Being a Budapest

I took a Flixbus from Bratislava to Budapest. I had no real reason for this, beyond it being a bit more in the general direction I was headed. I had been to Budapest once before with some friends, and I’d enjoyed it very much. It was, at that time, the furthest from the UK I’d been to on holiday and even though it wasn’t very far away it felt like a completely different world.

I feel like I passed a milestone on the bus journey. An Australlian couple and a very nervous American girl were about to get off at the wrong stop, convinced it was the main one in Budapest. None of them had been travelling for very long, and it was a great feeling to lean forward and show them where we are and where they needed to get off. They were very appreciative and I felt a little affection for their naivety - was I ever like that?

It only occured to me afterwards that instead of dissappearing with a hearty “Safe travels!” I could probably have checked they knew where they were going after disembarking, but never mind! The Australlian girl in particular seemed feisty and I’m sure they made it OK.

(The “I’m an experienced traveller who can help people!” feeling didn’t last long, incidentally - at the metro stop not one but two Hungarian metro workers took it upon themselves to help me. I felt like a rube just off the boat.)

Luckily I managed to find my hostel without needing someone to hold my hand. The location was good, just off Deák Ferenc tér, but while I was checking in there were a massive and loud group of people, of the “WOOOOO!” type, also waiting to check in. This did not bode well. Arriving in Budapest, a known “party” town, on a Friday was probably a bad idea. In fact similar groups of people were to arrive all throughout my stay here.

The room itself was pretty poor too. It smelled really badly and was so hot, and the beds were laughably uncomfortable. Fortunately I was the first to arrive so I claimed the bed nearest the window, carefully evaluated all the bedding (and stole the cleanest-looking) and set about getting as much fresh air into the room as possible.

At least my roommates were OK. I had the most awkward drink I’ve ever had with anyone with a German girl. First I spilled my drink, then she spilled hers, and neither in an amusing way. I made most of the conversation and that rarely goes well. Eventually I ran out of things to say or ask about and called it an evening.

Thankfully later on during my stay we’d be joined by a nice Irish couple who did most of the talking. One of them was also complaining about being bitten in the night, another strike against my hostel.

Bag dropped off, I took a tour with one of the worst guides I’ve had yet - she started off getting us all to introduce each other and then either insulted us or made awkward comments. I got the now very annoying comments about Brexit - they never were especially droll, and after about four months of it they haven’t become any more funny.

It was particularly bad for a guy and girl who were travelling together but as friends, as she assumed they were a couple and it became very awkward. After that, beyond describing the stops on the tour she didn’t really attempt to interact with us which while probably for the best certainly made for a poor tour.

I hadn’t realised just how bitterly cold Budapest can be at this time of year. Rarely have I been more certain I was going to freeze to death. I had to resort to going to the H&M and buying some long johns, which are now my preferred underwear option and further proof that I should have been born a few hundred years ago.

I did the House of Terror Museum again, which was a bit more expensive than I remember it being and was filled with tour groups. Italian tour groups are what I imagine it’s like herding cats - everyone wanting to go in different directions at once and with a great deal of noise which made for an annoying museum experience. It is an interesting museum though, and it must have been a real struggle for the Hungarian people who were oppressed by not one but two diabolical regimes.

For no particular reason there’s a few statues in Budapest that don’t really have much to do with Budapest. Among others, there’s a statue of William Shakespeare, Ronald Reagan, and my favourite, one of Peter Falk as Columbo from the long-running TV show. I love watching Columbo, so I made the trek out to go see it. It was absolutely pouring with rain, and other than gently prod his nose I couldn’t think of a great deal else to do there. I even missed the opportunity to walk away and then stop and say “Oh, just one more thing…”.

I struggled to enjoy Budapest this time round. I found it very difficult to motivate myself to do things, mostly because it was so cold and the things I wanted to do were spread so far apart.

The other reason was because I’d been travelling in less popular places it felt very touristy. Almost everyone I overheard on the streets were talking English and it just killed the atmosphere for me. I didn’t want to be at a place where lots of English-speaking people drank and shouted in the streets; it reminded me of being back in the UK.

This was a shame, because it is a beautiful city. The area around the castle is nice, and it’s difficult to get a bad view from either side of the Danube which seperates Buda from Pest. The Parliament buildings, modelled on those of the UK, are fantastic too and set in a nice area to stroll around.

The Jewish Quarter is nice to have a look around too, although when I was there it was snowing and so I went through at a rate of knots. Mostly I just spent my days in coffee shops, waiting for the rain and snow to ease off long enough for me to dash to the next one. It wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had, although there was some pleasant weather on my last day so I took the opportunity to be a massive tourist and take lots of photos. I wasn’t very sad to leave, for I had more exciting destinations coming up! Written on February 14th, 2018 by David Seddon