Blog #5: Hungry in Hungary

Blog #5: Budapest, Hungary (5/22/2005 to 5/25/2005)

I loved Hungary. Maybe it was my predisposition to like a country of my ancestors, but even an unbiased eye could enjoy this place. I did not eat a single dish of food that I did not absolutely love. I cannot even remember everything I ate, but from the goulash to the pork, turkey and chicken, I was in heaven.

At this point, I had met back up with Dana in Vienna because she, after two real attempts, had been unable to leave Vienna. With some prompting from me, we made it to Budapest. Of course my motivation was the deposit I put down for the hostel I reserved, but we all need to find motivation somewhere. Dana and I traveled together for a couple weeks, hitting Budapest and Pécs, Hungary, as well as Prague and Plzen, Czech Republic. We arrived early afternoon and wandered about the city, getting our bearings. My first impression of Budapest was similar to many of the other former communist cities I have visited. There is some beautiful architecture, but half of it is covered in about 60 years of dirt and grime. There is something inviting about Budapest, however, that I really like.

After passing a few churches and a multitude of cafés, we strolled down Andrassy ut, one of the main drags on the Pest side of the river, ending at Heroes’ Square. On this road is the opera house, some museums and, guess what: more cafés. In Heroes’ Square are statues and art museums which we did not patronize. On Tuesday, we actually visited a museum/memorial on this street called The House of Terror, or the Terror Museum. This was more of a memorial giving insight into the communist rule in Hungary post-WWII. Growing up on the side of the Iron Curtain that I did, I had not realized how communism affected the everyday lives of citizens. If we heard of anything in school, it was the facts about the end of WWII, the theory of communism, and maybe a smidgeon of information about the Soviet Union. There were, however, other communist countries out there, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic are outstanding examples.

On Monday we visited all of the big tourist sites on the Buda side of the river, interjecting cafés into our diet between every event. We walked up Gellért Hill, strewn with statues and monuments celebrating communism and the Habsburgs… not necessarily in that order. At the base of Gellért Hill is Gellért Hotel and Baths, the most popular of Budapest’s thermal baths. On Tuesday, after our somber visit to the Terror House, we relaxed for a couple hours in some warm water and scorching steam baths. Two hours of that and I was the most relaxed raisin in all of Hungary.

Continuing Monday’s journey, we walked up Castle Hill. Here is, you guessed it, Buda’s castle. We managed to see all of these great buildings without actually stepping foot inside any of them. Maybe we had already had a bit too much of museums. You will probably enjoy some of the pictures from up on the hill, however. Most of my pictures from Budapest are, as Dana was so nice to point out, inexplicable random buildings I was just too trigger happy to not capture. For the lack of captions and explanations I apologize, but I was just trying to get a feel for the city and not too worried about writing down all the names.

Pictures of Budapest, Hungary: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2125795451&code=16382916&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

One place we visited was the underground Labyrinth on Castle Hill. This was quite an amazing network of passages and tunnels. It was also a nice break from the increasingly warm weather of Budapest. Of course as I sit here writing this in Zurich, it is a toasty 43 degrees F (about 5 degrees C). Among other things, the labyrinth included a fountain flowing with wine, some creepy music, and some fabricated remains of a former people group of the planet earth… including a nine foot tall Coke bottle. They must have been really bored to even take the time.

The only place I have yet to mention is the local restaurant we found near our hostel. I never quite understood the name because the sign looked like a jumbled mess of letters. We were there at least twice and absolutely loved it. The first time I just got a goulash and Dana had some really great chicken with an amazing sauce. The second time around we did it right. We started with an appetizer. Since I had eaten horse schnitzel in Vienna, I had to do something special for Budapest. The battered brains seemed to fill the bill. After I saw it, I could not allow myself to pass it up. I am not sure that I would place fried brains high on the list of attractions in Hungary, but they were not bad. The texture was peculiar, but maybe there is a brain connoisseur out there who can explain it to me. After the starter, I enjoyed Gypsy-style pork and sampled Dana’s stuffed turkey. One of my first goals after returning home will be to find a comprehensive Hungarian cookbook. Yummy.

After our two days down in Pécs, we returned for an afternoon to Budapest before catching a night train to Prague. We were fortunate enough to meet a couple friends who go to university in Budapest, Tivadar and Levente. We went for a coffee and I tried some gyümölesleves, Hungarian fruit soup. We went to the supermarket for sandwich supplies. Down in Pécs, our friend Szilard got us hooked on these simple Hungarian sandwiches of meat, cheese and sweet paprikas. I am definitely a fan. I have been making them all over Europe since then.