Kettö (Budapest)

Monday 20 March 2017

Shoes by the Danube

We only had two full days in Budapest, so on our second day we wrote a list of everything else we wanted to cover and worked out a logical route on a map over breakfast at the hotel. The city is pretty compact and the weather was nice so we planned to walk most places.

We were based really close to the impressive Parliament Building so walked there and followed the River Danube until we found the Shoes by the Danube. This is a monument of 60 pairs of rusting iron shoes created as a memorial to those who were taken to the banks of the Danube by the Arrow Cross Party in 1944-1945. They were forced to strip naked and face the water and then shot so they would fall into the water and be washed away, leaving their shoes behind. It is a very simple but powerful memorial to those murdered there. Between my visit to Hungary this year and Poland in 2016, I have seen how much better those in the UK had it during the end/post World War 2 years.

We continued walking along the Danube and crossed Széchenyi Chain Bridge from Pest to Buda. The Chain Bridge was designed by an English engineer and parts were shipped over from the UK. The original bridge was opened in 1849 and the rebuilt bridge was opened in 1949, after retreating German troops blew up all of the bridges in Budapest. The actual ‘chains’ of the bridge look like giant bicycle chains and there are big stone lions standing guard at either end.

Castle Hill

We wanted to go up Castle Hill and there is a funicular rail which costs HUF 1,200 (about £3.30) for the three minute journey. There was quite a big queue so we decided to walk instead.

I would have expected a sign pointing us in the right direction, perhaps saying how long the walk was but we didn’t see this so I asked someone manning a stall and he said it was about 15 minutes and told us which way to walk. After about five minutes of walking up the gentle incline, we spotted a cave built into the hill with a metal tunnel. There was no signage but we decided to have a look and found a lift. Not quite sure where we’d end up, we took the lift to the top option and found ourselves at the top of Castle Hill! Seems like something like this night be sign posted…

We had a wander around Castle Hill, taking in the lovely views of the Danube and Parliament Building. A lot of websites say that you can spend hours at Castle Hill but we had only allowed time for a quick visit. We walked by the Royal Palace and up to Sándor Palace, which is the official residence of the President of Hungary.

We had bought tour bus tickets the day before which were valid for 48 hours. We had only used them once so decided to find the Castle Hill bus stop to try and get our money’s worth. We searched for a while and had no luck finding a bus stop even after asking a guy who worked at a stall there. We found another lift and gave it a bash but ended up back where we started so decided to start walking back the way we arrived. When we got to the bottom of the lift we had first discovered, we found a set of stairs heading downwards so took those and eventually found ourselves at the bottom of the hill, by the Danube. Despite providing all these lifts and stairs, the Hungarians didn’t seem to like to offer tourists any clues by way of signage and we were left to work things out on our own!

We walked along the River Danube crossing back to Pest over Elisabeth Bridge, named after a popular empress, Elisabeth of Bavaria.

Central Market Hall

Next on our list was Central Market Hall (aka Great Market Hall), which we were both really looking forward to exploring. A big market full of food and trinket stalls that we planned to wander around and get lunch.

We were most disappointed! There were lots and lots of food stalls all selling the same things – fresh fruit and veg, meat and paprika. There were stalls selling souvenirs and things like table clothes and everything seemed to be pretty expensive. Downstairs in the basement there was a big line of fish stalls, with massive tanks absolutely jammed full of live fish. Pretty awful from an animal welfare perspective. Back upstairs, I bought an overpriced fridge magnet before going to check out the possible lunch options. I wanted to try lángos – the traditional Hungarian dish of fried dough covered in cheese (sounded pretty tasty!) but the stalls selling them at the Central Market were much more expensive than over places we had seen. Completely disappointed with Central Market, we decided to leave and go elsewhere for lunch.

Karavan Street Food

Jen had heard of an outdoor ‘street food’ market called Karavan and it was a lovely day so we headed there in search of lunch. Much more exciting than Central Market, Karavan was a big courtyard with tables down the middle and food vans at either side.

There was a bit selection of places to choose from. I ordered a lángos from ‘Lángos Mashogy’ and Jen decided on a cheese burger from ‘The Real Cheeseburger’. As expected, the lángos was really tasty – you couldn’t really go wrong dough plus cheese plus sour cream. It reminded me of the Scottish speciality of a deep fried pizza (that’s right non Scottish readers…a pizza shoved in a deep fat fryer). Jen’s cheese burger was actually a burger made of camembert instead of meat and super tasty. Both exceptionally healthy choices!

Szimpla Kert Ruin Bar

After trying and failing to find the Szimpla Kert Ruin Bar the previous evening, we stumbled across it right next door to Karavan. It was still quite early in the day for it to be busy but we had a wander around and checked out the building.

There are a number of ruin bars/pubs in Budapest, which are bars built in old abandoned buildings. Szimpla Kert is the biggest and was totally randomly decorated with various sections to sit in, a number of bars and an outdoor courtyard. We wanted to sit and have a cocktail but the cocktail bar wasn’t open until later in the evening so we just had a look around the building and took some photos before moving on.

