Our Big Adventure

HUNGARY

BUDAPEST is a beautiful city spread along both banks of the Danube River (Buda and Pest originally). It has been called the ‘fruit basket’ of history, and it’s easy to see why. Cultural influences from it’s many occupants in history have given it a sensible and logical layout from it’s Germanic occupants, the decadently opulent baths, the Turks, elegance from the Habsburgs and the straight lines and sober structures from the Communist occupation.

We stay at a great campground in Pest and it’s only a short tram ride into the city. Our first day we hop on a spray paint decorated Soviet-era tram to a Museum on Andrassy Ave, that at one time it’s name alone must have filled people with terror. This museum, dedicated to telling the story of Hungary under Nazi and then Soviet rule, is actually housed in what used to be the Nazi Party headquarters and then the Communist Party headquarters and their dreaded Secret Police during their respective occupation. We hear stories and see pictures of unimaginable misdeeds that happened in the very building in which we stood. In one room there are thousands of file folders that once held information gathered by a host of informers, a shadow army that watched people in factories, offices, theatres and even churches. You would not have known whom to trust. The aura in the building alone was enough to chill one to the bone, but this museum also commemorates the victims of terror while at the same time, reminds us of the dreadful acts of terrorist dictatorships.

A walking tour is always a great way to see any city, and one that’s free makes it even better. Well not exactly free, but at the end of the tour if you feel the guide did his job well, you learnt a few things about the city, and you had fun the guides appreciate (and expect) a tip. We had about 15 people on out 2 ½ hour tour, a mixture of ages and nationalities. Gabŏr our guide was great, he grew up in Budapest and could tell you anything you wanted to know, he even told some of the younger traveller’s good places to party in the evenings. Apparently the nightlife, music and bar scene here is legendary although we can’t comment on that, after a day of sightseeing we are usually tucked up in bed by 10pm

After our time in Bulgaria, and seeing the massive statues, monuments of the Communist regime, we visit a park in a northern suburb of Budapest where some of the statues removed from the streets of Budapest where taken after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989. A massive statue of Lenin at the gate greets you, and then many different statues, ghosts of the past dictatorship, that represent the socialist cultural politics, and probably would have created fear as well. Also interesting is that in Bulgaria statues such as these are still standing on corners and in front of schools, factories etc., are still in their original position and have not been torn down.

As it turns out, Hungary is situated over a number of natural hot springs, including the springs that lie underneath the biggest public bath in Europe, the Széchényi Spa. We feel after our 3 solid days of seeing all that Budapest has to see we need a rest and revive day, so we head to the spa. There are nine different pools, both indoor and out to choose from here, and we walk from pool to pool testing the waters. They are not like the public baths in Morocco or Turkey at all, these are all housed in very elaborate and beautifully decorated buildings, this particular spa built in 1913. You see people sitting in the pools playing chess, reading or just with their eyes closed, relaxing. They also have a sauna and some other kind of hot room we don’t try, we leave the spa a few hours later, a little crinkly, but feeling relaxed and revived.

Budapest was an exciting and thought provoking city and one defiantly worth the visit.

posted by Brian and Julie @ 4:39:00 AM