Budapest, Hungary 2004

Figuring that Vienna, Austria wasn't going to keep up busy for the full 10 days of our little journey, Amy and I boarded an eastbound train on Day 3 and headed out to Budapest, Hungary. Unbeknownst to me before opening up my Let's Go: Eastern Europe travel book while on our three-hour journey is that Budapest is actually a union of two formerly independent cities joining forces in 1872: Buda on the eastern side of the Danube River and Pest on the west.

I was quite excited once we crossed into Hungary since it was only the second eastern European country I've ever been in. Over the last several years I've developed quite an interest in visiting eastern Europe. This has come from a desire to see the other half of Europe (which is often totally overlooked even by western Europeans), as well as to see a couple post-Communist states before they are absorbed into the European Union and changed forever. Hungary and Romania stand out as two vibrant transitional nations with a lot to look forward to over the next several decades and now seemed like an especially good time to swing by for a visit.

Our first view of Hungary, below:

Riding the train through eastern Austria, the train ticket collector came into my and Amy's cabin and informed us we'd be in Hungary shortly. Amy and I asked, "How shortly?" to which the man responded, "About THAT shortly. Look out the window: the trees are the border!"

Et voila, the Austrian-Hungarian border! (Austro-Hungarian??)

"Look at us! We're in Hungary!"

Above and below: the Hungarian countryside

Farmland lined by new post-communist suburban housing developments outside Budapest

Keleti Palyaudvar trainsation from the broken brick room of our hotel room.

Our (not so inexpensive) hostel-feeling hotel room. 62 euros (US$74) a night.

The much nicer shower in the newly renovated Budapest hotel than that torturous device we had in Vienna.

Oh look, there I am in Amy's sunglasses in Hungary!

Continuing the tradition of "lazy tourist in foreign land," we decided to take a nice little guided tour with a hot little 25-year-old Hungarian bombshell tourguidess around 2pm on the afternoon we arrived. A quick 3-hour round-around downtown seemed like a good way to expose us to the key sights of the city so that Amy and I could then branch out on our own later that evening and all the next day. I actually like these organized tours these days. Back when I was a young know-it-all punk traveling around the world on a shoe-string budget, I was totally opposed to the "commercialized nature or organized tours" but these days it seems to compliment my ability to tour around a city rather than detract from it. And the personal air-conditioned van that comes along with it isn't too disagreeable either!

Our first stop was the Hero's Square located next to the City Park in Pest above and below. The curving Millennium Monument was built in 1896 for the city's 1000-year anniversary and commemorates the nation's most prominent leaders. According to Let's Go, the seven horsemen at the statue's base represent the Magyar tribes who settled the Carpathian Basin, and Archangel Gabriel holds the Hungarian crown to St. Stephen overhead.

Side note: Hungary is known as "Magyarorszag" in Hungarian, reflecting the Magyar tribes 1000 years ago.

According to our tour guide, the double-cross represents the cross the the apostles, whereas a single cross represents the cross of Christ.

'Twas a little bit sunny and bright in Budapest.

Above and below: the Hungarian Opera House built in 1872.

St. Stephen's Basilica, the city's largest church. Apparently St. Stephen's mummified hand - one of Hungary's most revered religious relics - can be found somewhere in the church although I didn't see it anywhere.

Above and below: exterior and interior of the basilica.

The basilica was severely damaged during WWII but has been reconstructed. The balcony around the Panorama Tower is Pest's highest vantage point of the city.

Amy and I in front of the Danube River.

A little doggy doo-doo bathroom along a street near our hotel. Quite inventive, eh!

Although someone ought to do something about the odor!

The one English directional sign we found in Budapest, strangely located in the middle of nowhere.

Thankfully there were icons on many of the signs, otherwise I wouldn't have had a friggin' clue what was being communicated! Hungarian is related to Finnish, which means they have virtually NOTHING in common with the Slavic, Germanic, Romance languages surrounding them. . . which meant that I couldn't read a single thing! This was a bit strange for me since I can find my way around French, German, and Russian which means I can often understand signs in related languages (Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Dutch, Scandinavian, Bulgarian, etc.), but not this time.

By far the most diacritical/phonetic marks I have ever seen in a language!

A spectacular City Park lakeside restaurant with fabulous Hungarian dishes.

Eastern Europe by night as we dined.

Broken bottle on lonely dark eastern European street

The Budapest Keleti train station. WARNING: if you ever go here, make sure you don't need to visit the ticket service counters. If you do, expect to be shuttled around between counters and to spend AT LEAST one hour in line in off peak times, i.e. very early morning. Don't even think about standing in line during mid-day. Basically, computers aren't used for reservations in eastern Europe and clerks need to fumble through book after book to get the appropriate schedules, and if you're making connections in foreign countries, then forget it. The books apparently don't exist.

