The Rough Guide to Budapest

by Charles Hebbert, Dan Richardson

INTRODUCTION

With its wonderful natural setting, straddling the River Danube, its beautiful architecture and excellent Magyar cuisine, Budapest is one of the most satisfying cities in Europe to visit. Its magnificent waterfront and boulevards invite comparisons with Paris, Prague and Vienna - as do many features of its cultural life such as its coffee houses, its love of opera and its wine-producing tradition. However, the city is also distinctively Hungarian, its inhabitants displaying fierce pride in their Magyar ancestry. Their language too, whose nearest European relatives are Finnish and Turkish, underlines the difference.

Ironically, provincial Hungarians have long regarded Budapest as a hotbed of alien values and loose morals - a charge that misses the point. Foreigners have played a major role in the city since its inception, and the Chinese and Arab communities established since the end of Communism simply bring it up to date as an international city. Even the sex trade that has earned it the reputation of the "Bangkok of Europe" is nothing new, having been a feature of life during Habsburg times. In politics, art and much else, Budapest is not only the capital but a catalyst for the country, without which Hungary would be a far duller place.

Fundamental to the city's layout and history is the River Danube - which is seldom blue. It separates Buda on the hilly west bank from Pest on the eastern plain. Várhegy (Castle Hill) on the Buda side was for many centuries the seat of monarchs, and its palace, museums, churches and Baroque streets make it the obvious place to start sightseeing. Thereafter, you can wander through the Víziváros (Watertown) below the hill, before pushing on to Gellért-hegy (Gellért Hill), with its crags and towering Liberation Monument. The historic Turkish baths in the Tabán quarter between the two hills are also well worth experiencing.

Over in Pest, you're likely to spend most of your time enjoying the streetlife, bars and restaurants within the Belváros (Inner City) and the surrounding districts. In contrast to the medieval street plan of Várhegy and the Belváros, these surrounding districts are defined by two semicircular boulevards - the Kiskörút (Small Boulevard) and the Nagykörút (Great Boulevard) - and radial avenues such as Andrássy út and Rákóczi út. Exploring the area between them can easily occupy you for several days.

In the Lipótváros, the financial and government centre, the interest lies in St Stephen's Basilica, the monumental Parliament building rivalling the Várhegy across the Danube, and some wonderful buildings around Szabadság tér (Liberty Square), including one by Ödön Lechner, whose work is often likened to Gaudí's in Barcelona. In the Terézváros one can hardly avoid making comparisons with Paris, as Andrássy út and the Opera House were clearly inspired by Haussmann's work for Napoleon III. Andrássy út terminates at Hosök tere (Heroes' Square), a magnificent imperial set piece that is Budapest's Les Invalides and Nelson's Column rolled into one.

Of the remaining inner-city districts, the Erzsébetváros and Józsefváros hold the most appeal. The former is traditionally Budapest's Jewish quarter, with a rich and tragic history that's still palpable in the backstreets, making them a wonderful place to explore. The great synagogue on Dohány utca provides more historical information. The adjacent Józsefváros is also fascinating but quite seedy in parts, though there's nothing to fear in the vicinity of the National Museum, or even at Kerepesi Cemetery, out beyond the Nagykörút. In Ferencváros, the attractions are the Great Market Hall on the Kiskörút, and the Applied Arts Museum further out, in an amazing building by Lechner.

Other parts of the city are also rewarding, but you need to be selective. Óbuda (Old Buda) really only lives up to its name in one locality, though its postwar sprawl harbours several Roman remains, with the ruins of Aquincum further out in Római-Fürdo. More alluringly, there are the Buda Hills that encircle the city to the west, with enjoyable rides on the Cogwheel and Children's railways, and intriguing caves to be visited. In fine weather people also flock to Margit sziget (Margit Island) to swim and sunbathe at two enormous lidos.

