Budapest: Ruin Bars, Baths, and ... (Belated Post)

Ruin Bars, Baths, and ….

The last stop on our Central Europe adventure before school (back in August) was Budapest, the capital of Hungary.  Hungary has an incredibly interesting history that differs from most of Europe.  The original Hungarians were a nomadic group from Mongolia and were later taken over by the Turkish empire.  This explains why Hungary has a culture and language that is strikingly different than much of Europe. Because we were at the end of our trip we were looking forward to more relaxing activities: dining and Turkish baths. 

Enjoying a beer at an outdoor cafe in central Budapest    

Like in Poland and Czech Republic, we started off our trip doing a free walking tour of the city.  This helped us to get our bearings and learn some of the history of Hungary and Budapest.  Our walking tour highlighted some of the beautiful architectural buildings in Budapest namely St. Peters and Mathias’ churches.  The architecture, rolling hills, and the Danube make Budapest a beautiful city.  We were able to take it all in by doing a river cruise at night and hiking to the top of Gellert hill to take in the sweeping views.   This was one city where it’s worth it to take the hop-on-hop-off tour given the diversity and spread of so many sights. 

Parliament Building at Night.

Hop on, Hop off, Tourist shot!

Budapest used to be two cities separated by the Danube: Buda and Pest.  The Pest side is made up of rolling hills and includes the Palace and St. Mathia’s Church.  It is generally considered to be the wealthier side of Budapest.  The Buda side, which houses St. Peter’s Church is a little grittier but houses the trendy up and coming Jewish Quarter district.  The Jewish Quarter is famous for its “Ruin Bars”, which are old dilapidated buildings or courtyards that have been turned into trendy bars and clubs.  We tried out a few and our favorites were Szimpla Kert (third best bar in the world) and Instant.  These are a must see if you go to Budapest.  This area also plays host to some of Budapest’s best restaurants.  Thanks to some recommendations from our friends we were able to eat very well in Budapest!

Szimpla Bar - it's massive, this ins only a tiny area.

One of the best ways to enjoy the Turkish influence in Budapest is to visit a Turkish Bath.  Budapest sits on over mineral hot springs, which supply numerous world famous Turkish bathhouses in the city.  Each bathhouse is a little bit different and can range from opulent indoor bath spas to open air night spa clubs.  Since it was really hot in August we set our sights on Palatinus, which is all outdoor and on San Margaret island on the Danube.  What we ended up getting was a Hungarian water park, complete with a wave pool, waterslides, and hot pools with floating chess boards.  It wasn’t exactly what we were expecting, but since it was off the beaten path we were the only tourists there we got some quality people-watching.   We also sampled the Hungarian equivalent of carnival food which is langos.  Langos are a fried doughy base with cheese and toppings on top.  Like a doughnout pizza.  As you can guess they scored high on taste and low on health.

Our trip included a dive into Hungarian history.  We visited the Hungarian history museum which boasted an extensive collection of artifacts and well written exhibits.  Hungary has been through some incredibly high times (near the end of the 19^th century) and through some incredibly lows ones as well: World War II and Communism.   

Liberty Statue - one of the few remaining communist monuments

We also took a communism walking tour to learn about life under communism and the political activity in Budapest.  Our tour had a special guide who was passionate about politics.  He spent the majority of time explaining the worrying trends in Hungarian politics.  Whereas the majority of Eastern Europe is moving towards more open markets and democracy, Hungary is become more isolated and despotic.  It’s a trend that is highlighted by the Holocaust monument debacle – where the current party created an insensitive and inaccurate portrayal to spin Hungary’s involvement in WWII.  

Buda Castle

 Our total time in Budapest was about four days.  We certainly saw and experienced much of what this fascinating city has to offer.  The end of our Central Europe trip marked our transition from funemployment to full time students at London Business School.