Budapest - May 2019

In early May I took a quick trip to Budapest at the end of my stay in the UK.  I had an early morning flight to Budapest from Gatwick.  It was remarkable how busy. Gatwick was at 5:00 in the morning.  EasyJet alone had over a dozen flights leaving before 6:00 am. There is something wrong with all this cheap air travel.  It is ruining our planet and I am as guilty as everyone else in that regard.

I arrived to a damp, cool and grey Budapest around 9:00 am and I took the bus into the city center.  If you are over 65 and an EU citizen then all transportation in Budapest is free. Just show your ID and you can ride on buses, trams and the metro system.
I walk around a bit to gain my bearings of the city and end up walking around the old Jewish district.  This seems to be a popular area for tourists. Interesting old buildings and lots and lots of bars and restaurants.  Budapest is the home of the “ruin” bar. After the Soviets left there were a lot of buildings left vacant and in disrepair.  Several of these have no been adapted to create bars. There seems to be a lot of drinking in Budapest and the ruin bars cater to that pursuit.
Walking back towards the Danube I take a walk along the east bank, the Pest side.  The Danube here is a massive river and it really flows. There are lots of river cruise boats moored along the banks.  I think this is the end point of all river tourism down from Germany, Austria or wherever. They deposit people here and then pick up a new group to transport north.

Public Market

At the Pest side of the Freedom Bridge there is a beautiful old market building and I was surprised to see that it is still used as a market and a market for locals more than tourists.

The Gellert Hotel

I walk over the Freedom bridge to the Buda side of the river and my hotel the Gellert.  The hotel is very impressive, a wonderful big old building on the banks of the Danube with its own swimming pools and baths. The Hungarians love their baths and the Gellert has one of the finest.

The New York Cafe Building

I return back across river to Pest and walk the streets towards the New York Cafe. This is a most impressive cafe with an interior that many think make it the world's most beautiful coffee shop. The exterior too is very impressive with its statues and ornamentation. The New York name comes from its original owners, the New York Life Assurance Company who had the building built at the end of the 19th Century. At lunchtime on this day it was impossible to get in without a reservation.

The New York Cafe

I find a more modest restaurant that looks good and is not too bad but I order the wrong thing - steak.  Meat features heavily in the Hungarian diet and that was way too much meat for me.

I decided to go on one of the free walking tours, of which there are many in all European cities now so I headed over to the meeting point in the park next to the Budapest Eye wheel. Yes they have a big Ferris wheel here too, but not as big as the London Eye.

Graffiti Art in Jewish District

 I join the Street Art/Graffiti tour but as it is raining a little and not many people show up.  There were only three of us which is the minimum for the tour; Adam our guide, two Israeli ladies and myself. In the rain we do the speed version of the tour.   It was not too bad, but the works are more commissioned street art than graffiti so a little bit too polished and refined. Most of the work was in the Jewish area. The only mildly political piece was a cartoon of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sitting on a toy train. On that very day Orban was meeting with President Trump - they have some similarities in their views I think.

Viktor Orban Graffiti

It was now late afternoon so I headed back to the hotel.  The Gellert must once have been a very elegant hotel and it is still quite nice but it hasn't been updated too much. That's exactly what I like - faded and tired grandeur.  They kindly upgraded me to a Danube view room. It was a very nice room on the top floor with a balcony overlooking the river. It was a shame it was raining and not ideal weather for admiring the view.

The Gellert Swimming Pool

The Warm Pool

 As baths seem to be a big thing in Budapest I went down to the baths associated with the hotel. They are really impressive and the guide book likens them to swimming in a cathedral.  It is not quite like that but it is the most ornate pool I have been in. There were two swimming pools one inside and one outside, four warm pools of differing temperatures, steam rooms and saunas.  There were also a large number of treatment rooms for massages and whatever. The pools were well used but the treatments didn’t seem to be too popular. I spent a most enjoyable couple of hours swimming in the pool and soaking in the warm pools and sauna.

Gellert pool interior

After my soak I changed and went for a walk out and along the river on the Buda side across the Elizabeth Bridge and down the Pest side to the Freedom Bridge and back to the hotel.

Buda Castle at night from the Danube

I then had a lovely meal in the ornate and very fine restaurant.  A quartet of musicians were there to entertain the 5 or 6 tables. Fortunately the violinist did not serenade my table but focused on the couples, they tip better.

View from my room in the Gellert Hotel

It was an early rise the next morning to find it cloudy but dry.  I walk through the park and up to the top of Gellert Hill from where there is a nice view of the city below - the Castle Hill on the Buda side, the river Danube and over it to the entirety of Pest.  On top of the hill is the Liberty Statue (commemorating those who lost lives in WWII) and the mid 19th Century Citadel fortress.

