Wednesday 26 November 2003

We take the 10:01 train from Rotterdam Centraal to Amsterdam/Schiphol Airport. Checking in at Schiphol takes some time because of the security measures. We take off for Budapest at 1.15pm with KLM. We arrive there  around 3.00pm. 

We call a taxi from a reliable company (Fötaxi) on our mobile. The airport taxis are in the hands of the local mafia and are after unsuspecting tourists whom the charge 3 times the going rate. An alternative would have been the Mini  Bus, but with two persons that would not have been cheaper, only slower and less reliable. Fötaxi arrives within 5 minutes from a parking lot just outside the airport. The ride takes just over 30 minutes  to central Budapest and sets us back around 4000 Hungarian Forints (HUF) or €16. We arrive around 4.30 at Connection Guesthouse. It is a gay guesthouse, where we will spend the next 5 nights.

After having checked into our room we hit the town. We have some coffee and cake in a tiny café, called Aztek Xocolat. Later that night we eat at Club 93. A " gay"  pizzeria. A small affair, with friendly staff and reasonable pizzas at a bargain price (HUF 1000 = €4). Later in the evening we visit 2 gay pubs before we return to the guest house.

It was a gray day today in Budapest with an occasional drizzle.

Donderdag 27 November 2003

We start the day with an excellent breakfast. We are the only guests today and the guy at reception is extremely helpful. After that we walk into town. We have coffee with cake at Gerbaud. This sort of an institution in Budapest. A classic, with a wide range of fine cakes and delicious flavours of coffee. A sight in its own right. 

At Déak Tér subway station we buy a 7-day Travel Card for HUF 2250 (Wochenticket or Hetijegy), allowing one week of travel on all lines (metro, bus, tram, trolley bus) of BKV, the public transport authority of Budapest. Budapest has the oldest underground of continental Europe. We take bus #16 to the Castle Hill of Buda. It takes us across the Chain Bridge to Buda. Line #16 ends at Disz Tér (Note:. Tér=square) in the middle of the Castle. We walk through the castle. We take a look in the old Eagle Pharmacy. It is a museum now with a period furnishing. We are guided around by Ms Eva Holland (!) She tells lots and lots about the items on display. There is even a mummified head. This was used in the 18th century to make mummy powder, which was used to treat epilepsy and other ailments. We continue to the nearby Matyas church. A beautiful 19th century neo-baroque church. It is a replacement of earlier churches that stood here but were destroyed. To this spot came the Hungarian Kings before they would be crowned elsewhere in Hungary. The church has fine chapels and frescoes. There is also a museum in which a replica of the Royal regalia are on display - among which the St Stephan's crown. Next door to the church is the Fisherman Bastion.  This has never served as a defence line, but is purely decorative. It does, however, frame a beautiful view of Pest on the other side of the Danube. It is busy with tourists and buskers and people trying to sell all kinds of well meant or not so well meant paraphernalia. We continue through the old town of Buda and take a look at the monumental buildings belonging to the National Archives.  

We eat a simple and overpriced meal at the Sissi restaurant, named after the former empress and queen of Austria and Hungary respectively. Sissi, or Elisabeth (Erzébet in Hungarian) was very popular with the Hungarians because of her interest in the Hungarian language and culture. This in contrast to her husband emperor Franz-Josef.

We take the cable car down hill. There we jump on tram #41 and then change to bus #27 to the top of the St Gellért Hill.  At its peak is the citadel - built by the Austrians after the rebellion of 1849 to keep the Hungarians in check -  and the freedom monument. This monument is the statue of a woman holding an olive branch. The monument was at one stage adorned with statues of Russian soldiers, who liberated the country of the Germans, but they have been removed in 1990 and now stand in the Statue Park outside of town. 

The view from Gellert Hill on the city (both Buda and Pest) is unmatched. We take bus and tram back to our guest house.

Late afternoon we take the metro to the Kiraly-baths. This is an old Turkish complex of thermal baths. This history of these baths goes back to 1565. It was built so that the city would have a bath within the walls in case of a siege. Its present name Kiraly (=King) is owed the the König family who owned the bath from 1796. We buy a ticket for the bath. Only having to surrender it within seconds to an attendant. He sends us upstairs with a numbered piece of paper. Upstairs we find the changing cabins. We hand in our number to another attendant who points us to our cabins. After undressing we lock the cabin wit a key, after which the attendant locks a second lock and scribbles something illegible on a slate.  We go downstairs and get into the the large thermal pool under an Ottoman dome. The pool is full of men (men's days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; women on Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Although the signs clearly state that bathing suits are compulsory everybody is naked. Next to the pool are a steam room, cold baths and dry saunas.  More than 80% of the crowd is gay and the mood is fairly cruisy [Nothing really improper happens at all, but there are a few rent boys about trying to solicit business].  Erik takes a massage, (buy a ticket at the entrance), but that is  a big disappointment. After 90 minutes our time is up. We get dressed again in our cabins and leave the baths relaxed and satisfied. 

At night we have a simple and ridiculously cheap meal at an Hungarian restaurant called Kiskakacs near our guest house. Later we explore the gay scene a bit further. We visit the Amstel River Café, a "Dutch style"  gay friendly pub and later the Action Bar, a crowded, but friendly leather bar. We take a taxi back, because the trams stop running after 11.15pm!!  It is best to call for a taxi on your mobile, as it is cheaper than hailing one on the street. And you are sure that you have a reliable one and not some sort of a mobster. We call again for Fötaxi and get picked up within minutes. 

