Budapest, Hungary July 17 - 25, 1998
Hello from Hungary..Yes, I'm back in Eastern Europe....It's a great
place..I can't get enough of it.....
Now it's time to explore Budapest. I have talked to others that had been here and have all loved it. It was a
long train ride. I left Paris at 10:20pm, took an overnight train to Munich (got in at 8:30am) and then took a
day train (through Salzburg and Vienna) to Budapest (arrived at 5:30pm). I'm not good at sleeping in
moving vehicles, so didn't I get much rest. The first night, I checked into the guesthouse, went out for
dinner, than went to bed around 9pm. I was beat....
Budapest is a GREAT place. It's a lot different than Bulgaria is. Bulgaria is still very Easternized, while
Budapest, being only 3 hours from the west (Austria), is now quite westernized. By that, I mean that if you
didn't know it use to be part of communist Eastern Europe, you would think that it is like any other western
city. McDonalds and Pizza Hut on every corner, merchants selling anything you could imagine,
everywhere, etc. At first it kind of bummed me out because it wasn't what I wanted it to be. However, I did
learn to accept it for what it is now, and ended up loving it.
Budapest is a combination of 2 cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube River. They merged in 1873
and were originally called Pest-Buda (I'm glad they changed that). Buda side is residential and hilly, while
the Pest side is industrial and is flat.
Budapest has an excellent public transportation system. There is a 3 line metro, busses, and trams. I know
that I would be there for at least a week, so I bought a weekly transportation pass good on all kinds of
transportation in central Budapest. It cost only 1450ft (forints are their currency, the exchange rate, when I
was there was $1 = 216ft). It was well worth it to me. The regular fare is 70ft, so after 20 rides, you've paid
for it. I paid for it probably after the first 3 days!!!! By the way, do you need a passport size photo for the
weekly card. Also, there is a weekly muesum card (similar to the pne on Paris), but dont bother with it. Most of the museums cost between 80 - 200 ft, which is less than $1 USD for admission.
Budapest is a nice place. It clean and livable. It is not sprawling, like London or Paris, but is still kind of
big. I like it best at night...Paris calls itself the "City of Lights", which it is, but, so is Budapest. There is a
bridge called the Chain Bridge that is totally lit up, as well as a lot of the monuments (the Castle,
Parliament House, Independence Monument, etc). It's great to walk along the riverbank after the sun has
gone down and just look at the lights. However, the lights for the attractions do shut off at midnight. I did
that almost every night I was there. To me, Budapest was also a lot more romantic that Paris.