Further out, but still within the city limits, the Statue Park of redundant Communist monuments and the Rail Heritage Park of steam trains rate as major attractions, while the Budakeszi Game Park and two romantic cemeteries might not be everyone's idea of fun, but can claim many admirers.

One of the great things about Budapest is that most of its pleasures are affordable for visitors on a tight budget. Delicious meals can be had all over the city, and discovering things for yourself can be half the fun. Though Hungarian cuisine is noted for its richly sauced meat and fish dishes, there are enough alternatives (Indian, Chinese, Italian, Middle Eastern) for vegetarians to ...

Genres: Travel, Hungary, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Kalliope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is dedicated to Bird Brian, who prompted me to write a review of a Travel Guide Book.

Travel Guidebooks form a funny family. They can be nice catalogues of dreams, or useless and cumbersome dead-weights. They could even save your life, or at least some of your time which is, after all, a fragment of your life. But most usually they are money savers as they offer a cheap medium for extending the value of your otherwise expensive holidays.

They can also be a bit embarrassing. Are they witnesses of a well-travelled mind, or a clue to one’s ignorance of the world? Or just simply another proof that our fast-pace lives need an also fast remedy? Can we pack into the one week the experiences that one should gain after an extended period of time?

I have to admit that I love guidebooks, for whichever of the reasons above. I certainly like to be in different places. I have had and enjoyed several opportunities to change my life abruptly. By transferring myself to a new setting, I felt I was graphing my life in a new Geo. And there is something addictive in feeling bewildered for a new self-assurance eventually emerges from the initial stages of disconcert. Displacement as a path to self-discovery.

But when pulling up my roots and moving elsewhere is not possible, the second best will be to slice out of my daily routine a packaged touristic experience. And for these the guide book for the short trip is for me a must.

There are many kinds of guidebooks, though. Some are savoury feasts for the eyes and the imagination as they kindle your appetite for adventure. To this family belong the DK series, for example. Then others are excellent to help you move around and help you in negotiating the nitty-gritty of incomprehensible surroundings and inscrutable encryptions. The series In a Shoestring are very good in this category. My preferred guidebooks, however, are those that mix these two ambits, and these are the Rough Guide (RG) series. They also have an attractive price.

Guide books also have their own life time. They live in the before, in the while, and in the after. The RGs fare excellently in the three phases. Their introductory section contains a list of things not to miss, and this helps in the planning stage. Then, while one is on the go, they fit well in a handbag or medium sized pocket thanks to their size and format. But it is for this middle and most important stage of their lives, that the RGs provide their best trait: eir very well structured text. And this strong point is what makes them also excellent for their afterlife; as mementos they easily narrate memories back to life.

I have recently used three RG dedicated to European cities: Berlin, Vienna and Budapest. They all share a common structure. But I will select some highlights from the Budapest volume for this review.

Of course there is an Introduction with the Basics (The Getting There; When to Go; Festivals etc), and a section with Listings (Restaurants, Hotels etc.), as most Guide books have. Under Listings, the RG for Budapest has a very good section on the city’s Baths and Cafes. The latter are easy to pick, but Baths are a bit trickier to select. There are hygiene concerns, reputation, and a complex timetable. One also needs advice on its practices, what to take, how long to spend there etc… The RG was very good in this and our two visits to two very different Baths, the Géllert and the Széchenyi, are both memorable.

But it is the way the book is organized in sections that parallel the areas of the City, with good maps heading each section,and with their listings clearly indicated, that I like most about these guidebooks. In Budapest the Belváros, Lipotváros, Terézvarós, Erzsebetváros, Josefváros, Varhegy and Central Buda are the core of the city and of the book. And this guide accompanies you in succession through these “Városes” with a wonderful text. Because when one is walking around, what I welcome is a good manual that will help me in finding the right streets--such as the Vátci utca--, and which will draw the significance of some of the buildings whether they be religious or cultural temples, --such as the Saint-Stevens Basilica and the story behind Hungary’s first King, or the Budapest opera where Gustav Mahler had a difficult time for the couple of years he was its Director. I will also welcome, when admiring the beautiful Art Nouveau Gresham Palace, the significance that Sir Thomas Gresham had in the History of Finance.