Today was dry and sunny with temperatures around 14°C/40°F.

Friday 28 November 2003

We drink coffee again at Gerbaud on Vörósmarty Tér. The stall for the Christmas market are being set up this morning. After coffee we go for a walk through the Lipótváros district. We start at Roosevelt Tér near the Chain Bridge across the Danube. The Chain Bridge is the oldest fixed link between Buda and Pest, replacing seasonal ferries. The bridge was completed in 1849. In 1945 it was destroyed by the Germans, but reopened a century after its first opening. At Roosevelt Tér is the Gresham Palace. An Art Nouveau building, that is currently being converted into a luxury hotel. It was once commissioned by an insurance company. It its facade we see the head of Sir Thomas Gresham (1519?–1579), an English financier, who first formulated Gresham's Law stating that bad money works out good money. The square is flanked by two statues of Hungarian leaders: Count Szechenyi and Ferenc Déak. On the North side of the square is the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.  We continue towards the St Stephan's basilica, named after the first Christian king of Hungary. Construction of the church started in 1851, but was not completed until 1905.  The church is built in a neo baroque style, with lots of detail. In a separate chapel the holiest Hungarian relic is being kept in a gold plated shrine. It is the mummified right hand of King Stephan (István) himself. Stephan was the first king of Hungary who converted to Christianity and was crowned with the pope's blessing in the year 1000. Stephan descends from Arpád who led the Magyar tribes in 896 (an important number in Hungary) to settle in the Carpathians.  The hand is carried around the city every year on August 15th the anniversary of Stephan's death. The dome of the church is 96 metres high, the same height as the parliament. It's height refers to the year 896. After the visit of the magnificent church we walk on to the Liberty Square (Szabadzág ter). This square is flanked by beautiful buildings. To the left we see the former stock exchange of Hungary. A neo-classical building, with two towers resembling Khmer temples. After the Communists take-over in 1948 the exchange was closed and the building became the headquarters for Hungarian Radio and Television. On the opposite side is the building of the Hungarian National Bank.  During the course of history various regimes have added and removed their contributions to the square. Once there was here a monument to the Hungarian Sorrow, commemorating the Treaty of Trianon of 1919, in which Hungary lost two thirds of its territory and one third of its Hungarian speaking population (to Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia). This monument was replaced in 1948 by one for the Soviet liberators. In 1990 there were calls for replacing it again by the Sorrow monument, but this did not happen. In 1989 a monument for an American general was brought back in on the occasion of a visit by US president Bush sr. The general had single handedly prevented Romanian troops from looting the Ethnological Museum in 1919.  Opposite the Soviet monument is ironically enough the residence of the US embassy. Behind the embassy we find the the head office of the post office savings bank. It is an Art Nouveau building with a very fanciful roof. The architect held the opinion that even birds were entitled to good architecture. The facade is painted with swarms of bees (representing the savings) swarming towards the roof. Opposite the bank office we discover a market hall - one several market halls in Budapest. It is a good place for buying meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. 

A few minutes from here we reach the Parliament. English tours are conducted at 10am, noon en 2pm. We buy a ticket at entrance X. You can not just walk up there. A guard has to let you onto the premises. It is not cheap (HUF 2000 or €8 pp), but well worth it. The building is a fine neo-classical construction with lots of plated gold and symbolism. It was completed in 1904. At the entrance our attention is drawn by a scale model of the building. It was made entire out of match sticks by a patriotic Hungarian family. The family was rewarded with a brand new apartment by the government. Under the central dome we see statues of Hungary's most significant kings. In the middle is a show case with the original royal regalia of Hungary: the St Stephan's crown, the scepter and a gold plated orb.  At the end of the tour we peek inside the assembly room. In its time (1904) it was one of the most modern in Europe. It had central heating and an air conditioning system that worked on large blocks of ice. This was replaced by modern equipment only in 1999. The parliament was also fitted with electric lights (it consumed more power than the rest of the city in those days) and elevators.  Quaint detail are the cigar holders in the lobby. Members were not allowed to smoke in the assembly. They could do that in the lobby. If they were called into the assembly for a vote or a speech they would place their cigars in their personal holder. If the speaker was very good it could happen that the cigar had gone by the time the members returned. They used to say that the speaker had "been worth a good Havana". .

After the visit we have lunch. Then we take the metro towards Heroes Square (Hösök Tere). This large square was constructed in 1896 on the occasion of 1000 year jubilee of the Hungarian Nation. In the middle is a column topped by the Arch Angel Gabriel that allegedly appeared in a dream of King Stephan, offering him the  Hungarian crown. At its base is are the figures of King Arpad and his chieftains. He was the king who led the Magyars into the Carpathians. Behind all that is a semicircular colonnade with statues of great men in Hungarian history. Behind Hero square begins Vorosliget, the big park of the city. Directly rigth is a lake that serves as one of Europes loveliest ice rinks in winter (like now). It lies at the backdrop of the Vajdahunyad castle. A catalogue in stone of all architectural styles through the centuries of Hungarian history. It was put here in 1896. After a round through the park we take the metro back down town for some shopping in the Vaci Ut, Budapest central shopping street. We have a drink in the  Amstel River cafe.

At nigh we have dinner at Kafé Kör. Fine dining and excellent service.

After dinner we have a drink in the Mystery bar, after which we head for the Uniform Party at Chaos Pub. But that is a bit of a disappointment.