisherman’s Bastion and the Palace were amazing as was the view of the Hungarian Parliament Building (which was built to resemble the Parliament in London). We could not stop oogling at all the gorgeous buildings. I think that it would be difficult to find one ugly building in the heart of Budapest. Everything is built with such amazing detail. Whether it is a hotel, an official building, a school or simply an apartment building, the finish is amazing. There are carvings on the walls, columns and cornices by the windows and doors, and architectural details whose names I do not know: all resulting in some of the most stunning end of the 19th century architecture I had seen.

St. Stephen’s Basilica, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, was breathtaking as was the view from its giant copula. So were all the various statues and monuments strewed around the city. You could simply wonder aimlessly and never stop admiring the sights. I guess the one exception to this was the Hilton Hotel which we discovered on our second day. Built next to Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion it was supposed to incorporate the old Dominican ruins and to blend in stylistically with the surrounding buildings. Well, unlike the Four Seasons Hotel which is built in classic Hungarian style, the Hilton is a butt ugly building made of peach colored glass, attempting to look modern but failing miserably. For those who are familiar with our old law building at UBC (the bunker) try picturing this: instead of the cement, replace the walls with peach colored reflective glass and make it 10 floors high. It looked like a glass bunker and it in no way matched or blended in with the surrounding, unless you were to refer to the reflection of the church that you could see in the glass windows. Truly a horrid sight and if I could, I would boycott the Hilton chain for having constructed such an atrocity. On second thought, the boycotting should be quite easy since I can’t afford to stay there anyways.

The opera in the evening was beautiful, both the building and the performance. Julita and I had seats across one another on the 3rd floor in little balcony booths. The only downside to the whole experience was that speaking no Italian, and especially no opera Italian, we had no idea what the story was about. The translations being displayed above the stage were of absolutely no assistance since they were all in Hungarian. As such, all we could do was enjoy the beautiful singing and music and then read about the plot once we got back to the hostel. I guess the other downside of it was our attire. It was nice to go to a high class event, but when backpacking, I tend not to pack evening dresses. Wearing dark jeans and a nice shirt I felt woefully underdressed amongst all the suited gentlemen and finely dressed ladies. Julita, oddly enough, did not fare much better. Suffering from a badly sprained ankle she was forced to wear her hiking boots which are not very conducive to skirts or nice outfits.

Our second day in Budapest started with an informative walking tour where we found out that:

1. Average government wages in Hungary are 500 Euro per month. This would also be the wage for a government doctor.
2. Income tax is 50%.
3. Tax evasion has become Hungary’s national sport.
4. Due to the low wages, most “smart” Hungarian’s tend to move overseas. As a result a standard joke asks how a smart Hungarian talks to a stupid Hungarian. The answer being via a long distance phone call. 18 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to people of Hungarian background; however, most received the Prize while abroad.
5. Hungarian’s love to party. A beautiful historic building which used to be the National Theater was turned into a club/rave locale because the acoustics were simply not good enough for classical concerts.
6. The Hungarian Parliament was build to resemble the British one, but purposefully made 1 meter longer.
7. The Parliament building and St. Stephen’s Basilica are both 96 meters high and no building Budapest can be higher so as not to ruin the skyline.

Following the tour we wandered aimlessly through the city, but tried to take it easy so as to spare Julita’s foot. In the end, we wrapped up the day with a visit to one of Budapest’s famed baths where we soaked in the saunas and hot pools relaxing for a few hours before calling it a night.

On the 3rd day I set Julita off in a taxi for the airport and myself headed to Szentendre, a little town some 16 km north-east of Budapest. This was highly recommended to me by the hostel staff as a picturesque little village. Well, it turned out to be quite little, not overly picturesque, but very touristy and the hour journey in each direction was hard to justify when after ½ hour I had had enough.

On my way back, with plenty of time still before my train to Eger, I decided to visit Momento Park. Sometimes referred to as Monument Park or Statue Park, it is a dumping ground on the outskirts of Budapest for all the various communist statues that were deemed unsuitable for the city. Everything from busts of Lenin, to workers marching in arms, the park definitely makes an interesting sight. Back in the city center I swung by the Central Market (which had been closed when Julita and I went there), savored the beautiful smells of all the fresh produce and cold cuts and as usual found myself unable to resist the freshly baked pastries. Then it was time to head back to the hostel, pack up and hope on the tram to the train station.

One neat sight which I completely didn’t expect at the train station is all the old gentlemen playing chess as they wait for their train. There are a number of them set up with their boards along the wide railings, simply waiting for playing partners. Someone who shows up at the train station and has time to kill can simply go up to them and enjoy a friendly, but at times slightly boisterous, game of chess.