And interspersed with this cultural thread, I value indications of where can I stop to rest and have a revitalizing hot coffee (or chocolate!) with delicious Buktas or sweet rolls, such as in the elegant Gerbeaud Café, or if on the Buda side of the river, at the very enchanting Ruszwurm patisserie where one can not just delight one’s palate with their lemon tart, but also sniff its Medieval ancestor, the gingerbread shop of yesteryear. And for those who may seek to taste less glamour as well, the RG will invite to go for a stroll along the galleries of the Great Market Hall and find the rich Lángos with cream and cheese. I will never forget these.

The text that guides us through the Városes often link in regularly with the History and Cultural sections in the latter part of the volume. When explaining that the Terézváros was designed after the Parisian boulevards from Haussmanss’ time, the guide not only locates where the old Night-Club Arizona was, but also points at the film Miss Arizona directed by Pal Sándor and with Marcello Mastroiani and Hannah Schygulla in the cast. I had to get and watch this DVD. All thanks to this RG guidebook.

With so much new information to absorb, one may need at times a bit more of clarification on some names or incidents. The narrative includes additional “text boxes" on some selected topics that will explain with greater attention, for example, what kind of literary banner the poet Sándor Petöfi became for the very literate Hungarian society, or the significance of the Lajos Kossuth statue planted in front of the building that became the architectural heir of his Nationalistic politics, --a Parliament whose late nineteenth century beauty masks that this was the site where a great part of the controversies that led to WWI were staged. Or what the AVO was when one visits the horrific House of Terror; or the heroic role that King Stephen plays in the Hungarian conscience.

And for all this, one needs text. For me a series of beautiful glossy pictures would just not illustrate sufficiently, particularly because once one is in the place, pictures of what one has in front of one’s eyes do not add much.

The RGs are also very good introductions to the general milieu of any given city. I am always seeking to know the backdrop of any given circumstance, because contextualizing is a step in understanding. I find that its chapters on the History, Arts, Music, etc…and other “Contexts” enrich and deepen my otherwise touristic approach. And last but not least for the GR community, this guide includes an extensive Bibliography with sections on History and Politics, on Biography and Travel Writing, and on Literature – whether fiction or poetry. I extracted nine interesting books out of their list so far.

And it is one of these books from this Bibliography that became for me also the main star of this Rough Guide to Budapest.

In the Lipotváros section there was a brief mention of the Glass House, which was a modernist building for the functioning of a Glass factory but which became a refugee camp for the Jews from 1944 until the end of the War. Its location is away from the Jewish area in Erseztváros. Something about the way the guidebook talked about this glass building made me drag my friend to a nondescript street, away from the tourist trodden paths, until we found this somewhat disappointing building which looked abandoned and which could not be visited. I nonetheless photographed it as well as a plaque I saw engraved with names of people unknown to me, with the idea of eventually googling them.

The rest of the story can be found in the review I wrote of Castles Burning: A Child's Life in War, one of the novels included in the Bibliography of this guidebook.

So, yes, this little book sharpened my senses and attention before and during the time I was in Budapest. And now, together with my own photos it forms part of accumulated memories. It is the book’s text that will offer me a path to retrace part of what I have learnt during my stay in that beautiful city.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent guide to Budapest. Some really good tips, presented in an easy to follow fashion.

[Peter Learn · Rating 1 out of 5]

maps were useless. missing street names. no metro stations on some maps. Maps ended at important points. Restaurant reviews skimpy and not up to date

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will come in handy for my next destination: Hungary

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good seires of guides--I just found that in Eastern Europe there is not enough information about what to do places, and too much of how to get there