By Eugene Abrahams
Budapest, Hungary - Standing in the vast Heroes Square in Budapest, I wasn’t too sure whether it was the cutting wind chilling me to the bone, or what had taken place in the city during and after World War ll.
In a matter-of-fact manner, our guide Peter spoke about the city and Hungary’s history and then jumped straight to World War ll, when the country thought they’d be better off being pals with Nazi Germany. But when they saw the error of their ways – which coincided with the Nazis fleeing and the Russians closing in on Hungary – they decided to welcome the invaders.
However, there was carnage in the streets, boulevards and alleyways of Budapest, a city that saw itself as “the Paris of the Central Europe”.
Hungary’s capital endured a brutal siege by Soviet forces; the fascist Arrow Cross Party began to kill as many Jews as possible, while the trapped German armies, having no option but to obey the Fuhrer’s orders, took out their frustrations on the local populace via the gun, cannon and bombs.
Worse was to come under Soviet rule – there is even a House of Terror museum (it used to be the HQ of the Secret Police) in Andrassy ut (street/avenue) to remind visitors of the bloody old days when political prisoners were locked away in basement cells – but today the recent history can be smiled about, though laced with dark humour.
Peter explains: “We thought the Russians would stay for two years or so – in the end they stayed for 40.”
For the first-time visitor, Budapest is a breath of fresh air, or icy if you’re from a warm part of the planet. You can’t go wrong by visiting two cities for the price of one – Buda is the posh woody, hilly bit on the western side with bourgeois residential and set-piece castles and churches, the ancient capital that comprises about one-third of the city’s area.
Eastern Pest is modelled on 19th century Paris and mostly built-up and flat – though not when it comes to the city’s nightlife, shops and restaurants – and through them flows the Danube River.
Together, this odd couple, connected by a series of elegant bridges, were officially united in 1873, just in time for Budapest’s golden era, and have become a classic European capital, full of history and yet a buzzing city with charms all of her own, throbbing with culture, history, food and industry.
The road into Budapest from the airport disguises the pleasure one is in for. There are communist-styled blocks of flats, a massive concrete block of a football stadium, shabby looking trams and billboards, though they show the price of what’s being advertised.
But once you arrive at Heroes’ Square, it all changes, and you cannot but be overawed by the sights in one of the city’s most impressive open venues.
At the centre of the Square stands the Millennium Monument and soaring above is the 36m-high Millennium Column, topped by the Archangel Gabriel. Around the base of the monument are a number of statues, honouring the seven chieftains of the tribes that founded Hungary. Then there are the two collonades – the left honouring the country’s kings and saints, the right the country’s many heroes.
The square is flanked by the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts on the left, and the Art Gallery on the right. The Museum of Fine Arts contains works from old masters such as Raphael, Goya, Vermeer and Rembrandt. However, laughed Peter: “I don’t think you want to visit the museum, it contains no paintings of Hungarian artists.”
But the road to Budapest’s many other delights starts with a journey down Andrassy ut – a World Heritage site – built to resemble Paris’s Champs Élysées with all the charm and elegance.
Almost 2.5km long, it is one of the city’s main shopping streets, with restaurants, coffee houses, theatres, the Hungarian State Opera House, the Franz Liszt Memorial House, luxury fashion shops and much more on either side while traffic flows speedily in both directions. To trawl this Hungarian boulevard of dreams and take in its wonders could take half a day, but time was not our side.
We were heading for Buda Castle and four sights took my breath away – the Chain Bridge crossing the Danube River, the statues of two massive lions on either side of the road, the broad, beautiful and recently deadly Danube River (it bisects the city for 28km), and Buda Castle itself, which gives the word “imposing” a new meaning as it looks down on Pest while rising 50m above the river.
The Danube, immortalised by Johan Strauss in his Blue Danube Waltz, starts in Donaueschingen, Germany and flows through 10 countries before emptying into the Black Sea, some 2 870km from its origin via the Danube Delta.
At the top of the hill came another sight I’ll always remember, that of the Parliament Buildings, looking remarkably like the ones in London. And they are, since the buildings are based on the Houses of Parliament.
You learn that the castle is home to several cultural institutions, including the National Gallery and Budapest History Museum but delve a bit deeper in this picturesque medieval district while exploring the narrow cobblestone streets and visiting quirky shops, many of them selling souvenirs, and the realisation dawns that this castle has seen and felt it all.
The castle, through its lengthy history, was besieged 31 times while being built, renovated, demolished, rebuilt, ruined and then restored as recently as 1950 – the bloody tussle between the Germans and Russians in 1944 and 1945 having done it no favours. On exiting, Peter draws one’s attention to bullet holes in the stone walls – “we did not plaster that over as a reminder”.
With that out of the way, it’s time to hit the streets, or in the case of Buda, climb them. One of the narrow cobblestone roads leads to Margitkert, a lovely restaurant with a beautiful courtyard, offering you melt-in-your mouth spicy Hungarian paprika goulash and dumplings, while listening to a string quartet (three violinists and a bassist) perform classical ditties.
