It was so BUDAful. We had the PEST time!

Bryn here, and I’m so excited to tell you about one of my favourite places so far... Budapest, Hungary.

Now this is somewhere that I had no real expectations for. I was drawn to this city simply because I wanted to see “the motherland,” as ‘Nyeste’ is Hungarian. [My great grandfather and his brother came to Canada on a cattle boat many years ago]. We were very pleasantly surprised and I recommend it to anyone and everyone!

Budapest has two main areas which were formerly separate cities; Buda on the west bank of the Danube River, and Pest on the east bank. Buda has many more hills, and people in this area claim the best part of Pest is the view of Buda. People in flat Pest find their neighbours across the river to be a bit snobby, so we heard. We stayed on the “Pest side, best side.” 

Standing on the Buda side, looking at Pest.

The view from our great AirBnB.

We arrived from Mykonos, Greece, on an early morning flight; my bag did not. We stayed positive that it would eventually find its way, and started out on what would be Day 1 of many, many steps walked. Instead of boring you with the day-to-day I will make a list of the some of the main sights we saw.

1. The Castle District of Buda: while there is no actual castle, there is the Royal Palace, Matthias Church, Fishermen’s Bastion, and a museum of the underground hospital, used in World War II. 

Matthias Church

2. Szechenyl Thermal Bath: traditional “medicinal” baths, steam rooms and saunas. You come out looking like a prune, but it did help our aching feet.

3. Ruin Pubs: these are abandoned houses or apartment buildings that were left empty after the war, and converted to pubs in the Jewish Quarter (District XII). The one we went to was three floors!

4. The Great Synagogue: the largest in Europe, and the second largest in the world after Belz Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. As you have probably guessed there is a large Jewish population in the city, which I will touch on a bit more when I tell you about some of the history.

5. St. Stephen’s Basilica: apparently this is one of the world’s top ten most photographed buildings and I can see why. It was budaful (doesn’t get old). It took 50 years to build and was finished in 1905.

6. Parliament Building: I have to say this was the most impressive building, sitting on the Pest side of the Danube. *Fun fact: both the Basilica and the Parliament Building are 96m tall and are the tallest buildings in Budapest. The Hungarian Magyars came to the area in 896, and they have held on to the 96. It also shows that neither the Government nor Chuch is more important than the other. The exception was during the Communist era when there was a 3m star placed on the top of the parliament...

It was even more stunning at night.

7. Hero’s Square: featured the seven “Chieftains” of the Magyars who are believed to have led the Hungarian people from Central Asia.  There were also statues of other important Hungarian leaders and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

8. Gellert Hill with the Liberty Statue: one of the two Communist statues remaining which was originally for Soviet troops who died ‘liberating’ the country. After a ceremony involving covering the statue with a white sheet for a couple days, it was reborn and now commemorates “all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom and prosperity of Hungary.”

9. Margaret Island: A 2.5km long Island in the middle of the river with a beautiful 5km rubber running path around it. Felt great on the old knees.

South end of Margaret Island

And now for the best part. Budapest is SO affordable. After seeing the beer selection for anywhere from $0.75 to $1.25, Mitch added an extra day onto our AirBnB. Lucky we did this, as even with five days we still had things we missed doing. We ate out for dinners, and were still able to actually stay on budget. We found it cheaper than Thailand! A highlight for me was sitting on a patio outside of a rather touristy area, enjoying a bottle of wine for $11! [Thank you Flynner, Dave Hall, CK, and Connor for the FaceTime entertainment].

I believe these were Mitchell’s “breakfast beers” (guess which one was his favourite...)

Lamb and beef stew. A traditional meal consists of a lot of meat and very little (or no) veg. 

There are great “Free” walking tours in the city that work strictly on tips, and work out to be a lot cheaper than other organized tours. We did a basic tour of the  city areas, and the “Communist Tour.” This is where I learned all of my nerdy history facts. I am in no way a history buff, and am still confused about some things but I’ll list a quick snapshot of what we learned starting at WWII. If this bores you just keep scrolling.

-In March 1944, Hitler ordered Nazi troops to launch “Operation Margarethe” and occupied Hungary.

-From May 15-July 9, 1944, over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitch, most being from Budapest.

-Hungary signed an armistice with the Soviet Union on Oct 15, 1944

-Soviet Operations ended Apr 1945 when the last German troops were expelled

-Hungary then fell into the Soviet Communist rule, as did most of Central and Eastern Europe 

-The economy collapsed during the 50s, there was a very poor standard of living, and social dissatisfaction led to an uprising and a revolution in Oct 1956

-There was a massive intervention by Moscow, which forced 200,000 Hungarians to flee as refugees (often through Austria). Public discussion of the revolution was suppressed in Hungary for more than 30 years!

-By 1968, Hungary began liberating its economy in what was called “Goulash Communism,” as the standard of living improved, and they had plenty of food to make their signature dish, Goulash. They could travel, and there were incentives for having children to increase the population.

-The leader (Kadar) retired in 1987, and in May 1989, Hungary opened its borders.

-First democratic election in 1990.

-Joined NATO in 1999, became a member of the European Union in 2004, and they hope to be using the Euro (currency) by 2020. 

In the midst of a free walking tour.

The most interesting part of this particular tour was when a man from Melbourne, Australia stopped our tour guide to grab a pamphlet. It turned out that he was originally from Hungary, but escaped from Budapest when he was just 7 years old, at the beginning of the revolution. (Hit home as he was my dads age). He told us his whole story, and it sounded absolutely terrifying. A quick summary was that after hiding for days in their bunker while the Soviet Union was bombing, his father went ahead and bribed an ambulance driver to pick up him and his mother, to make their way towards Austria. They were still a target as cars were not to be driven in the area. They were shot at, and the ambulance driver and doctor with them passed away. Miraculously, him and his mother were completely fine, only inches away from the other two. After that they made a very cold and long journey to the meeting place where his father was waiting, and made it to the famous ‘Bridge at Andau’ in Austria. From there they went to Germany, and finally, Australia. Most refugees of this time ended up in America, Canada, or Australia.

Statue of Imre Nagy, a leader that participated in the revolution for the Communist Party (looking to the left...)

It is so crazy for me to think that had my great grandfather not decided to leave, for whatever reason that was, then my family would likely not exist.

As the wise Collin Kirby once said: “I’m Hungarian too. I’m Hungary all the time!”

And there you have it. I hope I have convinced at least a couple of you to visit this amazing city. I assure you it will not disappoint... I mean come on, it’s where I’m from 😉.

Until next time.

B