#32: Tales of Budapest
What befalls this timeless city?
They said that, of course, Budapest is beautiful. But it is in fact almost ludicrously beautiful.
- Anthony Bourdain
This is exactly what I thought when I stepped out of the airport transfer bus at Kálvin tér Square to make my way to another stop that would take me to my hotel - though not of course without a chimney cake to officiate my travels.
While I waited for the bus (and tried to figure out which bus stop to change to), I took in the glistening sunset that was falling across the hallmarked features of Budapest’s cityscape - a mix of Baroque, Art-Noveau and Eclectic styles that glimmered as the city stretched into its two distinctive enclaves: Buda and Pest.
Budapest is a city I’ve longed to visit for aeons; I don’t know where it started but I suspect it was in high school where my interest in architecture and “the city” would take shape, for architecture and the desire to photograph buildings and spaces in almost other-like worlds make up much of the reason for why I travel.
At the same time, so would begin a deep fascination for ‘space’, as a concept and notion by which us humans and the stories we have lived and moved though encompass. Budapest felt like one of those cities, where every alley, every grand building that would house something less grandiose at its entrance (i.e. a Lidl housed in the ground floor of the Astoria hotel) and the Danube River whispered a shining tale to me of a city that has experienced a rather remarkable history.
A view that must have inspired a thousand paintings
Budapest the city itself is practically a museum of sorts, and is one of those places that inspired me to take those City Tour buses so that I could take in as much as I could during my four-day stint there. Winter was a recommended time to go, and I went in the ‘betwixtmas’ period with two friends who I’d spend half the trip with. I had the last day to myself to take in the city which allowed me to cultivate a more personal relationship with this otherwordly city. As much as I detest the cold, European cities all share the same trait in that they feel the most magical in the summer and the winter. I took many a-note to do in my return to Budapest, which will hopefully be in a near-future summer (the hot-air balloon ride is a must!), but for now, here is what I got up to on my trip there.
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‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’
For the record, I did not stay at any of these hotels but god I wish I did. For some reason it had completely slipped my mind that Budapest would be the hotel city - I only watched the eponymous film once and this was a while ago so I cannot recall many details - except that I love the whimsy befitting of these labyrinthine places where atoms of time and space collide in mind-numbing ways. Hotels have long been a fascination of mine, and two of the stops during the hop-on/hop-off tour were The New York Café and the Parisi Udvar Hotel, both located in central, downtown Budapest.
I was recommended the high-tea at New York Hotel but was highly put off by the queues - if you unlike me can show up at 8am when they open, I recommend doing this but alas I let sleep win this time around. That said, the inside looked spectacular from the brief glimpse I took as I snooped around. I thought to bring myself to the Parisi Udvar instead for a coffee one day, but didn’t have much time as I had to go to the airport soon after, and so I have bookmarked these places for next time - Mum, Arriq, take note!
The ceiling at New York Café, Courtesy of The Lonely Planet
Aside from these two big-names, I couldn’t help but notice after how stunning the hotels lining this area are - modern brands like Hilton and Hyatt blending in with the baroque facade of the city that is essentially the perfect meeting point between the past and the present. This also prompted me to do little deep-dive, finding that many-a-hotel in Budapest were built in the image of opulence and grandeur in the late 19th century, to be a headquarters - perhaps European base - for then-global businesses. Just like in New York, Paris and London where one can find themselves soon-after in a cafe or a concert hall, Budapest seemed to be one of those cities that has a history of inviting in the literati of the time to inspire and create culture.
Like many places in Eastern Europe, the effect of war shattered the city which can be seen in its lesser-seen parts. Apparently, The New York Café shuttered its operations following the war, despite being a home/refuge for soldiers at the time, ending during Hungary’s communist rule. It re-opened its doors in 2006 and brands itself as “the most beautiful hotel in the world” - I’ve yet to confirm this and Raffles Hotel Singapore kindly digresses, so I’ll be in touch at some point about this.
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A trip to the Kávéház
If you’ve been here long enough, you know my existence is not without coffee. With so many of these hotels doubling up as cafes, I found that there the whole notion of the ‘cafe’ lives on quite extensively within the city’s walls, and has become a quintessential part of its cultural landscape, my (now) list of which consists:
Centrál Grand Cafe & Bar 1887;
Hadik Kávéház;
Gerbeaud (I hear the cakes here are stellar);
Astoria Café - this name was such a staple during my trip there for its location in the centre. It’s Budapest’s oldest coffeehouse and from the looks of it, bears a regal authority to it that has likely seen a throng of creatives occupy its wonderfully contemplative atmosphere.
I also visited a bookstore (a must) to dip my toes into Hungarian literature as per personal traditions. While browsing at Massolit Budapest Books and Cafe, I was in close company of a group of tourists discussing fascism and AI, and in that moment I felt like I was having the quintessential bookstore-in-Europe experience listening to snippets of their conversation over a cup of coffee while debating the ethics of the world. On a side note, I also find myself gravitating to a lot of travel writing during my trips and came across a few interesting titles about Budapest.
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Interlude: Snack
Before I speak your ear off about the city and its space, let’s talk about food because it is such a joy to indulge in flavours and tastes so foreign to you on trips like these. Budapest (and by extension Hungary) makes it in the top five of cuisines that have genuinely surprised me at every turn, because there was not a single second where I was not in a state of curiosity upon indulging in the Hungarian palate.