Margitkert, at 15 Margit utca, served the likes of Greek economist Andreas Papandreou, French socialist PM Pierre Mauroy, slain Swedish PM Olof Palme, German chancellor Helmut Kohl and French president François Mitterrand, so the waitress on the night was in no mood to wait when she asked me whether I’d like some red wine.
“Yes, or no,” she snapped, breaking me out of my reverie as I listened to the musicians, and later showing that though things change, at Margitkert they remain the same and there’s a sense of dark humour.
Asked by one of our group whether they had wi-fi, and the password, she wrote “HORTOBAGYIPALACSINTA”. The recipient spent much of the evening tapping those letters into her iPhone, obviously with no success.
As I discovered, the soul of this city is in her off-beat restaurants. Later, Alp Alper, our Turkish Airlines host and published photographer, asked if I would accompany him and two others. I agreed, a taxi was called for, and after a conversation between him and the taxi driver that I could not understand, we were off.
Budapest’s architecture was lit up like the proverbial fourth of July, glowing in the spotlights and showing off their grandeur. Up, up we drove, and now it started to look very familiar.
Have I been here before? Was this déjà vu? Silly me, it was Géllert Hill, the highest point in all of downtown Budapest, and we had been here in the daytime but now, in the dark and cold once we left the taxi, it looked surreal. Standing tall and imposing was the 16m-high Liberation Monument, also sometimes known as the Liberty Statue. You know the one, it’s a female figure holding a palm leaf in its hand.
The statue was about 20m away but my attention was drawn to my left, because down the hill, was the Danube, now not so blue but rather glittering as the lights of the Chain, Liberty and Elizabeth bridges reflected and twinkled in its waters – beautiful by day but even prettier at night. The Castle was lit up, as was the parliament and my body trembled not because of the cold, but rather the frisson of excitement, a real goosebump moment.
If you’re into a good old soak, then Budapest is for you. Besides the Szechenyi Bath and Spa, built in a modern renaissance style between 1909 and 1913, the city is basically awash with spas, given that hot springs along the Danube were formed by a geological fault line.
These Turkish baths are all of Ottoman architecture – huge pools, stained glass windows. At Szechenyi, which I visited but did not take the plunge (no bathing costume, I’m afraid), the medical waters are sourced from a depth of 1 245m. It has 11 types of medicinal pools (temperature between 28ºC and 40ºC), one cooling pool (20ºC) and one immersion pool (18ºC).
The outdoor swimming pool section has one swimming pool(26°C-28°C), an activity pool (30°C-34°C), a thermal pool (34°C), and two immersion pools (18°C).
Yet its beauty is not only for those with ailments – it looks like Roman baths with the grandeur which the Ottomans, for whom lounging in a spa was a favourite pastime, could probably lay claim to. After all, though they did not have a hand in this Spa’s construction, they ruled the medieval kingdom of Hungary from the mid-16th century until the end of the 18th.
As for shopping and eating, you only have to go to the Pest pedestrian thoroughfare Vaci Utca or along the Nagykorut (Grand Boulevard).
Or try Király Street, which over the last decade has turned from a rundown lane into a major design destination, with a dozen boutiques in the few blocks between Nagymezo and Kaldy Gyula streets.
In my wanderings somewhere on Vaci Utca, I saw a woman, carrying a massive bowl of ice cream (it could have been chocolate) climb some steps and then disappear.
Intrigued, I followed, and came upon the Szamos gourmet coffee and chocolate shop, a chain of marzipan shops and cafe/patisseries, with the emphasis being on chocolate.
In the panelled salon was a fridge laden with the finest cakes, biscuits and macaroons I have ever seen, including the legendary sachertorte, and walnutty Esterhazy cake.
Even a quick visit to Budapest will make you realise the city has a sophisticated and hedonistic side. With its Old World grandeur, stunning architecture and rich cultural heritage it is, indeed, a city that will make you Hungary for more.
IF YOU GO...
l Turkish Airlines flew, and hosted, Eugene Abrahams to Budapest via Istanbul.
l Currency: The forint, currently 22/23 to one rand. Euros and dollars also accepted
l Visa? Yes, South African passport holders require a Schengen visa
l Danube boat cruises: Try www.mahart.info, or dunayacht.com – prices vary depending on nature, length and time of cruise
l Restaurant: Margitkert, www.margitkert.hu
l Coffee/chocolate shop: www.szamosmarcipan.hu/en/
l Bath and swimming pool: www.szechenyifurdo.hu
l Must-sees: House of Terror (www.terrorhaza.hu); Cat Café (www.catcafe.hu); Budapest Zoo (www.zoobudapest.com), and Folkart Craftman’s House (www.folkartkezmuveshaz.hu)
l Getting around: Taxis, trams, underground metro, hop-on-and-off buses (HUF6000 per single ticket, valid for 48 hours), ferry, by foot, Segway Tours (www.yellowzebratours.com), or by bike (organised or your own). - Saturday Star