Interestingly, waiting in line trying to get a ticket problem taken care of reminded me of what life must have been like in the First World in the 1950s or 1960s. "Alright kiddies, we need to get a train ticket. Let's leave two hours in advance to make sure we can get through line in time!"

Oh how I love computers!

Walking down Rakoczi Avenue from our hotel next to the train station out toward the Danube River.

The Synagogue of Budapest. Built in 1859 and the second largest in the world, the synagogue can hold up to 3000 people. Located beside the synagogue was a 300 square meter/yard area that served as the last ghetto established during World War II. 80,000 people were imprisoned here and 10,000 died in the final months of the war, and 2,500 who were identified were buried alongside the rest in the Jewish Cemetery.

The synagogue's interior

The Star of David

Me wearing the required the yarmulke and what I'd look like if I were Jewish. Alas, I'm not, and to be honest I was just a little bugged to have to wear it. Perhaps churches should make Jewish tourists wear crucifixes around their necks during visits?

Russian for: "Katya, I love you!!! Petya"

The 0 km point in Budapest. It's even an official marker!

At $5 a gallon of gasoline, I can't imagine how any European can afford a motor home!

Me beside a crazy little eastern European car

Left: the understated and easily overlooked entrance to the Budapest Castle Labyrinth caverns.

Right: me being manhandled by one of the cavern residents.

The labyrinths were formed eons ago by hot springs in Castle Hill under the city's castle. Shaped and constructed into long rectangular corridors punctuated by the occasional large stone room, the labyrinth isn't isn't that terribly exciting. To spruce things up, the labyrinth administrators have added wall paintings, eerie cave music, deep red wine fountains, and a slew of human figures poking out from around corners and standing in recesses. It's all a little corny, but if you're corny yourself, then you can have a lot of fun with it!

The main sections of the labyrinth are divided up into the exciting following areas:

1) World Axle, 2) Personal Labyrinth, 3) Prehistoric Labyrinth, 4) Historical Labyrinth, 5) Labyrinth of an Other-World, 6) Ivy Grotto, and 7) Labyrinth Exhibition.

Some sections are totally empty while others have various items placed in them or on display.

Something that looks like it should be in the Blair Witch Project

I presume the Ivy Grotto?

A really cool blood-red fountain of wine. I imagine that one could drink the wine if one really wanted to, although it smelled a bit old and it probably doesn't taste very good. But it looked enticing enough.

Once you walk around a bunch of empty corridors you come up to the artistic area of the labyrinth where you see things that make you think, "Was that here back in the day?"

"Woman in Chains"

Oooooh! Another world!

As you walk into the Labyrinth of an Other-World, you're first presented with this random mushy looking pile of rock that has a set of foot prints in it and you think, "Hmm, what's this?" Then you read the little placard on the wall that goes on to explain that it was an archeological find in the area that dates back 20 million years. Then you recall that humans have only been on Earth for about 2 million years and then realize that something is amiss, at which point the placard continues: "20 million years is long before the rise of humans, which means that the shoe prints must be of extraterrestrial origin!"

Then you take a long hard look at the foot prints again, knowing how stupid this all is but thinking, "Hmm, I suppose it's possible, albeit improbable," and notice that the tread of the shoe print looks suspiciously similar to that of a pair of tennis shoes. "Do space aliens play tennis?!" Then you snap out of it and realize that the labyrinth organizers are pulling a fast on over on you, especially when you look to the right and see a 1980s computer keyboard and monitor imprint in the next rock over.

I mean, it's believable that space aliens would wear shoes, and even ones with sports-shoe looking tread on it, but that they would fly all the way to earth with 1980s computer technology?! Some things are just not believable!

It would appear that Coca Cola is not from this world after all. . .

Awe. . . an ivy offering from the natives.

Nope, not my picture. The Szechenyl Lanchid (Chain Bridge), taken off the screen in the Labyrinth movie hall.

Matthias Church, and an interesting blurb of history from Let's Go:

The Gothic Matthias Church is one of the most-photographed buildings in Budapest, largely due to its multicolored roof. The intricacy of the columns and ceiling inside is equally impressive. When the (Islamic) Ottoman armies seized Buda in 1541, the church was converted into a mosque overnight. However, in 1688, the Habsburgs (of Austria) defeated the Turks, sacked the city, and reconverted the building.

So much for the oft-repeated historically revisionist politically correct line that "Muslims are kind and tolerant of the people whose countries they invade and dominate." Converting the city church into a mosque isn't exactly a sign of tolerance.

Artificially back-lit, I hope!

Stone crucifix and beautiful stained glass windows

Above and below: the colorful mosaic roof of St. Matthias

If I'm not mistaken, this is "Fisherman's Bastion" (Halaszbastya) but I can't exactly tell you why that is, because most of my Budapest information is in Hungarian and I don't speak a word!