Freedom Bridge and Pest from Gellert Hill

Buda Castle Hill from Gellert Hill

After breakfast at the hotel I set off to the Pest side on the tram.  At the Kalvin stop I switch to the metro and take the line out to the main railway station, Nyugati.  The station building was built by Eiffel and it is an iron frame structure like most of his work.  It is an impressive building as stations from that era tended to be. The station appeared quite active with a lot of train activity going on.  

Nyugati Railway Station

From the station I take the tram back down to the New York Cafe area again.  Early in the morning it is not so crowded so I have a second breakfast and enjoy the over the top splendor of the building. I am just amazed at the ornateness of the place. There is not an inch that is not guilted or ornamented in some way. Of course the cafe's popularity allows them to charge whatever they want - 19 euros for a modest continental breakfast - but it was worth it.

The Ornate Interior of the New York Cafe

I join another walking tour at 10:30.  This one on a dry morning much better attended - there were 90 or 100 people there and we broke into three smaller tours.  The tour was supposed to be a basic overview of Budapest but with so many people it tended to be a bit slow and tedious.

St Stephen's Basilica

We walked to St Stephen's Basilica and then down the pedestrian way to the river and over the Chain Bridge to Buda. When they did a 15 min stop for coffee I decided to abandon them and move on myself.  By then it was raining quite steadily and I was in no mind to stand around drinking coffee. I walked up the Castle Hill to the Buda Castle on top. The Castle looked impressive and wonderful but by now the rain was really coming down and it didn't make the best of viewing conditions.

Buda Castle

I decided to retreat from the hill and walked/ran in the rain down to the Szena Ter metro station at the bottom of the hill. On the way I passed lovely old buildings and the most impressive Matthias Church. Old Buda is supposed to be one of the more beautiful areas of Budapest but today the weather was not cooperating.
Thinking that the rain might eventually stop I decided to visit Memento Park, a park outside town where they have collected a lot of the old Soviet era statues and memorials.  It was a bit of a hike requiring a subway to the end of the line and then a bus. The bus driver didn’t come through with his promise of letting me know where to get off and I sailed right past it.  He deposited me a couple of miles down the road in the rain. I tried hitchhiking with no luck until a taxi arrived and took me back.

Mr Lenin

Heroes of the Revolution

Memento Park was not as outstanding as I was had been led to believe but it was something different and I enjoy that kind of Communist era stuff.  All the greats were there, Lenin, Stalin, Marx, even Engels. One of the more interesting items was the boots of Stalin. In 1951 they erected an 80ft high statue to Stalin in Budapest only to pull it down in the October Revolution of 1956. After they puled it down all that was left were the boots and these have been relocated to Memento Park.

Stalin's Boots

 The park looked like a bit of a work in progress in some areas and perhaps a failing venture too.  Unfortunately it is too far off the beaten tourist track and there is no straightforward way of getting there.

Keleti Railway Station

Returning to Budapest again I take the metro into the other railway station in town, Keleti.  This is a truly magnificent building but the station was closed for renovation at this time. They certainly built some wonderful monuments to railway travel in those days of steam.
A short side trip to the largest cemetery in the city but that was not worth the visit.  It was quite modern and not what I was expecting.

Heroe's Square Monument

Finally I had a long walk out to Heroe's Square.  The walk as longer than I wanted at this point in the day and I was pushing my time limit for getting back to the airport. Nevertheless Heroe's Square is a beautiful square surrounded by lovely buildings. I need to come back to give it more time.

Art Gallery Heroe's Square

I took a short trip on the subway back to the Deac Ferenc metro station on what was the oldest Metro line. Actually the oldest Metro line in continental Europe (London had the first). The old carriages were beautiful and the stations also were more elaborate. From Deac Ferenc I caught the airport bus, again free because I am on old European. It was a sight to behold how they loaded this long bendy bus with passengers and luggage.  No maximum passenger restrictions here.

There then followed a slow ride through rush hour traffic compounded by a couple of stalled cars on the way.   I had allowed myself plenty of time to catch my flight under normal conditions but the drive was very slow. When we finally passed the last stalled car and gained some speed, the bus had a slight altercation with a truck.  We stopped and the driver got out to discuss things. We waited and waited and waited and it was now getting a bit too close to flight departure time. Four of us got out and started to hitchhike. I wasn’t very optimistic but I had to do something. Fortunately someone stopped and we four piled into his little car and he sped away to the airport - what a hero.  We reached the airport, jumped to the head of the line at the security and passport control (apologizing all the way) and I made the flight with just a few minutes to spare. That was more drama than I was expecting for the end of my trip.

I need to come back to Budapest in better weather. It is truly a wonderful city and there is plenty more to explore there.

There are more photos are here.