Budapest - the city Paris could be A beautiful city with hidden gems, a roaring nightlife and an eventful history that still is affordable by smaller wallets. By Unkown
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here’s a run down apartment block in Budapest’s 7th district that looks ripe for bulldozing. There’s graffiti on the wall and chunks are missing from the cracking facade. It’s sandwiched between two respectable looking buildings in a prime area, and yet people are wandering in to this apparently neglected block. You only have to saunter gently through the steel door yourself to understand what is luring everyone in.
kerts – temporary bars set up in vacant buildings are a local favourite. Some of the walls are covered in spray paint, the seating’s a mish-mash of benches and cinema seats, and lighting comes from the bulbs hanging in upsidedown bins. It may sound like an experiment in tramp chic, but it works.
cafes and a city-slicing river, in the shape of the Danube.
On closer inspection, however, there are reminders of Budapest’s history that gives its current incarnation a crackle of defiant energy: the architecture is often pockmarked by bullet holes and the monuments honour past revoluThese hidden kerts encap- tions. Even though Comsulate all which is good munism collapsed in 1989, and exciting about Budaa significant chunk of the pest. population knows the hardship of its regime. Inside there is a courtyard Visit Hungary’s capital and one of the city’s many and on the surface things Yet, Budapest is the city kerts. ‘Kert’ basically trans- look pretty standard. All Paris could be if it cut lates to ‘garden’, but here, the ingredients to a popu- prices and cheered up in the bar called Szimpla, lar European metropolis a pint of beer is around there’s more concrete are present and correct: 400 forints while a bowl than chrysanthemums. there’s the chunky archiof ghoulash in downtown From the front, you’d think tecture with flower-filled Pest costs about 600. the building was only a balconies and windows A trip into the Buda hills step away from being a with shutters; historic mon- is a must, as long as you car park but when you’re uments and museums; don’t mind dangling above inside you realise these narrow streets lined with a forest - a chair lift takes 1 GLAMOUR
you to the Erzsébet lookout tower, which means you can reach the summit without breaking a sweat. Effortless tourism is always a winner. From the tower you can take in the green vistas that roll off the Buda side – you can even see towns occupying some of the valleys. On your way out from the tower, read the notice boards at the exit. It’s here you discover that Erzsébet was stamped with a Communist mark: a massive red star fixed so haphazardly to the roof it ultimately weakened the entire structure.
bus journey if just to appreciate how sickly the propaganda was that sugar-coated the regime. Reminders of other aspects of Hungary’s history can be found back in Pest. This area is Buda’s livelier, noisier sibling, and it’s often still going at five in the morning. During the day, it’s buzzing with tourists ploughing through the shops and bars of the pedestrianized Váci Utca, buying souvenirs of postcards and potent pálinka – a local liqueur.
Immersing yourself in Hungarian culture is as essential as learning its history. There are numerAny ‘tribute’ to Communism has now been swept ous galleries and theatres, while the streets of Pest firmly aside. Most of the public statues depicting in particular are an anleaders or ‘triumphs’ were tique dealer’s gold mine destroyed in the late Eight- – there are vintage shops ies when the regime finally and second hand bookshops everywhere. And broke down. However, a despite being a landlocked small number were retained and are now colcountry, there’s a beachlected together in Statue life mentality if you know where to look – right there, Park. on Margaret Island, there are men and women tanThe park sits in the 22nd district, on the outskirts of ning themselves on the river banks. the city. It remains underresourced and despite Water plays a big part in opening in 1993, it’s still the local culture, with the incomplete. However, Statue Park is worth the city built upon eight ther-
mal springs. The springs’ waters are revered for their health benefits they’re said to alleviate everything from mild skin ailments to Parkinson’s disease. Throughout the inner city, you’ll find chic baths plumbing into these restorative waters, with the most extravagant of facilities being Gellért. A day of history, hills and healing waters can be pretty tiring stuff, but both Buda and Pest have plenty of Hungarian restaurants. If you can’t decide which side of the river to go to, head to one of the many boat restaurants, such as A38 – a sleek eatery on an old Ukrainian stone-carrier ship. The average menu’s hearty and meat-heavy, and bread’s served with everything onion soup is often served in a hollowed-out loaf. And then for a nightcap, and what better way to end the day than where you began? Find another kert and let the day fade out.
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