Most of this was done in one particular area of the city - District V - also home to what is apparently Europe’s best Christmas market, and having been to a fair share of these in the last couple of years, the Budapest Christmas market was definitely the most festive and cheery one that I’ve been to. Sans the crowds of tourists that find their way into the city during this time, the lights were spectacular, the variety of offerings to scoop up as you pirouette against the crowds, and an impressive animated light show that transformed the facade of St Stephen’s Basilica into a mini-Christmas feature film.
At the Christmas market, I tried everything that caught my fancy - (more) chimney cake - this time opting for the raspberry flavour over the traditional cinnamon; Lángos (with nutella instead of the traditional cheese topping); a sour cherry strudel (sour cherry seems to be the traditional Hungarian sweet/fruit); Krumplis tészta (Hungarian potato pasta); and the most juggernaut of a sauerkraut I’ve ever had which I did in spirit of my brother, whose love for hotdogs is as endless as it is frustrating. The food at the street market is hardly the best thing ever, but it was a good way to sample the local street food scene and spend the festive period in such a buzzing space.
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See: Art and architecture
Budapest is one of the only cities to be marked a UNESCO Heritage Site, which is an incredible and unbelievable feat. Unlike other European cities that tend to have a universal style in the way they look, I did think that Budapest’s landscape was so textured and varied by contrast, and home to some truly stunning architectural masterpieces that you cannot see elsewhere - see The Parliament Building.
Perhaps it is this building and the way it depicts such an arresting scene over the Danube that is enough to make one plan for an entire trip there. Indeed it was the top of my bucket list - the rest I could make up as I went along - and four days there were not really enough to be mesmerised by it every single time, and from different perspectives as well. Once from the flip-side of the Danube in the Pest side, mystified and lit in scant places thanks to the city’s fog, once on the river cruise and then up-close - both in day and night. Apparently the tours of the Parliament sell out within five months of your booking date, so don’t be like me when booking planned tours in the city if you want to explore its interior halls.
That said, an ever-popular activity is the Hungarian River Cruise, a 45-minute boat tour made more vibrant with the unlimited prosecco on offer - you bet my friends and I were tipsy (and cold) as hell as we took in the gothic-esque lights that adorn the Danube River at night while snapping our iPhones away. I’m always a proponent of night-time architectural sightseeing, which I did for this cruise trip and when walking over the famed bridges that connect Buda and Pest, such as the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Margaret Bridge and Liberty Bridge.
The Parliament Building from the Danube; Buda Castle
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Visit: Hungarian National Gallery and The Opera House
Right by Heroes Square is a throng of museums that I’ve added to my ever-growing Budapest list. During my trip, I managed to get some last-minute entrance tickets to the national gallery, which made for a meditative stroll introducing me to Hungarian artists and the ‘national’ style of painting. I was quite mesmerised really, and a particularly fond moment I had during these couple of hours of solitude was listening and watching a mini-documentary of Pál Szinyei Merse, who was the artist behind my favourite painting there, Picnic in May (1873), with Chopin’s Nocturne - I fail to recall which one exactly - in the background as I ventured into the past alongside Merse, recalling his artistic travels in Paris and his desire to see Hungary’s national art on a global stage. There was something so sublime about the most moving pieces of art working in tandem and you - the viewer - taking it all in. It was a special moment that cements the Hungarian National Gallery as a must-visit.
Picnic in May, Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery
Inside the State opera house
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Last but never least, eat & drink
Hungary is pretty much synonymous with paprika and so I went out of my way to get ahold of the chicken paprikash, trying to scout out places where I could find the best ones. The restaurant I had in mind was fully booked for dinner the night we attempted to go, and so we opted instead for a more home-y restaurant where I got to try Hungarian style noodles - nokedli - with overwhelming laps of goulash that I ultimately surrendered in defeat to.
The next day my persistence paid off as I got the last walk-in seat available at a Michelin star abode, Hoppá! Bistro, to have the most succulent and perfectly seasoned chicken paprikash, paired with a local red wine that was so strong I felt completely buzzed even by the end of the paprikash meal and dessert.
Speaking of drinks, the ritual activity of girls in their (late) twenties travelling is to discern the local bar scene, almost all of which are located in the Jewish quarter in District VII. I would have liked to have visited Szimpla Kert, a famous ruin bar that is intrinsic to Budapest’s local nightlife, described as newly transformed bars/clubs in abandoned buildings that very much retain the ‘abandoned’ character, which I enjoyed meandering through greatly during one night of clubbing. However, we opted for more low-key places for the most part, finding some novel gems such as Black Swan where I got to savour Barbadian rum and had to press a doorbell to enter into; Boutiq Bar; Elysian Budapest - and so much more if we had more nights there.
My favourite meal however was the cheapest and most intimate - I cannot recall the name nor do I have it saved - but it was akin to a food court almost, in a transformed religious space. I had the heartiest meal there, a plate of chicken and rice with some side salad, sounds so unremarkable but oh was it good. Courtesy of our local guide, a friend’s friend who made the first few hours in Budapest a lively jaunt, despite sending us off to a “bar” by the Danube that appears to only operate in the summer.
I wanted to post about Budapest before I forget - it’s been almost two months since I went but reliving it here was extremely fun and reminded me of the stellar places I visited in a fascinating city where opulence meets destruction, and in the birthplace of many fine art and culture establishments that invite travellers to seek out new stories over and over again.
Thanks for reading and in homage of my favourite traveller, here’s a link to Bourdain’s Budapest adventures.
Until next time,
G