Danube cruise

As part of our bus ticket, we had the option of going on two boat trips on the Danube. As we had only used our ticket for a short bus journey so far, we decided to make use of the boat trip. Wandering back down to the river, we boarded the boat tour which sailed along the Dunube, around Margaret Island and back in an hour. It was a busy boat and we sat downstairs, figuring we’d learn something from the audio guide. The trip started and all we could hear was a slightly muffled voice from the speakers but couldn’t make out what was being said. Aside from some nice views of the Parliament Buildings, the one hour boat tour was a slight waste of time and I probably wouldn’t recommend it. I have heard that it would be a good tour to do after dark when the buildings are all lit up so maybe try that instead.

During our Segway tour the day before, we can passed through an area with lots of high street shops so headed there when we got off the boat. There were lots of the normal shops that you would see in UK and across Europe like Zara and H&M and a few that we didn’t recognise. There was a huge Tiger store over two floors, full of lovely randomness! We picked up a few gifts for people at home and then it was time for a well-earned cocktail break.

We had a wander around and found ourselves back in Tuk Tuk Bar, where we had discovered on our first night. The skilled mixologist remembered the cocktails we had requested a couple of nights before and made them again. It was early so we were the only people there but I’d definitely recommend the bar if you’re in Budapest and enjoy a cocktail.

Széchenyi Thermal Bath

The final (and perhaps most important!) thing we had to do in Budapest was to visit the baths. Budapest, aka the City of Spas, sits on over 100 thermal springs and has five (I think) main baths. After some research, we had decided to visit Széchenyi Thermal Bath as it was the biggest. The Széchenyi Thermal Bath was about a 40 minute walk from the centre of Budapest so we decided against walking. Again, trying to get some use out of the bus tickets we had (stupidly?) bought, we headed to a bus stop for a hop on hop off bus heading toward Millennium Park which is where the Széchenyi Thermal Bath is. At the bus stop we realised we had missed the last bus so decided on the metro instead. We went down to the metro but couldn’t find anywhere to buy a ticket. There was a ticket desk which had closed for the day and we could only see a ticket machine at the other side of the tracks. So we went out of the metro, crossed the road, down to the other side to buy a ticket and then back across to the side we needed. Seems like you’d put a ticket machine at both sides… Anywho, we only had to wait a few minutes until the metro arrived.

We had been told that you step out of the metro and the Széchenyi Thermal Bath is in the huge yellow building in front of you. It was, and we went in the entrance to buy tickets. The place was clearly open but all the ticket windows were closed. After standing around confused for a few minutes, looking for someone to help us, another tourist said they had been told to use the other office around the corner. We followed them around the corner to another entrance with a couple of open ticket windows. There must be loads of people confused by that and surely some signage would quickly explain where to go. We bought tickets from a fairly unfriendly lady who sighed dramatically when I told her too late that I had discount tickets from the bus tour (at last coming in handy!). There were signs up saying that people had to wear swimming caps but when we asked about this we were told it was only for those using the cold outdoor pool (which we definitely weren’t planning to do – brr).

The ticket desk is on the ground floor and then you walk down to the basements for the changing areas. The place was quite run down and could do with some TLC. It is pretty basic with about 10 open changing areas with lockers at each side. We found the desk for hiring towels and picked up our towels, leaving a deposit. The woman on the towel desk was nice and helpful, which was notable as we hadn’t found many people we met to be friendly. We got changed and were ready to go but…again no signage and we didn’t know where to go! We asked a member of staff who said that the bath was almost closing so she didn’t know if we could get in. We asked if she was sure as surely we wouldn’t have been sold tickets 10 minutes prior to the baths closing. She admitted that she was brand new and wasn’t sure so asked someone else. Turns out that the indoor baths close a few hours earlier than the outdoor baths – which explains why the other ticket office was closed. We got pointed in the right direction, went outside and walked towards the bustling outdoor bath.

Between the buses not running, the hoo-ha with finding the ticket office and the baths themselves and the run down changing rooms, we had been quite unimpressed with our experience so far but we got into the baths and…ahhhhh, lovely! What a delightful way to spend an evening!

We spent about an hour in the baths, chatting and people watching. There were all sorts of people in the baths – from older gentlemen playing chess at the side to younger people hanging out with their friends. It was an interesting insight into the culture of people in Budapest to see how they spend a weekday evening. What a great option to have in the middle of a city.

Suitably relaxed, with very wrinkly hands and feet, we left the baths. The Széchenyi Thermal Bath are in Millennium Park so we wandered through the park to the next metro station, passing through Heroes’ Square.

Homeward bound

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped in at a noodle place to grab some dinner before getting an early night ahead of our 3am alarm. We ordered a taxi to the airport through the hotel which took about half an hour.

Both Jen and I agreed that Budapest is a lovely city with lots of beautiful buildings but would recommend visiting later in the year when it is warmer. There’s lots of nice squares that would be buzzing with people sitting, enjoying the sunshine. We were a bit disappointed to find a few of the people we met to be pretty unfriendly and wondered if all the annoying stag and hen parties might have turned them against tourists. Also, please add some signage to tourist attractions! Nonetheless, definitely worth a visit, especially if you are a fan of history.