With Communism long dead, Europe’s most eccentric city tries hard in reviving its former glory.

Autumn in Budapest – The skies are gray; the days are short, and the weather is wet. To warm up, I popped into one of the city’s numerous smoke-filled cafes. Not speaking a word of Hungarian, I ordered a hot coffee in the universal language-pointing to the Coffee cup illustration on the wall. ”So how long have you been here”? asked a young woman behind the counter. “About a week here in Hungary and two weeks in Eastern Europe”, I responded. “We are not in Eastern Europe”, she almost shouted. “We are in Central Europe!”

It seemed I had touched a nerve. Hungarians see themselves as Central Europeans, like the Austrians, rather than Eastern Europeans, and much of their meat-based diet, comes from the East (Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language with origins in the Ural mountains and nothing in common with any European language except Finnish), Hungarians insist on looking westward.

Source – Flickr – Budapest by ** Maurice **.

Budapest is actually a European goulash, shaped by Hungary’s past rulers. The Turks withdrew 300 years ago, leaving the city with dozens of hot mineral baths; the Hapsburg dynasty contributed picturesque architecture and a chain bridge across the Danube permanently linking the cities of Buda and Pest; the Nazis get dubious credit for mass graves filled with most of the country’s Jewish population and many of its Gypsies, and the Soviets left behind kitschy statues dedicated to leaders of the proletariat (now gathered together in an unusual theme park). Needless to say, the country’s history has forced Hungary’s central bank to change its currency all too regularly.

Today, the official currency of Hungary is called the forint though Hungary is part of the European Union; you get about 235 of them for an American dollar and around 275 for a Euro. Good Hungarian wines like Bulls Blood are less than $2 a bottle, and a trip to the city’s famous hot mineral spas is just $1-5. If the Turks built the spas, it was the Soviets who educated their workers -at the Joseph Stalin charm school.

“I’d like to use the mineral thermal baths,” I explained to the receptionist at Budapest’s immense art-nouveau Hotel Gellert, which is connected to one of the city’s oldest hot-spring baths. “Baths! Yes!” responded the middle aged woman. “Where?” I asked. “Baths! Yes! She answered again. After some needless confusion, I paid my three bucks and spent the next 15 minutes wandering through lobbies trying to find the famous baths.

Finally, I was drawn to a trail of humidity from the back of one of Gellert’s lobbies. I found dozens of mostly nude older men (men and women bathe separately) in a primitive locker room. I was then handed a piece of see-through fabric about the size of a paperback book (remember, Arnold in the opening scene of Red Heat). “Change!” ordered a bath guard. I removed my clothes and slipped on the G-slipped like garment. “Are there lockers here”? I asked the man in charge. “Lockers! Yes! He responded. After about five minutes of what sounded like an Abbott and Costello script, a traveler from Germany finally directed me to secure lockers.

Source – Flickr – Budapest : Holocaust Memorial by Bettsy1970.

Seconds later, I met another Mafiosi bath guard.” Shower!” he ordered, pointing me towards a large, wet, gloomy room. After what seemed like hours, I made it to baths -hot, steamy relics of Turkish rule. It was indeed relaxing -30 minutes of much needed self-pampering.

In the evening, I took a trip to another Hungarian institution, the Tanchaz (dance house). Like most things Hungarian, the Tanchaz was shaped in part by decades of Soviet rule, when folk traditions were discouraged in favour of a homogenous national culture.” During communism, there were three types of music,” explained Daniel Hamar of Muzsikas, Hungary’s leading folk revival ensemble.” There was one that was supported, one that was banned and one that was between -not supported and banned.” In Budapest, the Tanchaz is filled with couples of all ages, eager to learn the dance moves that were formerly repressed.

“This is Transylvanian music”, explained a young woman named Eva, who asked me to dance with her in the ballroom. “Egy, ketto, harom, balra, jobbra, balra,” said her companion. Not so difficult, if you understood that it meant”, one, two, three, left, right, left.” Most of the young women chuckled at my attempts to keep step.

“Dracula’s Transylvania used to be part of Hungary”, said Eva. “Now it is Romania. Our country used to bigger”. I heard similar comments from Hungarians throughout my visit. Hungary lost much of its territory after siding with the losing German armies in both world wars.” Parts of Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia were all once in Hungary”, added my Tanchez partner. “Today people like these Transylvanians are living as minorities in other countries. Perhaps it is because they are minorities who fight to retain their culture, even more so than us here in Hungary.”

Source – Flickr – Budapest by Night by Porfirio

Budapest is a fascinating place-a mix of East and West, old and new, castles and shopping malls. Decades after the collapse of communism, most of the young people are learning English as a second language and have been picked up a few lessons in common courtesy from the western service industry. After all, they wouldn’t want to be thought of as Eastern European.

Getting There

Air: Hungary’s Malev Airlines has direct flights from most airports around the world. Major international airlines, including British Airways, Northwest/KLM, Air France and Lufthansa, have flights to Budapest but require a change of planes in Europe.

Train: There is rail service between Budapest and most major European cities. Vienna, Austria, is just three hours away by rail, as is Bratislava, Slovakia. From Prague, Warsaw and Berlin, service is overnight trains, the extra for a sleeper car is money well spend.

Getting Around
Budapest built the world’s first subway system 100 years ago; its three lines reach most parts of the city. At 75 F (35 cents) per ride, it is a great bargain. The one drawback is that trains stop running at 11 p.m., so if you are out late. You’ll have to wait for a bus or streetcar or catch a taxi. It is best to call for a taxi. The reliable Fotaxi charges less for a typical 10 minute ride, compared to the steep price you’ll pay if you hail a taxi in the street.

Source – Flickr-Cityscape Budapest by Gyorgy Kovacs.

Folk Music

Tanchez : Virtually every evening, you can clutch authentic Hungarian village music in the heart of Budapest. Specific information about who is performing at the dance houses can be found in the English language magazine Budapest Week, available at local newsstands.

Gypsy Music : There are essentially two types of Gypsy music in Hungary: the music that Gypsies play for Gypsies (folk music on guitar, milk-jug percussion and vocal bass) and the restaurant music that play for tourists (primarily on violin and cimbalom). Kalyi Jag is Hungary’s best-known Gypsy folk ensemble. Over the past 20 years they have recorded over a dozen albums, founded a cultural center and helped scores of young Gypsy bands launch musical careers.

Jewish Budapest
Budapest has one of Europe’s Jewish population, second only to Paris. Most of the 75,000 – 100000+ odd Jews live near the olden ghetto surrounding the spectacular Central Synagogue in Budapest’s VII District. In the country yard, there is a beautiful willow-shaped memorial dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews killed by the Nazis. In the surrounding blocks, there are kosher restaurants and a religious seminary.

Hungarian Pastries
Cafe Mozart has some of the best pastries in Budapest. Although it charges tourist prices, the black-forest cake here is absolutely delicious.

Statue Park
When the Berlin Wall fell, Hungarians ran through the Budapest and rounded up all the huge Soviet moments. What to do with scores of 30-foot statues of Lenin and proud proletarians in revolt? Build a theme park. Much to many Hungarians’ chagrin, Statue Park is one of the city’s most popular tourist stops. Don’t miss the gift shop, which sells empty cans of air marked “The Last Gasp of Soviet Breath”.

Source – Flickr – Budapest by mdid.

Important Websites

http://english.budapest.hu/Engine.aspx

http://www.tourinform.hu/

http://wikitravel.org/en/Budapest

Contributed by Ross Fortune, a traveller and blogger who blogs at http://www.websnacker.blogspot.com